Conversations with myself - My first prepared speech at The Toastmasters International Club

Dear Bloggers,

I have recently become a member of The Toastmasters Club and had a chance to present my P1 (first prepared speech) speech. For all the amateurs, the Toastmasters International is a world renowned institution that helps better one's public speaking skills. I took this opportunity to boost my confidence and learn from my peers. 

I had to speak for a minimum of 4 mins and maximum of 6 minutes to qualify for an evaluation. I clocked a 5.45 on my speech and received a good evaluation. In fact I even went on to win the Best Speaker Ribbon! 

Following is the script of my P1 speech. 

Conversations with myself

Toastmaster of the day, fellow toast masters and guests, my name is Asawari Sathaye and I am here to present my P1 speech.

When I nominated myself for today, I did not think it would be that difficult a task for I only had to speak on myself. I mean, who here than me to speak on me?! And yet it took me a good one hour across 3 days to remind me about myself. And that's when it struck me, have I lost touch with myself?  Ask me and I can tell you 5 good things about Pooja, but myself, m still thinking. M I humble? Maybe, but more than that I am too pseudo busy with life to actually live it. And so are many of us here in this room. Reflect on this. Tell me the last time you had a conversation with yourself? For this particular reason, I thank toastmasters for this opportunity; they let me have a conversation with myself.

While I was engulfed in the thoughts that were crowding my mind, I chanced upon something that I had long forgotten. I saw it staring back at me from the corner of my eye  and I just wanted to avoid it’s gaze, I felt very guilty, for it occurred to me that besides myself I had also not paid attention to things that earlier used to complete my life – case in point, my harmonium. There it was lying peaceful, unclean and untouched like a virgin for I had not played it since some days. Let me now help you understand the deep connection between my harmonium and myself. My name is derived from the thaath asawari in Hindustani classical music. I am a trained classical singer and have won Zee TV’s Close-up Antakshari. Besides singing I like to read, blog and travel. My husband and I love to take time off every year to explore new destinations and try our hand at adventure sports. The last time we were kayaking in Krabi and a few years before that went sky diving in Germany. This time we travelled to Italy and were mesmerised in its beauty, history and art.

I think of myself as an empowered dreamer, and that has a lot to do with the way I have been brought up. I belong to a typical maharashtrian family that places a lot of emphasis on education. We believe that education has very high Returns on Investment. The women folk in my family have always lived an independent and empowered life. We were and are the custodians of our own decisions. I remember looking at a photograph of my grandmother who would drive a two-wheeler wearing a nine-yard saari to go to her college every day. My grandmother was a BA in Sanskrit and my mother is a Masters in German and Economics.

To let the cat out of the bag, I am still considered the black sheep in my family. My father is an alumnus of IITB and IIMA while my brother is an alumnus of the famous North Western School of Management – Kellogg. My husband is a Chartered Accountant. So where does that leave me? I completed my bachelors in economics and statistics and my masters in econometrics from the Mumbai University. I then started working as an economist with the Tata group. But I guess I had not satiated my hunger for education yet. After working for 5 years with the group, I decided I wanted to study more. Wanted to get a global degree. So I started applying for MBA schools. Got through to one of the high ranking schools in the world, its ranked no. 34.  That 52 week roller coaster ride taught me a lot of things about life. I cherish all the moments I spent on campus right from my induction on day one to my placement and my graduation. Amongst all the other things, my b-school taught me that time and sleep are luxuries in life. This was my mantra when I started working with PriceWaterhouseCoopers as a consultant in their strategy consulting practice.

I spent a good time in PwC but I could not stop myself from dreaming what life would be on the other side – the industry that is. So I decided that I wanted to take a break from consulting and chanced upon an interview with Jayant and Emmanuel at Voltas. I have just about started my journey here and hope I continue to do well. Thank you.