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SPEAK OUT March 1, 2013

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Editor’s Note:

It is finally here!!!!! Speak out for the month of March. It gives us immense pleasure in

being the editor for this month’s newsletter. With so much of ardent Toastmasters around, the

articles just kept flowing in so fast. And it was so fun preparing the newsletter this time.

This month’s newsletter has a variety of articles, each one being so innovative. We have

a total of ten articles from a couple of junior and senior Toastmasters. The theme being

innovation the articles were also innovative in the way they express their message to the

others.

Both of us sincerely thank all the contributors with their extended hand with the pen of

on the keyboard writing the articles. This March edition of speak out is made possible. We

started out with the theme Innovation and asked the Tm for the articles.

In this Newsletter TM Rajesh shared his views on how to take our strength forward

instead of weakness. TM Thanigeashwara expressed his ideas on how to deliver your speeches

innovatively. DTM Saro shows us a way to become an inventor. A thank you letter from TM

Selva Bharathi to her Brother TM Thanigeashwara.

TM Eshwar tells how can toastmasters be symbiotic. TM Pramoth gets you to improve

your communication skills. DTM Aditya Maheswaran shows us the way to experience

important virtues in life from a movie. TM Varadarajan pleas us to stop wasting. TM Aditya V S

tells who are the heroes of today’s world. What is the secret behind them? TM Bharath Raja

gives away top innovative tools to make life easier.

We are expecting innovative feedback on improving the newsletter and your comments

on the same. Thank you TM Madhavan V for proofreading the articles. Cheers!!

TM Pramoth Gopalakrishnan TM Bharath Raja

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Contents

Editor‟s Note………………………………………………………………………….2

1.Leveraging your strengths ………………………………………………….……4

-TM Rajesh Natrajan

2.i-Way of presenting speeches ………………………………………….…….5

– TM Thanigeashwara

3.Inventor in every one of us …………………………………………….……..6

- DTM Saro Velrajan

4.Thank you ………………………………………………………………….……….8

- TM Selva Bharathi

5.Symbiotic Toastmasters ……………………………………………….……….9

– TM Eshwar Raju

6.Communication ……………………………………………………………….…11

– TM Pramoth Gopalakrishnan

7.What Les Miserables can teach us? ……………………………………...12

– DTM Aditya Maheswaran

8.Stop wastage ……………………………………………………………………...16

- TM Varadarajan

9.The Heroes of Today ………………………………………………………...17

- TM Aditya V S

10.Top Innovative tools ………………………………………………………...19

- TM Bharath Raja

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Leveraging your strengths

Everyone wants to succeed in their life. We look up to the stalwarts in our chosen field. We are

inspired by their success and decide to follow their footsteps. Wait a minute! Did I say, follow their

footsteps?

In our quest to excel in a chosen field we have three options in front of us.

One is to emulate others.

Second is to work on our weakness.

Third is to leverage our strengths.

While the first option seem to be a shortcut to success, it is disastrous to emulate others since you

lose your creativity. Second option of working on your weakness will also not work since how

much ever we work, there are always going to be weakness within us. Finally we are left with the

last and the best choice of leveraging our strengths to achieve our vision.

Leveraging our strength in a chosen field is like an arrow that comes out of the bow, there is only

one direction, FORWARD direction.

Similarly, inspired by listening to erudite and eloquent speeches of toastmasters, we join this

movement to become better public speakers. I take this opportunity to share a PIECE OF good

news with you. You can also become a great public speaker. Not by emulating others or working

on your weaknesses, but only by leveraging your strengths. That will take you only in the

FORWARD direction.

The Extent you leverage will not only make your speeches special, but you will also become

special.

Happy Toastmastering!!!

-TM Rajesh Natarajan

Area Governor

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i-Way of presenting speeches

How many times you witness a speech in the CC manual in the out of the box manner? It is very

rare to witness a speech that is presented in the out of box manner. But our club is a place where

you can witness such rarest of speeches.

