'Ovation 2011' off to thunderous start

Deccan Herald is the media partner for the four-day event organised by Toastmasters International District 82 - India and Sri Lanka, which began here on Thursday.

Citing an example of a hopping race he participated in his first grade, Dhananjay said that along with his friend 'Little Steve', Dhananjay had to compete in the race - albeit with their shoelaces tied to each other.

When they were just about to reach the finish line, Dhananjay said that the crowd thought that

 'Little Steve' tripped and caused both of them to fall.

However the truth was, Dhananjay recalled "It wasn't Steve who tripped, it was me. 'Little Steve' helped me rollover the finish line. But everybody thought I helped us cross the finish line. I got all the credit, while my partner was left crying."

With that first incident of tasting success, Dhananjay said he continued to trying coming first in everything he did. "There is nothing more intoxicating than winning," he said in his baritone voice that resounded in the auditorium.

However, in the urgency to win in all his endeavours he had to 'Sacrifice'. Continuing, he said that he had to let go of spending quality family time and birthday parties during which the whole family and relatives would have gathered.

Mentioning the situation that changed his perspective of winning, Dhananjay said that his grandfather advised him, "Polish your relationships, that's important... Don't worry about gathering gold medals, but maintaining golden relationships."

A thunderous applause resonated through the hall, as Dhananjay concluded by saying that sometimes they forget the people who help us rollover to the finishing line in the hurry to be first in everything we do.

His speech bagged him a place in the finals of the International Speech Contest to be held on the contest. Dirish Mohan for his speech on 'Be the difference', while Abhinash Agarwal emerged as the second runner-up for his talk on the topic - 'Please get in my way'. The other participants included Sudath Fernando, Pradeep Kumar, Deepak Lekhi and Lal Xavier.

About Toastmasters

Toastmasters International (TI) is a non-profit organisation that empowers its members with effective communication and leadership skills. TI has more than 2, 60,000 members in over 12,500 clubs in 113 countries.