Reminder : Chennai workshop

A gentle reminder regarding Chennai workshop. We request all outstation participants to contact Mr Manimaran (0) 9884289989 (maran_450@yahoo.com) as soon as possible, so that he may book accommodation accordingly.

confessions

Guys guys, I did not have any other class of people to share this with, so here i am putting down my emotions afresh. Day before yesterday i spoke to my dad about my stammering and its root cause. Not that i did not talk about it earlier. but yesterday was special because during our course of discussion, he confessed that he thought he was the culprit who perpetuated stammer in me in my younger days. He held himself responsible for my plight with speech. And i could see that remorse and low tone of voice when he said that. I immediately put my foot down and said assertively that he does not have to blame himself for my speech. I clarified lot of things before my family members. Some say: "why are we even discussing about stammering, chinni (my pet name) talks just perfectly". To which i say: "that's because i am a covert PWS". But anyway, all said and done, stammering will always be something special which i can relate to, and others will feel that it's just a passing phenomenon. Sometimes i take strength in the fact that I am just lucky to have just stammer, people have worse disabilities to live with. So people, please count your blessings everyday and be happy for what you are. Mom's calling for breakfast, catch up with you later :)

bye till then.

Tata jagriti Yatra

I have been talking to many young people about stammering: Invariably they ask me: what am I doing in TJY? (assumption being that either I am yatri who is here to learn enterprise or am some kind of role model: both assumptions are untrue- and true in some ways..). I have been getting a mixed / complex picture; I have been asking: do you think stammering is a handicap, a problem, a disability? Here is the response I have received:
Stammering is not a problem; certainly not like Cancer or Blindness. There is no discrimination against them..
There are some people who listen, ask questions, try to understand and then are willing to concede that may be it is a handicap, a challenge for the person facing it..
None of the respondents knew that it has a biological basis; most believed it is a "sweet nothing" based in psychology.. Just have more confidence in yourself and talk!
On the other hand, many young people consulted me privately: you talked about stammering..I too feel like that.. can you tell me if it is stammering?
There were others, who could empathize based on analogy to their own personal experiences of being "different"..
At the end of the day, I feel, everyone is busy with their own issues, dreams, ambitions (as they should be of course..) and if anything has to change, it will happen only when we, the stammerers, work for it.. No shortcuts, no hand outs..
But I am happy that I have spoken to many people, interacted with them and certainly educated some that stammering has a neurological basis, has a genetic transmission and while it may not kill you- it does makes many things difficult because oral communication is so much at the heart of everything we do as a society..
So, take heart and keep talking..and educating people..
Get into ENTERPRISING mode for God's sake..and for your own sake!

CHANDIGARH SHG MEET # 7 REPORT

Dear Friends,

Good Afternoon,

On 26.12.2010 afternoon at 2.00 pm myself, Mr. JP, Mr. Varun, Mr. Prem and 3 new members viz. Mr.Ragesh Jandial & Mr. Aditya Khajuria both from Jammu and Mr. Harsh Preet Singh from Amritsar met in sector 33 park Chandigarh. We welcomed the new members.

We started the meet with laughter session followed with relaxation exercises to calm down our brain and speech organs. We also did deep breathing and anulom vilom yogas as being told by yoga guru Shri Ram dev ji. Then everyone gave self introduction in slow voluntary stuttering method. We deliberated on following theme of the day:

''RESIGNING TO THE FACT''

That is resigning to the fact we might always stammer, and doing it properly is not giving up. It is further knowing that we have reached a certain level of understanding, from where we may focus on making the most of what we have got.

New members were requested for complete acceptance of the problem from heart. First in front of the mirror or in bathroom to self and next confiding in someone close that they stammer and are working on it. This works like a magic.

It was also deliberated that we should keep ourself happy and once we accept our handicapcy we should not take it very seriously. Toward laughter we shared jokes. On a query of new members Mr. JP informed that our goal is to become a better communicator and not an expert orator.

