INSIDE THIS ISSUE Editorial

_____________________ Keep the SPARK alive

Amidst biting chill of the midnights in December you must have seen people at
President’s Message 2
the city pavements gathering around small sized bonfires. Penniless paupers
they are, not pessimistic though. It’s their own way to ward off the jaws and
VP Ed’s Message 3 claws of the cold demon. In abject adversities, they do the right thing. They
welcome the new-year with new hopes, new dreams and new possibilities. They
The Ice Breaker, 4 keep the spark alive.
experience of a lifetime
And we, inspired by the same iron will, have learnt not to recede, dared to defy
the drudgeries of day to day life, and unshackled the horses of imagination to
Mind Your Language 4 write the columns of this sparked edition of our newsletter.

Aal Izz Well 5 The last quarter, just like the last year, has been a rhapsody rendering
remembrance of many things. The one that reverberates more is Reverberations
2009, the District 82’s semi annual conference and KTM Stacey’s attainment of
The Belated Beginning 6 2nd runners up position in the humorous speech contest there. Couple of weeks
before that Stacey conducted a wonderful workshop on ‘Keeping Commitments’
Winning the 7 and indeed she kept hers. Audience went awe-struck with KTM Kunal conducting
Speech Contest a special session on ‘Planning Your Next Speech.’ We also learnt a lot from the
couple of Advanced Level Speech Marathons held in our Area.
Just Like Diamonds! 8 Plenty of events! But the thing that excites me most is amidst all adversity we
have never let the dream die. Despite declining attendance, we kept on
Mixed Bag 9 incubating the inspirations, and honing the aspirations, even taking multiple
roles at a time. And now, only a few Fridays left to reach the magic figure of 100
Book Reviews 10 club meetings. It’s possible till now because we have kept the spark alive. And in
the coming year, we will keep it up. We know the secret of success, - when the
DCP Progress 11 west-wind blows we have to shield the spark with our hands cupping around it.
~ KTM Niladri Sekhar
New Members 11
The Secret of Your Success
Birthdays & 11 Toastmasters’ 2009-2010 International President Gary Schmidt’s Message
Anniversaries Of the many benefits we receive in Toastmasters, one of
the greatest is the people we meet and the friendship we
Evolution of a 12 form. Our network of Toastmasters friends can help us in
Revolution all aspects of life. At your next club meeting, look around
at your fellow members. Are your best friends there? Does
the meeting include mentors who guide you, speakers
you emulate, or leaders you learn from? Our involvement
in Toastmasters is much more than improving our
personal communication and leadership skills.
Toastmasters offers us the opportunity to build our
Gary Schmidt, DTM network of friends, learn from our peers and discover the
International President rewards of helping others.

The Mission of the Club

“The mission of Kolkata Toastmasters Club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive
learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communi-
-cation and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth”
 Ignite your passion, Enlighten your future Page
October – December 2009 2

President’s Message
“The great danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we
miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”

The world renowned painter, Michel-
-angelo once said, “The great danger for
most of us is not that our aim is too high
and we miss it, but that it is too low and
we reach it.” We all join Toastmasters to
improve our communication and
leadership skills and our primary aim
should be to become DTM’s. Some of us
may not achieve this goal but during this
process we will obliterate lot of obstacles
which we have created for ourselves.
These obstacles arise because many a
times we do not have faith and belief in
ourselves.
Our .club received the Founders Award
Ribbon for starting the Salt Lake
Toastmasters Club. Special mention for
IPP Abdul Rahim and VP-Membership
Amit Singh for putting so much time and
effort to start this new club. We have
already achieved 5 out of 10 goals for the
Distinguished Club program and also
formalized the TM of the Year Award. A
big thanks to all the members and club “Our primary aim
officers who made this possible. Special
thanks to Niladri who took over the post should be to
of VP-PR during the mid term and
released our exquisite newsletter. become DTM’s.

Faith and belief can move mountains.
Thought is the mother of action and our
beliefs really do become self fulfilling
prophesies. We can’t get to the mountain
top by jumping. We get to the mountain
top by taking incremental steps. And this
is exemplified by none other than our
incoming President Stacey Fernandes,
by securing 2nd Runners up position in
the Humorous Speech competition at the
District level. She got her speech
mentored, delivered her speech in every
club in the Area, and practiced it till it
was perfect, thus taking incremental
steps in getting her richly deserved
award and bringing laurels to the club.
Ovations 2010 is round the corner and I
am sure, one of us will reach the District
Level and then hopefully to International
Level.
And now its time to pass the baton to
new club officers who will take our club
to even greater heights. I welcome Stacey
Some of us may
Fernandes as the new President Elect for
the term January – June 2010. She has
not achieve this
been leading from the front by
completing her CC and CL during the first goal but during
5 months only. I wish her and her team
the best and to make sure that not only this process we
the club aims for higher grounds but also
achieves it. will obliterate lot
of obstacles.”
~ KTM Siddhartha Churiwal

Announcement

The Installation Ceremony of Club Officers of Kolkata Toastmasters Club

for the January to June 2010 Session is scheduled on
22nd January 2010, Friday, at 7 pm sharp
To know more about the programme and venue details please contact the VP - PR

“One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter.”
~ James Earl Jones
 Ignite your passion, Enlighten your future Page
October – December 2009 3

VP – Education’s Message
“Everything happens for a reason and a purpose and it serves us.”

