Toastmaster CC2 - Pride and Prejudice

Yesterday was the 200^th death anniversary of Jane Austen. She is my favourite author ever and also the author of most favourite novel of mine, Pride and Prejudice. I was 13 years old when my English teacher forced me to read it. The book turned a rather non-interested reader in me to a ferocious and avid reader of classics today.

Pride and Prejudice contains one of the most cherished love stories in English literature – the courtship of Darcy and Elizabeth. As any good love story, the main characters must elude and overcome the stumbling blocks beginning with the tensions brought about by a personality clash or personal qualities.

A common theme across the book is pride and many characters allude to the idea that human nature is particularly prone to pride. Pride is notably the one of the two main barriers in the union of Darcy and Elizabeth. Darcy’s pride in his own social circles leads him to look down upon others. Elizabeth’s pride in her powers of discernment cloud her judgement.

The second key theme in my view is Prejudice. Darcy’s pride finds its place in social prejudice and class divisions. Elizabeth’s prejudice is routed in her sense of discernment. Ultimately its their egos which drive them to prejudice and isn’t it something we all face around us. It’s actually easier to get prejudiced about things, people and actions we all know little about.

Happiness comes to Darcy and Elizabeth once they allow themselves to look beyond their personal follies. Austen however, has not allowed most of her characters to see beyond their pride, leaving us with an undercurrent as to how it is actually easy to not change oneself and keep on finding faults in others for own actions and sufferings.

This brings us to the third key theme in my view – family and education. Family as a unit is primarily responsible for the intellectual and moral education of children. Education is lot beyond the degrees given out at universities. There is nothing which can forgive negligence on parents’ part towards inculcating moral values and discernment ability among children. There will always be fewer beings like Elizabeth and her sister Jane who become what they are despite this sheer negligence. Darcy’s aristocratic father gave him values making him one of the noblest characters every written appealing to both Aristotelian and Christian values but left him with a sense of pride that clouded his positives. The mother in Lady Catherine de Brough’s formidable upbringing left her daughter not only too frightened to speak but left her in a rather sickly state.

The book leaves us with the universal appeal with regard to human follies and social class. After all, it is only education that gives us the discernment to rise above the moment and rescue self from the false sense of social biases. It is this appeal which makes this love story much beyond just a love story and makes Austen an author loved across generations.

Toastmaster Ice Breaker - CC1

Hello Everyone,

Today I am giving my Icebreaker speech. Title of the speech is "I, Me, Myself". The word icebreaker actually has its origins from shipping industry where vessels with reinforced bows were used to break the ice in bodies of water to keep the navigation channels open. Hopefully this speech allows me to do the same here about my life here.

My life has been like a book and now after a few sessions of Olam’s Toastmaster’s Club, I feel glad to start a new chapter with you all.

I would start with sharing the cover page with you first. It’s about my name. No offense to Shakespeare when he said “a rose is a rose is a rose”, but name does matter. Dehradun is the city where I was born and also where my parents were posted back then. As I was born premature, my parents struggled to initially find a name for me as they hadn’t thought they would have reached to this question earlier. Well, they did name me Rachna. I was just under two months old when at a picnic to Dhanaulti, my father saw an advert of a vegetable oil on the cover of a scooter’s stepney and he liked it so much that he named me Ruchi. But before you think I was named after a vegetable oil and hence, “fry up” those around me, let me clarify my father’s version – he like the meaning of the word Ruchi!

When I was two, the family moved to the joint family home in Delhi. Though only child of my parents, I have grown up with cousins and have my amazing share of childhood memories. While we had our share of friends, I actually grew up with my cousins Vicky, Manika, Reena, Himanshu, Meeta and Anoop.

The Mother’s International School was my first school and in class 7, was sent to boarding in Dehradun. Well, actually it wasn’t as if I was sent alone to boarding as some sort of punishment, we all cousins went together – the boys to the Doon and the girls to Welhams. This has been the most memorable chapter of my life.

Practically, we cousins have been practically inseparable, still living in the same house with respective families.

My grandparents have ensured that all kids in the house work to earn their college degree. So my work life and college life have actually begun together. Difficult to imagine in hindsight really, but the experience has been rather exciting and practically bringing in streaks of independence. As I enrolled for Honours degree in English Literature at DU’s St Stephen’s College, I also began to intern as a Reporter with The Indian Express. Well, the job helped to not just pay the college fee, it also helped me entry into varied events at the North Campus, including the late night fest cultural nights where possibly my parents wouldn’t have allowed. Three years of college and I moved to take a full time job at the newspaper and this led me to the most exciting and memorable chapter of my life. I was the first kid in the family to not look for a government service. It was quite odd really for the family but they seem to have taken it quite well.

I covered varied segments here from art to business, and crime to war. 43 days in the Afghan war was truly memorable and actually built perspectives which have lasted me till date. The most invigorating person in my life has been my first boss,. What best possibly would describe him is Taleb’s The Black Swan. 

His most valuable lesson to me has been that it is not the fall that matters; rather it is the vigour, the mind set and the speed with which one can stand up back on one’s feet!

Post journalism, I went for my Masters at LSE and Sheffield, followed an interesting analytics and trading career in commodities where you find me at Olam today. From a science student at school, a degree in humanities to a commerce post- graduation, I seemingly have enjoyed it all.

An aspect which have been continuous in life since I can remember and which makes me “me”, has been the excitement for the new. My love for reading, food, art, music and travel actually comes from that and leads to the optimism that I live my life with. Beatings of the life may cast a blow but don’t keep me down for long ever. Resurrection happens and always, with a vigour.

My life motto has been Zindagi Gulzar Hai; that is, life is a bed of roses having its share of the thorns; I believe my life has been so and will continue to be so. I believe in the “Universal Law of Attraction” -- that is, you get more of what you think about and feel strongly about. So if you believe, that good things are on their way, they will soon be there for you!

After being nominated for Toastmasters and wondering where it will help me, I would repeat myself in saying that it is opening a new chapter in my life. It’s been quite reassuring to hear “if you got up, said something and sat down, you have succeeded!”

I thank you all to be part of it and adding onto the memories I soon will be making. Over the last few years I’ve had more and more people looking to me for guidance and leadership. I’ve realized it’s just not something that comes all that naturally to me. But I do believe it is something that can be learned, and that’s why I’m standing in front of you here today! After all, it is only the inner growth that changes reality.