I shared with them my meeting with Mr. Raja Poladi in Hyderabad and also God Reward meeting with Dr. Sachin at Delhi Airport.

Need to devote at least 45 min. in a day for coming out of our handicapcy was again emphasised.

As the tests on drug Pygoclone have failed, it was again told to ourselves that there is no cure for stammering but certainly we can become better communicator with our will power and working on it.

We dispersed after laughter session and promise to meet next week.

jasbir sandhu,

Cell 99150 06377

GOD REWARDS OUR GOOD DEEDS

Dear Friends,

I have been advocating quite often about good deeds and telling fellow PWS in SHG too that we should do some deeds close to our heart. In return we get immense satisfaction , which facilitates us to become a good communicator. But I was not aware that God immediately rewards our good deeds too, until I realised the same on 24.12.2010 at Delhi Airport. On arrival from Hyderabad I was waiting at Delhi Airport for Chandigarh flight and had around 3 hours in between. I was wondering what to do and how to spend quality time. As I was waiting on a chair I saw a lady passing in my front and dropping her boarding pass. I called her but she didn't listen. I picked up the pass but could not run after her as I was carrying a heavy bag. Then taking risk I requested a person to take care of my bag and ran after the lady. I reached her at a short distance and handed over the boarding pass. Without waiting for a second, I immediately rushed back to take care of my bag. That person was still there looking after my bag. I thanked him for his time and taking care. I was feeling an immense satisfaction for the helping act. I again started thinking what to do as I was still left with 2 and 1/2 hrs. for my flight. But as I stood up to go to a book shop I saw a person looking at me. I also started looking at him. Then I suddenly said Sachin . He also said Jasbir. Dr Sachin was standing in front of me who had come from Dehradun. I could not have asked for a better gift from God for my so called helping act to a fellow passenger. We both had a very good quality time at the Airport and chatted about stammering, Pygoclone drug etc. This was my second meeting with Dr. Sachin. He is such a wonderful person , after meeting him, the desire to meet again grows. I am grateful for your time Sir.

Hope Dr. Sachin you could catch your onward flight comfortably. I was calling but could not reach you.

MANY MANY THANKS THE ALMIGHTY FOR THE WONDERFUL REWARD.

jasbir sandhu,

chandigarh,

Cell 99150 06377

MEETING WITH A FELLOW PWS IN HYDERABAD

During my official visit to Hyderabad last week, I requested Dr. Sachin about any fellow PWS at Hyderabad. Dr. gave me contact details of Mr. Raja Poladi. After finishing my job on 23.12.2010 evening , I requested Mr. Raja to come over for a meeting. I am very grateful to Raja who despite having a very busy schedule spared his valuable time and drove all the way to Banjara Hills where I was staying. He took me to Barista coffee shop where he offered hot coffee while we shared our concerns relating to communication. Raja is a very intelligent person and has good knowledge on stuttering. I further noticed that he is an excellent communicator besides a good human being. He explained that he is having only a very few situational problem, like initiating a question in a gathering. I request Dr. Sachin to guide in such circumstances. However I suggested Raja to encounter such situations quite often instead of avoiding it. FACE THE FEAR IT GOES, AVOID THE FEAR IT GROWS. We talked in length about our problems, SHG etc. I have come back from Hyderabad alongwith sweet memories of Raja Poladi and having added a good friend in my life.

ALL THANKS AND CREDITS TO DR. SACHIN.

jasbir sandhu,

Cell 99150 06377

Underdog to Bulldog

My final speech at ToastMasters from the competent communicator's manual. I am still surprised (pleasantly ie.) about the way it turned out to be.