The first of such kind was done by our for former president and district level second runners up

TM Sadayappan. For his CC#08 speech (Get Comfortable with visual aids), he presented a speech

about the blood circulation. In the background, video will be played where the circulation of blood

throughout our body will be shown.

Saday portrayed himself as blood gave the speech explaining the functionality and the hardships

faced by blood. He never looked at the video. The speech exactly matched the video with his

immaculate rehearsal. Everyone got amazed.

I also tried my luck in my CC#08 speech. I presented a speech about the importance of vegetables.

During the course of the speech, I portrayed myself as the mentioned vegetable and went on to

explain the benefits. For each vegetable in the speech, I made a garland out of it and wore at the

appropriate time during the speech. Also I had given the mentioned vegetables to the audience.

Whenever the name of the vegetable is introduced, some of the audience will show the vegetable

and cheer the name twice. This attracted the audience attention and brought humor. For e.g.: In

the speech, I will say “Let us welcome the vegetable Onion”. Immediately the audience holding the

particular vegetable will show the vegetable in the hand upwards and cheer “Onion, Onion”.

Let us try to avoid the monotonous way of giving prepared speeches. Go for the i-way.

-TM Thanigeaswara

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Inventor in every one of us

Who invented light bulb? Thomas Edison. Who invented telephone? Graham Bell. Who

invented aircraft? Wright Brothers. All of us have or had opportunities to become popular like

these inventors. We might have thought about, imagined or dreamed about ideas that could've

benefited the whole world. But, we weren't persistent enough and passionate enough to make our

ideas a reality. I am one such individual. In this article, I am going to talk about the 3 ideas that I

missed to pursue.

Idea#1 - Wireless Keyboard & Mouse

I thought about this way back in 1995. We had a local area network in our LAB. We had about 25

PCs connected to each other using co-axial Ethernet cables. The lab was so congested and we

hardly had any space between the terminals. There will be cables running all over the table for

network connectivity and to connect devices like mouse, keyboard & VGA monitor. The specialty

of our network is - if the Ethernet cable is slightly distorted from any workstation, the whole

network will be down. Quite often, some one or the other will try to repair their mouse or

keyboard connection to the workstation and that would disturb the Ethernet cables. The whole

network will be down.

I used to think - working in the lab will be lot more peaceful if we have wireless keyboards and

mouses. Wireless keyboards/mouse became very popular in late 90s.

Idea#2 - WiFi in Car

This is a cool idea. What would you do if you are lost in a high way and you don't have a mobile

phone with you? In India, there will be a number of shops close to the highways. If you are lost,

you can stop by any of the shops and get the directions for your destination. However, in USA you

have to take the next exit, find a gas station & park your car to get directions. I thought it would be

nice if we have WiFi in all the cars. If you are lost, you can communicate with the other cars in the

road to get driving directions.

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Also, the WiFi in cars can be used to sense collisions in advance. The WiFi system can detect and

alert the drivers if you are following a car so closely or if there is an obstacle close-by.

To my surprise, in 2005, I read an article saying that leading car manufacturers are going to

support WiFi in cars to get these functions.

Idea#3 - Access to MAPS using 411

Assume that you got lost while driving and you have a mobile phone with you. What would you

do? You'll call your friend to get driving directions, right? What if you had access to maps using

411 services? You can tell your current location and get directions from there to your destination.

You don't have to disturb your friend. You don't have to install costly GPS or navigation systems in

your car. You just pay 50 cents or a dollar to get this service. I thought about this idea in 2003,

when I go out with friends on a long drive. We used to get lost and I wish I had access to a service

like this. In 2007, Google came up with Google411 in USA, a service that is quite similar to this.

You can dial-up a number to access MAPs from wherever you are.

When you come across new ideas - run them with your close friends. They can help you to refine

it. Thomas Edison said, "I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the

service it might give others". Your inventions should benefit others. Filing a patent costs between

$4K - $25K. If you come up with a work related idea, your employer may help you in patenting it.

There is an inventor in every one of us. We all have the potential to come up with brilliant ideas.

However, we fail to consciously recognize such ideas and make them a reality. Needs and

challenges drive inventions. You may be facing a number of problems or issues in your home,

work place or society. Think how best you can resolve those issues or problems. There is a great

probability that you can be an inventor.

