300 eyes staring at me...

Just after 15 days of my joining Great Lakes Institute of Management (my MBA school), as part of a course, we were asked to deliver a 2 min speech on any topic of our choice. Well, sounds so cool naa. Being a public speaker all my life, honestly, I was not scared and thought that it would be like just another delivery. But oops, this baby was quite a huge one to deliver. For the first time in my life, I wanted to hide behind the podium and get done with the process, and you know why. Because, for the first time, I was standing in front of 150 people in one go. 300 eyes staring at me with not even a blink. It makes one feel naked. Suddenly, my wheatish complexion turned red. My legs felt that the earth was too soft. My eyes wanted to go blind.

I walked toward the podium almost as if I had been asked to commit a suicide. Never did holding the podium seemed so assuring. But finally the moment came and for ten seconds, I stopped and looked in the faces of those 150 people. It was spectacular. It felt like a huge mountain that was desperately waiting to be explored. I smiled and finally started speaking.

Courtesy an awesome friend Mayank (who is an expert on the subject), I chose to speak on 'Life and Madhushala '. Madhushala is one of the finest pieces of Hindi literature written by Sir Harivansh Rai Bacchan. I took few lines from this beautiful poem and related it to our usual mundane life.

It goes as follows :

"madiraalay jaane ko ghar se, chaltaa hae peene waalaa
kis path se jaaoon asamanjas, mein hae woh bholaabhaalaa
alag alag path batalaate sab, par maen yeh batalaataa
hun raah pakad tu eka chalaachal, paa jaa aega madhushaalaa"

It Means

(madiraalay = the house of liquor, pub) 

With the intention of going to the pub, the drink-seeker starts from home
He is confused as to which path should he choose
Different people show different paths, but I suggest only one thing
Take one path (any one) and just keep going, you will get MADHUSHAALAA.

Mr. Bacchan wants to say that, people would show you a million paths, but what is important is that YOU CHOOSE YOUR PATH. Believe it or not, if you chose one path and keep walking persistently, you would eventually reach your madhushala, your destination!

Finally, the baby was delivered and the mountain was captured, leaving me quite disappointed with all the stammers and grammatical wrong doings. I requested a friend to shoot a video and each time I look at it, the desire to get better becomes stronger. Each time I watch this video, a mixed bag of emotions is left behind.

Disclaimer : The amateurish video starts in the middle of my speech. I was shitty scared , and so please excuse me for all my stammering.

Cheers,

Hena