- जिन्दगी -

गिर कर संभलना,
ही जिंदगी है,
खोकर पाना
ही जिन्दगी है,
जब आए तेज हवा का झोंका,
तब संभलना ही जिंदगी है.
हार क्यों मानें चुनौतिओं से,
हर जंग जीतना ही जिन्दगी है.
स्याह रात से क्या डरना,
सुबह का उजाला ही जिन्दगी है.
मन हो उदास और अकेला,
उल्लास का अहसास ही जिंदगी है.
निराशा दूर भागेगी,
आशा और विश्वास ही जिन्दगी है.
राह में कोई न दे साथ,
फिर भी मंजिल तक पहुँचना ही जिन्दगी है.

- अमितसिंह कुशवाह,
इंदौर, मध्य प्रदेश. (भारत)
Mobile No. 093009-39758

Around the world in 18 days..

Sachin will be travelling around the country from 24th Dec to 12th Jan 2011.. Read here.

Power of Positive Thinking

Sometimes in our life we don't know what to do & where to go.We feel darkness all around us & think that life has no mean.We think that we should die because we couldn't do anything & won't do in further life .At that time the one small but powerful thing can change our life is "Positive Thinking".A life with positive thinking can make some differences.We can do everything with this attitude but need to think positive.One thing which should be in our mind that everything is preplanned from the top & we cannot stop these.Just do your work from bottom heart & let the GOD to do for you.
Everyday in the morning raise your hands & say "GOD thanks for everything you given me".Every day in the morning feel that Life is so beautiful & there are many opportunities waiting.Just try & grab these opportunities.The one will be definitely for you.Don't compete with friends,colleagues or family members.Just wait for good time & one day you will touch milestone.

We should keep these lines in our mind :

To achieve something
You have never achieved before,
You must do something
You have never done before.

Soyez heureux :)

Thanks

Vaibhav Talegaonkar
vaibhav.talegaonkar@gmail.com
7738614490

Speech Easy in India

Check this:
http://stammer.in/component/content/article/1-cat-latest-news/392-4g-scam-of-the-year.html

Rumi wishes you!

Yet stay not here thy journey: thou shalt grow
An angel bright and home far off in heaven.
Plod on, plunge last in the great Sea, that so
Thy little drop make oceans seven times seven.
- Rumi (translated by R. A. Nicholson)

TISA wishes Season's best greetings and a very Happy new year 2011- to all its readers, contributors, friends, colleagues, volunteers, children, families - everyone!

Keep walking and keep talking!

TISA

CHANDIGARH SHG MEET # 6 REPORT

Dear Friends,
Good afternoon,
On 19.12.2010 myself, Mr. Ishan, Mr. Balkaran and a new member Mr. Manish Chhabra met in Sector 33 Park chandigarh at 3.00 pm. Though I had sent SMS to all members but the attendance was thin this time. But we were delighted to see a new member Mr. Manish, who is working with LOREAL. He has some problem while talking in English only. Otherwise he is quite fluent and speaks in a very controlled manner. I suggested him to practice more english speaking keeping in mind the 3 principles i.e. talking in slow relaxed manner by taking breath and to avoid any kind of excitement which tends to increase our speed. And never to avoid any English speaking situation.He was also advised to have a talk with Dr. Sachin regarding his problem.
As usual we started the meet with laughter session followed by relaxation exercises to calm down our brain and speech organs. We exercised slow speaking methods with voluntary stutterings. Then we deliberated on following theme of the day:
"IF IT ISN'T ONE THING, IT'S ANOTHER"
Need for accepting the problem with heart was again emphasised. Humans seem to be programmed to create problems for themselves. Had it not been stammering, it would certainly had been some other problem. We should be thankful to God that our problem is manageable with self control and practice. Only what is required is a strong will power.
Mr. Balkaran informed that morning breathing and stretching exercises are helping a lot in overcoming the problem.
We dispersed after laughter session and promise to meet next week.
jasbir sandhu,
Cell 99150 06377

Celebrating Liberation

Pic: Left to Right- Harish, Prakash and Rahul.


Video 1: Prakash giving an introduction about himself on camera.

Video 2: Harish telling the story of Guzaarish on camera.