-DTM Saro Velrajan

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Thank you

I always think about my lovable brother Thani. What are the things he is doing, especially what is

the mistake he is doing because then only I have the opportunity to tell my parents and sister in

law to scold him. Jokes apart, I really admire my brother‟s innovative idea in

scripting his CC projects. I joined Toastmaster when he completed CC#7. After a long gap he

thought about his CC#8 "Get Comfortable with Visual Aids", so he discussed with me. We both

talk about lot of things but we don‟t get an idea for cc#8. Finally he told me about Vegetable

kingdom. I was really amazed about this Innovative idea. I asked him how you got this idea, he just

smiled and replied that “I am reading lots books that why I got lots of idea”. After hearing this I

also wish to study lots of book but I am basically a little bit Lazy.

I told my brother that I will get ideas by reading Facebook posters, I also requested him that you

have to share your knowledge which you are gaining by reading books to others, so that your

knowledge will be multiplied. So I told him to share his knowledge in the morning. But he told me

that he doesn‟t have time for this and asked me to read the notebook that he using to note

important points in the book. I told him I will read this after you leave for the job.

He appreciated my idea and congratulated me. I am following this for the past two and half

months.

Thank you BRO!!!!...

You can also use this idea by searching the Google through Blogs instead of Web. Blogs are the

digital notes of others available for everyone. For the people who write blogs it took years of

experience to write them. They would have read 1000 books met 2000 people and experienced

3000 failures. If you start to learn from them you would get that distilled knowledge within a

fraction of a time then they had went to attain it. You can also see the world through their eyes.

-TM Selvabharathi

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Symbiotic Toastmasters

“The movement is not about ego or power it is about the “US”s out there” –Harvey milk.

How many of you believe that Toastmaster is a movement and not a forum?

How many of you believe that Toastmaster is effectively helping the people?

How many of you believe that Toastmaster could help large section of community compared to

now?

I strongly believe that Toastmaster movement has not reached Towns in Tamilnadu when

compared to Chennai. Do you agree?

I strongly believe that Symbiotic Toastmasterism can further be explored-the mutual supportive

and collaborative environment- for exploring the movement in towns.

But Why?

When I went to my home town two years before, I heard that my neighbor‟s son is searching for

job. When I recently went to home for Diwali, I heard the same comment. What is the problem?

He comes to Chennai to attend interviews every month. He clears aptitude. But he fails in GD or

interview. Why this situation happens? Because currently only in Chennai, toastmaster is

active. There are no Toastmaster clubs in my home town. If there is one, it could have definitely

helped him. It is high time for Division Governors and area governors to focus on towns outside

Chennai. There will be practical difficulties. But, if every person in the toastmaster takes an oath

now to establish a club in his/her home town and starts to plant a seed about the movement in

their respective towns, toastmaster clubs will spring in towns in the offing.

But what can we do now?

Should that person in my town has to wait until few more years to get a job due to the formation of

Toastmaster club in my home town? He can‟t wait until that. But, we can start to give crash course

on Toastmasters to these people for a month. I am considering this crash course as career

enhancement workshop (Like youth leadership workshop, this workshop will help town people to

improve themselves for placements). The idea is to group five clubs (Will increase the bonding

among those clubs) in the city and assign those people from various towns to them for continuous

Toastmaster activity for them. Every club in the city should be a part of that workshop and DCP

points should be awarded for the club for being a part of that workshop. (This will force the clubs

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to be a part of the workshop). Practically in Chennai, by this way eight leadership programs can be

conducted as we have close to forty clubs.

People from various towns can come and stay in Chennai for a month and visit these five clubs in a

week. The more they start to attend the meeting, the more they will be willing to participate.

Mentors can be assigned for the respective people and real mentoring happens here (As mentors

have to groom them to face the interview).The idea here is not to make them orators; at least they

should come out of the fear when talking to HR (Human Resource).

Who can be involved for this Career Forum?

