THE SECOND MANTRA: YOU SHALL SPEAK CLEARLY...








Pic.: Rajiv Sharma
11-year-old Yommie began to attend our summer PD-course when he was seven. So, this time was his fifth summer-course with us! I love (?) his energy and mischief... He is a real sport. Rather, brat!

One of the mischiefs, Yommie would frequently resort to, during our PD sessions for the little-ones, was his mimicry. The moment I went out of the class, he would mount on the podium and start entertaining his friends by mimicking me... Well, he had been watching me in action for five long seasons... Mimicry, thus, had to be top-class!

Once he sensed that even I started enjoying his ape-act, he kept repeating it very regularly. At times, I would get annoyed and sternly send his little-tail in, screaming at him: “Enough!”

Then, one day, fed up with his mischief, I decided to put an end to this monkey menace in my class. “Yommie, I am going to punish you,” I howled, “you will have to mimic me in front of a large audience on the certification day.”

“Yes sir, I will,” the little brat picked the gauntlet!

So, on last Sunday, at the graduation ceremony of the present batch, our Yommie (who acted as me) and his friend, Yash (who acted as my student) put together an act. Their friend, Akash (who was the anchor), introduced: “Friends, now comes a ‘special item’ by two of our ‘special items’.... Yomesh Kukreja and Yash Dharmani!”

Trust me, the act was spectacular!

This Post is inspired by the second mantra – out of the three mantras - I offer to all our Public-Speaking students... the big-ones and small-ones, all: “You shall speak CLEARLY’! (“You shall speak LOUDLY” and “You shall speak from your HEART” being the first and third mantras respectively.)

“To speak CLEARLY, Yash beta,” said Yommie caressing his student’s velvety hair, “you have to OPEN your mouth... like this (He showed)... Your four fingers should go into your mouth... aaaaaaaaaaanha.” He added, “You know beta, inside your mouth, there are five machines - your tongue, teeth, palate – the hard upper-part - lips and throat. When you open your mouth fully, these machines work well... and you are able to speak CLEARLY... What did I say?”

“You can speak CLEARLY!!!!” little Yash aped Yommie.

“Not I, You, darling,” Yommie tried to correct his student.

“YOU,” Yash repeated, all obediently!

“Good, very good, Shah Rukh Khan!” Yommie was, now, done with the second mantra!

The ape-act was, in deed, an epic act... All of us had a good time out there!

Yommie was too young to tell one more thing while teaching the second mantra: To speak clearly, you need to think clearly... Yes, you need a clear mind. Of course, fueled by a strong heart!

When your mind thinks clearly and when your heart believes in your thoughts, the clarity has to come about...

These days, Smriti Irani’s speech at the International Women’s Conference is doing rounds on social media. If you are a Public-Speaking student, I would highly recommend you watch this video and listen to her speech. It is the height of clarity!

And, before you listen to her, please open your mind’s window, and throw out the politics, if there is any...




GERALD D’CUNHA
Video: YouTube

Comments

Anonymous said…
Clarity of thoughts is crucial for good communication.
--- Nirad Shah
June 11, 2014 at 5:50 PM
Prakash Nambiar said…
Great fluency, worth admiring. Keep writing Gerry..

-- Prakash Nambiar
June 13, 2014 at 2:49 PM
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