Being the Vice President - Education for
six months has definitely been a life long
experience to cherish. A role that gives
you the opportunity to virtually stretch
your limits, grow as an individual and
evolve as a Toastmaster.
The responsibility of actually organizing
the meeting every week, the speakers,
evaluators and role players is nothing
less than a challenge. Some people
succumb to the challenges that crop up
in their life but the best possible way to
overcome it is to enjoy the challenge;
and that’s what this role teaches you to
do. The constant pressure, the last
minute change of role players, (and
making sure you find a suitable
replacement in time) the responsibility to
cater to the educational needs of the
members became a part of my life.
During this tenure, we did achieve some
great successes and moments of glory.
Stacey Fernandes completed her CC & CL
tracks and did us proud by winning the
second runners up at the District Level
contest. But as the VP - Education, I say
this with a feeling of ecstasy that the
quality of speeches at KTM has greatly
improved and it’s heartening to witness
the growth of our members as
competent communicators as they climb
the ladder of speech projects. This is the
actual success for KTM.
I .would like to give a pat on the back to
all the Table Topic Masters for their
different ideas, topics, themes and
interesting circumstances that they have
come up with in the table topics session.
At KTM, gone are the days where there
were no takers for a table topic thrown.
The confidence and ease with which the
varied topics are dealt with is
commendable and especially to see the “gone are
“nervous speakers” go out there at the
lectern and eventually win the best table
topics speaker ribbon.
the days where
there were
An important aspect of KTM is mentoring.
I urge all the members (especially the new no takers for
entrants) to actively take part in this
mentoring program. You will be surprised a table topic
by the growth and improvement in your
speech by just having a couple of sittings
with your mentor.
thrown.
The confidence
The best part of being the VP-Education is
that you are always in the thick of things. and ease with
You are like the epicenter, as all the
action is taking place around you. I have which the varied
thoroughly enjoyed my six months at the
“hot seat” and I take this opportunity to
thank all the members of KTM for their
topics are now
love and support that they have bestowed
on me even after my hounding calls that I dealt with is
have made to all of you to give your
speeches...!!! commendable”
~ KTM Ankit Mehra

Educational Summary (so far)

93 Meetings

160 Project Speeches

Workshop* on:
 Keeping Commitments
 Planning Your Next Speech
* workshops held in the last quarter only

“The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.”

~ Faye Wattleton
 Ignite your passion, Enlighten your future Page
October – December 2009 4

The Ice Breaker

Experience of a lifetime

Not mere snakes, not just lizards, I am
more afraid of something else in life. It’s
the fear of speaking in public. Over a
period of time, this fear has only
compounded.
But it was a big decision to decide to give
my P1 (The Ice Breaker). I practiced it so
many times that I had almost memorized
it. I reached the venue early in order to
practice the speech and be comfortable
with the stage. However, when I was called
by the MC (Master of Ceremonies), I almost
forgot everything perpetually and all
preparations and practices looked futile. I
felt like running back to my seat and if
possible even out of the meeting venue
itself. But I knew that this was a great
chance to break the ice or else this fear of
public speaking would always reside
peacefully in the coziness of my scared
soul.
I started, and I fumbled …and fumbled
again …and again …but I kept on
speaking. By the time I completed my
speech, I not only surmounted that great
fear, but also I gained much more than
that – a lot of confidence – and immense
courage to take the first foot forward. And
I could very well realize the need of the
first step that initiates a journey of a
thousand miles.
I also. got a lot of help from mentoring
and evaluation of my speech. The best
part of Toastmasters is that you are
mentored by someone who is really
very experienced and has excelled in
public speaking. My mentor TM
Siddharth Churiwal helped me a lot in
structuring my speech and suggesting
how to speak. My evaluator TM Naveen
Misra did an excellent job of pointing
out my strengths as a speaker and also
points where I could improve upon. “Toastmasters has
given me the
platform where it
is just a matter of
time that I will
come out of this
Frankly, I still have a long way to go to fear and will
have overcome the fear of public
speaking fully. But Toastmasters has emerge with
given me the platform where it is just a
matter of time that I will come out of flying colours.”
this fear and will emerge with flying
colours.
~ KTM Vivek Singh

Mind Your Language

Use of Causatives
‘Mind your Language’ is
a section to help us improve
our English - one step at a time!
We use the causative when we do not
carry out an action ourselves, but are
responsible for the action being
performed. Example: She had her car
serviced last week - (She didn't service the
car herself, but the car was serviced
because of her)
Usually, we use 4 causatives - Let, Make,
Have and Get. But, are you puzzled to
decide which one to use when? Well, here
is one simple rule to make things easy.
Let means "to allow someone to do
something."
Example: Will your parents let you go to
the party?
Make means "to force someone to do
something."
Example: My teacher made me apologize
for what I had said.
Have means "to give someone the
responsibility to do something."
Example: Please have your secretary fax
me the information.
Get means "to convince to do something"
or "to trick someone into doing
something."
Example: The government TV commer-
-cials are trying to get people to stop
smoking.