We can involve young and upcoming Toastmasters for this initiative. Preferably who are not

working full time can be involved as volunteers have to accompany the persons to different clubs in

the different days of the week.

When can this Career forum be implemented?

We can kick start this initiative during summer season as most of the campus interviews happens

during this time period. It will be also helpful as student toastmasters can contribute more in these

activities.

How could this help Toastmasters?

1. Bonding within different clubs

2. CL roles can be completed in HPLC

3. TMs can organize special events for Program and get credits.

4. Network with students from Tamilnadu

5. Effective Mentoring

What this Career forum will achieve?

As the job searchers will be attending the meetings continuously for a month and will be giving

three or four projects they will be at least in a position to speak confidently in the interviews. At the

same time, the real power of the movement will be exposed to needy people. A win for win

situation where high performance leadership is conducted and many leaders are created and at the

same time, brand awareness about Toastmasters spreads to towns and towns will show more

interested in starting their own Toastmasters clubs.

If the people are interested in towns, it is quite easy to build the aura and set the clubs. Initially, a

club can be established in a well-known college and after one or two years once it gets stabilized

like VIT toastmasters, we can go ahead and start Community clubs. The Native person from the

Town who wants to give back to the movement after his/her learning can act as the mentors for

those town community or college clubs and help in grooming the club as he/she will be frequently

visiting the town.

So, Dear Toastmasters start to think. It is not only our duty to make more orators but also to

change the life of people by making them good communicators. I am ready to giving it back to my

town. Are you ready???

-TM. Eshwar Raju

Chennai Communicators Club

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Communication

Communication is very important in your day to day life. We need to talk to everyone whom

you meet up every day. Making it a good conversation is in your hand. Think of a moment if you just

had a very bad start up conversation with someone, you’ll never feel like meeting the same person

again. Communication in simple terms can also be said as conveying your information to someone.

Adding style to the way you speak is something which you garner over a period of time. And

Toastmasters is none other than, the best platform for that. The magic of turning a shyness survivor

into a confident speaker provided there are commitment, dedication and ample effort from the

speaker’s side. The following is a list of things which helped me gain confidence:

First of all not bothering about what others think about you: This is one thing which most shy’s

always think of, what other people think about him/her. I have to say that, people spend most of

their time evaluating themselves, then how will they have the time to think about you.

Do not expect that whatever you speak will be correct all the time: You are not a novice speaker.

You are just learning to speak better. Even if you do not have a great command over the language

you speak, just speak. It just brings out whatever your mind wants to express and only if you express

it through words, will you be able to know where you stand as a communicator. Or else if you feel

that staying quiet is better than uttering it the wrong ways, then you are the loser.

Read a lot: Get to read whatever articles you see on the newspaper or magazines. It helps you stay

abate with the language. More the flow of words into your mind, more the words you get when you

speak. It’ll help you not wait and search for words when you speak.

Read aloud: This is something which will help in the smooth flow of words from your mouth. This is

also something which will improve the style of delivery in your speech. Your words need to be

precise when you speak. There are occasions when, words don’t just come out of your mouth; you

feel difficulty in pronouncing it all of a sudden after a very long time. So reading aloud will make you

a very speaker.

Observe: Toastmasters is a platform where you get an opportunity to watch novice speakers

perform. There is so much you can learn just by observing. The word usage, style of delivery, body

language and everything you get to see. It helps you inculcate these things in your way of delivery

while you speak and also makes you a good evaluator by judging how a speaker performed. I hope

these tips helped you in some way. –TM Pramoth Gopalakrishnan

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What Les Miserables can teach us?

I must confess, I was curious about Les Miserables only after watching the

very inspiring rendition of „I dreamed a dreamed‟ by Susan Boyle at Briton‟s got talent back in

2009, a video that now boasts of nearly a billion views!

Today, nearly 4 years later, I watched Les Miserables, which is running in theatres now, an

adaptation of the exceptionally famous story of the same name written by Victor Hugo centuries

ago. And what an experience it was. I use the word experience because it‟s not often you watch a

Hollywood movie starring Hugh Jackman and Russel Crowe in a full and full musical. Such

uniqueness makes you sit back and let yourself experience the extravaganza, just hoping that it

wouldn‟t disappoint. And it certainly did not!