Today was 19^th December – The Goa Liberation Day! The day on which Goa got independence from the Portuguese rule. With freedom in the air, we also decided to celebrate Liberation- liberation from the stammering attitude.

We met at around 10.30 am, in a half-constructed building. The meeting was attended by Rahul, Prakash and Harish. We had the following activities.

1. We started with 10 minuites of meditation (Dhyan). After that, we discussed about how the experience was, and whether we could concentrate, and what techniques we used to gain concentration.

2. We had a practice session of Prolongation. All three of us recited in sync the entire barakhadi (a aa e ee u uu) in prolonged voice and every time raising the pitch of the voice.

3. Then we had a round of story telling when one person started a story and every member had to add a sentence using bouncing or prolongation.

4. We played a game. Participants had to ask questions to each of us. But the rule of the game was question had to be answered only after the participant finds a pebble and places it on a wooden plank. This was to practice talking by taking our time when we are met with sudden questions.

5. Then we had a very important session. Each participant had to tell a story of any movie that they have watched. But they had to tell the story by facing the camera. The speech was recorded, and later the speech was played, and each one of us scrutinized our speeches, analysed it, and also observed a few secondary symptoms (facial expressions or movement of hands etc.) that we have.

6. We had another session of introducing ourselves in front of the camera, and we all analysed the videos again.

We had loads of fun while doing all those above exercises, had fruitful practice sessions and also learnt a few things more about our speech.

Before parting away, Rahul shared an incident about how he had to go to a post office and buy envelope and a stamp. He could have well avoided it, he says, but he shared how he did it, even if he knew that he would stammer. He stammered alright, but was happy that he did it himself! On that happy note, we bade farewell to each other, promising to meet again next week.

Pictures and a couple of videos shared.

Interaction with Herbertpur SHG.

In the evening, I had a very interesting session with two members of the Herbertpur SHG- Parmanand and Nishu. Parmanand is an accountant by profession and is a PWS, while Nishu is a student, a part-time DJ and is a non-PWS who works with TISA as a volunteer. We talked on many things about stammering and related issues. Basically I was looking to interview a few volunteers for an article on Samvad. And I got loads of content to say the least! I then had a brief practice session of Bouncing with Dr. Sachin.

All in all, it would say, this was one of the most productive Sundays I’ve had after a long time!

My experience @ Partha Bagchi's Clinic

I'm sharing my experience of attending 13 sessions @ Partha Bagchi's clinic. The very first day he introduced me with the basic technique of prolongation and we had to follow it all day long. Apart from that he even put emphasis on vocal exercises as well as meditation. He even made us talk on the microphone in front of other PWS which is helpful for people who have a fear of talking in front of a crowd.

Now how effective the course is??

Well it is effective...but not a necessity when you know the relevant techniques...and you practice it religiously yourself. I have observed that the main problem that lies with us stammerers is a want of a instant cure and giving hope all hope when we fail to get the cure. I had gone to take his therapy with the same thinking and was expected to have a stammer free life after those 2 weeks. I had improved my speech to a considerable extent but wasn't fully cured and due to that i kinda lost hope and gave up practice and i'm back to my previous state. So do remember one thing....practice is the key....of course i knew all the techniques but never practiced it myself....but did it there...so it helped a lot.

So it isn't a necessity to attend any course if u know the techniques but knowing isn't enough, u need to apply them too and practice it regularly.

One thing I didn't like about Partha Bagchi was his misleading advertisements of a sure cure within 14 days otherwise it was okay.

So to sum up, the course is very effective but nothing new(information wise) for people who have attended speech therapies, done researches, etc. Only thing is that you get a environment to practice at a stretch of 14 days there with everyone else.

The thing is we know a lot bout stammering, infact I feel that I know so much that I can help people get rid of their stammer but when it comes to me I lack the determination to practice everyday. Just knowing isn't enough.

I had been talking with Sachin Sir, and have plans of opening a SHG in my area in Kolkata. Will start it very soon.

Interested people from Kolkata can contact me. My number is 9836150610.