My three favorite episodes from the movie and what it could teach us (in italics):

Episode 1: Jean Valijean‟s (Hugh Jackman) encounter with the Bishop:

„Why did I allow this man to touch my soul and teach me love?‟

Jean is a man of hatred. He served 19 years in prison (slave) for something as trivial as stealing

bread. Nobody gives him shelter, as he carries the „ex-convict‟ tag. He is cold, hurt and sleep

deprived. That is when he meets the Bishop, who changes his perspective of life.

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The Bishop gives him food to eat, a bed to

sleep and fire to keep warm. However, the hatred in Jean makes him rob the place at night and

flee. He is caught by the police who drag him back to the Bishop. Jean is overwhelmed when the

Bishop tells the police that he in fact gifted Jean the silverware. Saying that, he adds 2 more silver

candleholders to the loot. That night Jean cannot sleep. He cries out loud:

„Why did I allow this man to touch my soul and teach me love?

He treated me like any other, he gave me trust he called me his brother

Can such things be? For I have come to hate the world, as this world that always hated me‟

Sometimes, our hate is directionless. It is not pointed toward a person, we hate the world, and we

hate circumstances. Hate ourselves for the inadequate, unhappy life that transpires. At these

vulnerable moments, it is amazing what an act of kindness can do. Kindness extinguishes the anger,

as it assures that hope and love exist. That there is somebody who cares for us too. That we are

significant too. And when a person feels he is significant and cared, he transforms, just like many of

us have at various times.

Jean loses his hatred and animosity with the world after that night and learns to co-exist.

Episode 2: Touching encounter between Fantine (Anne Hathway) and Jean Valijean:

„Good monsieur (sir), you come from God in heaven‟

One of the most touching characters is Fantine, portrayed so beautifully by Anne Hathway.

Fantine works hard to send money to her daughter‟s caretakers. The abusive caretakers keep

writing letters demanding more money. One of these letters is discovered by a foreman in the

factory and she is thrown out into the streets.

Her mind pictures her beautiful daughter and she knows she‟s got to send the money. Life takes a

cruel turn. The vicious world takes her to prostitution. She is forced to sell her teeth to a roadside

dentist for money. At this most tearful and touching scene is when the beautiful song „I dreamed a

dream‟ is sung where she blames life for her despair:

„I had a dream my life would be so different from this hell I‟m living

So different now from what it seemed, but….life has killed the dream‟

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Jean spots her in this misery. She shouts that

she was working in his factory and he looked away when she was unrightfully thrown out. Jean

grieves „Is it true what I‟ve done, to an innocent soul‟.

He takes her away from there, takes care of her, and promises that her daughter would be his

responsibility. Hearing this gives Fantine such emotional relief. With so much pain endured, she is

too tired, hurt and nearing her end. She thinks of her daughter, looks at Jean and utters her last

words:

„Good monsieur (sir), you come from God in heaven‟

There are people suffering around us. Like Fantine‟s, there are stories behind people‟s actions, a

prostitute or a priest. While we may not be able to hear each of it out, for we don‟t have the time,

but we could always be approachable and non-judgmental. The value of help to a desperate person

can be understood only when we are desperate ourselves. Fantine could rest in peace as her

daughter was safe. How many people can we bring peace to? To them, we too would have come

from God in heaven, like Jean.

Episode 3: Jean Valijean and Javert (Russel Crowe)

The movie is built around a very captivating relationship between Jean and Javert. Javert is a strict

and merciless cop whose only objective is to bring wrongdoers to justice. When he discovers that

Jean is an escaped convict, the mad chase begins – which goes on for nearly 20 years. Now

Fantine‟s daughter, who grows up calling Jean her father, is a beautiful young woman. The French

revolution is going on in full swing. Javert is captured by the student rebels and Jean requests for

Javert‟s head and the students happily agree giving him a knife to kill Javert. But Jean allows Javert

to escape. Javert warns him:

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„Shoot me now for all I care

If you let me go beware, you‟ll still answer to Javert‟

But Jean allows him to live. He tells Javert that all he did was steal bread as a young boy. He is no

worse a man than any other. Few scenes later, Javert indeed has Jean captured and points his pistol

squarely at him. Jean walks past him, but Javert is unable to shoot. Unable to comprehend Jean‟s

act of kindness to him, he puts an end to 20 years of desire to capture Jean and puts an end to his

own life.

What magic can love create on hate? When Jesus prescribed showing your left cheek when the

right cheek is slapped, he did not prescribe pacifism or fear, rather courage and Dharma. We have

created enemies all around us. Our enemies exist as people, nations, religion etc… Imagine what

will happen, if we, just for a second, reciprocate enmity with kindness, even when your friend is

killed or a relative is raped. It would put the enemy to moral shame. It would take him to remorse,

repentance and even suicide as Javert resorted to. The most powerful ammunition we have is Love

and forgiveness.

Epilogue:

These three episodes are just few adorable scenes from the magnificent 2 hour 45 minutes

extravaganza. The paragraphs in Italics are my personal opinions and need not be accepted by

everyone. One common thread throughout the movie and common to all the above anecdotes is

Love, Kindness and forgiveness. Maybe there is more to these virtues than we realize.

-DTM. Aditya Maheshwaran

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Stop wastage

According to the UN, 870 million people across the globe remain chronically underfed, yet nearly

half of the world's food supply is wasted every year. Of the 4 billion tons of food produced

annually, between 1.2 and 2 billion tons are lost, though the causes of waste

vary between rich, poor and intermediate countries. The most profligate and avoidable waste

occurs in the most well-off nations, like the US and UK. The extensive and in austere life-style has

created a much wider rich-poor divide. The lavish spending with little

discipline towards avoiding wastage has further increased the density of the ill-fed and ultra-

undernourished around us.

Beyond edibles being wasted, the energy and land lost to cultivating food that is eventually thrown

away aggravates the global food crisis. "The potential to provide 60 to 100 per cent more food by

simply eliminating losses, while simultaneously freeing up land, energy and

water resources for other use, is an opportunity that should not be ignored," summarizes a well-

researched report.

Let‟s strive to worry of our less-fortunate brethren who populate 1/3rd

of our earth crust whom we

miss in the hustle and bustle of our urban landscape. Wastage can be curbed and even eliminated

if we humans show THE WILL. We many need to Change our habits and lifestyle to make a

difference. Even if we start with a small change event, it can spiral

like a tornado reaching the lengths and breadths of this earth. Change happens through

Innovation.

Technology is the best resource to fulfill our Innovative methods. If we fix our limits and

boundaries and consume that much ONLY which is necessary, WASTAGE can be curbed to a

great extent. There are many Technologies used in processing and packaging of Foods and

eatables, but the same is not in vogue when it comes to consumption. If there

could a Government order to fine people making excessive Wastages through stricter laws, I am

very hopeful of a change happening towards the better. This way lesser people will remain hungry

and be disease-prone.

Most Wastage happen because our needs are not defined. We crave for the "wants" and forget the

"needs". Human "wants" can never be fulfilled in one lifetime. Define your needs and curb your

crave for more. Contentment and austerity is the key to throwing "Wastages" out

of the window.

-TM Varadarajan

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The Heroes of Today

This story happened around a thousand years back. There in the land of the meadows, a land of

happiness, beauty and prosperity lived a just and much loved King. The King had a beautiful

daughter who was the beauty of the land. She was loved by everyone for her kindness and

compassion. But one day the princess was kidnapped by a magician and the whole country

plunged into mourning. But then a valiant prince from the kingdom of mountains came with

unbeatable martial skills and unquestionable courage challenged the magician to a duel and

defeated him. The princess was rescued by the prince and they lived happily ever after.

The „Hero‟ of this story is obviously this price, whom everyone praised and worshipped and they

had a reason to do it for he was valiant, courageous and strong - the qualities which were

considered most important then. But if he had walked into today‟s world he would be no more

than a show piece. As Intel says “Our heroes are a little different.” Our heroes are those who can

think differently, think creatively and think innovatively. Yes, Innovation is the word of the day.

And it has been the word of the day for a few days! No for a few months, nay for the past several

years! The heroes of today are men like Steve Jobs, Swami Vivekananda or Mahatma Gandhi -

innovators in their own ways, ushering in new ideas and thoughts and changing lives and even the

world forever.

But innovation is not such a HUGE word that it can be lifted and shouldered only by great and the

greatest. It is a part of our everyday lives. We do it without even recognizing it because we do it

every day. Yes we are all innovators. When we design a good cover page for a college assignment

which we know is pretty disgusting and nonsensical (like I‟m doing right now), we are innovating.

When we buy a good present for someone, to pacify them for being late or forgetting something,

like ahem birthdays, we are innovating. Blabbering our way out of trouble when we are stuck in the

middle of giving a speech is also in a way innovation, something which we as Toastmasters do

every week.

Innovation is the introduction of something new - it maybe a device, an idea or a method. It is

novelty. Introduction of novelties which have changed lives for ever are called great innovations.

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Many great innovations are results of extraordinary brain waves. Like Newton coming up the

theory of gravitation when he saw an apple falling down. These are indeed extraordinary steps in

the forward direction made b extraordinary men. They stand out and everyone is envious of them.

But these people are not very far off from us, they are not aliens. I‟m sure we all would have seen

someone at school, college or at office coming up with great ideas, innovating and getting the

applause far ahead of us. We would wonder if we could ever be them, but then we realize that we

are not them, we are just us. But what we have to remember is that innovation is not just the

intellectual property of the innovators, but it also belongs to the hard workers, the people who

never give up whatever the odds against them might be are. Like Edison who succeeded in making

the light bulb after making 10000 attempts.

So what was this beating around the bush all about? Let me put it straight. Innovators have become

the champions of the modern world. They have become the new heroes. But to be them it is not

necessary to be extraordinary or extra-terrestrial. We can achieve it by working hard and never

giving up, which we as toastmasters do every moment and which toastmastering teaches us to do

for every moment.

-TM Adtiya V S

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Top Innovative tools

Every day you get caught in many things that you want to complete. These top innovative

tools will let you to unwind all the things with less time and effort and makes usage of computer

more users friendly and highly productive.

WrittenKitten – It is a cool tool that encourages writing. For every 100 words you write this tool

shows you a new kitten picture. Whether you like the cat picture or not, it converts writing into a

game that you enjoy.

Write Or Die – It is an application that forces you to keep writing. It is a new kind of writing

productivity application that forces you to write by providing consequences for distraction and

procrastination. If you have it on the most extreme setting, pieces of your work will actually start

getting deleted if you don‟t keep up with it.

Beeminder – The tag line says “be mindful of your goals”. This is an app that tracks your goals and

keeps you committed till you attain your goal. It is very easy tool to keep track of all the things that

can be measured and graphed. For e.g., hitting 80 kgs by April.

VirtuaWin – Are you fed up of using Alt+Tab to switch to various windows ? This software gives

multiple virtual desktop in each you can run many apps simultaneously. It is an application for the

Windows user community that misses the wonderful multiple desktop functionality often used on

Unix systems. It is simple, reliable and highly configurable, supporting up to 20 virtual desktops.

Just try it out, you will see the speed improvements right away.

TextAloud – This is useful in converting text to mp3. You can hear books while travelling and also

check your pronunciation of English words with this software. With highly visual intensive usage of

computer our eyes don‟t get rest. This one gives your eyes rest and work for your ears. There are

also computer simulated natural voices that speak exactly like human beings.

New Toolbar – If you are using windows, you would waste most of the time in the computer for

searching files. This neat trick will greatly improve time saving. By right clicking taskbar ->

Toolbars -> New Toolbar -> desktop. You can browse any files in your system within seconds with

this newly created dropdown menu.

I hope you find these tools useful in your day to day life and make you finish your task

within the time you imagine.

-TM Bharath Raja

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