“When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they
want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
 Ignite your passion, Enlighten your future
Aal Izz Well
Sometimes the most complicated
concepts can be beautifully condensed
into a short word or sentence. One such
sentence that has captured the
imagination of the country is from the
recently released ‘3 Idiots’. It shows a
trio of carefree engineering students who
are made to use, believe and experience
the phrase ‘Aal izz well’ (All is well)
whenever a problem comes up. This
practice of thinking positively results in
success for them and of course box
office moolah for the film.
You may have heard of Napoleon Hill’s
book ‘Think and Grow Rich’ or David
Schwartz who wrote ‘The magic of
thinking big’. Both these authors
emphasized that your real limitations are
in the mind and your real opportunities
are there too. But the question is ‘does
positive thinking really work? Can
merely thinking positively change the
situation?
A man went to a movie with his wife.
After half an hour, the wife complained
of a headache which was getting worse,
the husband offered her a tablet which
she promptly had and was relieved. On
their way back, she asked her husband
how he was carrying an aspirin to which
he replied – ‘I wasn’t – what I gave you
was a button from my shirt’. But the
important thing is that the wife believed
it was an aspirin and this thought
manifested itself into the reality of
reduced headache. A classic case
illustrating the power of our thoughts!
And so is this newfound mantra of the
village watchman – Aal izz well. But if we
were to look deeply into these three
innocuous ‘Aal izz well’, we will find
great depth of thought in them ‘All’ is a
generalization term – it means look at
the whole, the big picture, not the
details. When we say – All Indians have
black hair, we do not mean literally each
“There's nothing more demoralizing than a leader who can't clearly articulate
why we're doing what we're doing.” ~ James Kouzes and Barry Posner
Page
October – December 2009 5
Indian .has black hair, some have brown,
some have white and some have none.
But the term ‘all’ connotes a general view
– on the whole, Indians have black hair.
Hence, here ‘all’ reminds us to forget
about small things and look at the big
picture.
The next word is ‘is’. This, as we know, is
a present tense verb and it reminds us to
be in the present. Our past and future can
be bad, worrying or even miserable. But
ask yourself – how do I feel in the present
“So the overall
moment? It will always be ‘Good’. When
we focus on the present, all doubts, message which
worries and depression vanish. So the
message of this word is to ‘be in the Aal izz well
present’.
seeks to give is
‘On the whole,
And in
the present,
things are
reasonably good.’
Phenomenal
wisdom in a
nutshell!”
The last word is ‘Well’ – not ‘perfect’,
‘excellent’ or even ‘great’. ‘Well’ tell us
not to compare, judge or target
perfection. Be ‘well’ i.e. reasonably
healthy, reasonably happy.
So the overall message which Aal izz well
seeks to give is ‘On the whole, and in
the present, things are reasonably
good.’ Phenomenal wisdom in a nutshell!
~ KTM Abdul Rahim
 Ignite your passion, Enlighten your future
The Belated Beginning
It was about one and a half years back
when I first heard about Kolkata
Toastmasters Club from my brother. I
told him with sarcasm, “I am sure this
must be some form of social
entertainment as you are a party
animal”. To which he replied, “Why don’t
you give it a try, come for a meeting, if
you like it then join it, otherwise don’t”.
His confidence baffles me sometime. I
had a gut feeling that it is not going to
be very interesting – “One and a half
hours of sitting idle, I could rather have a
pint of chilled beer in the nearby
‘Someplace Else’ (a pub in Park Street)”.
The meeting runs from 7 pm to 830 pm,
so I called up my friend, asking him to
meet me around 8 pm in Someplace Else
as I knew my capacity to sit there would
last for a maximum of one hour.
But what I experienced in that meeting
was an eye opener. As soon as I entered
the Meeting Room, there were people
greeting me with smile, showing
enthusiasm to know me better and
making me comfortable in an unknown
environment. There were a couple of
interesting prepared speeches, some
insightful and some hilarious “extempore
– type” impromptu speeches. The entire
environment was very conducive to the
speakers as the audience was constantly
encouraging and motivating them. Then
suddenly out of the blue, I could hear the
Table Topics Master, announcing loudly
and clearly, “Mr. Guest, would you like to
come and speak for the next table topic.”
“Wise men talk because they have something to say;
fools, because they have to say something.” ~ Plato
Page
October – December 2009 6
I. could feel the earth moving under my
feet. My stage fear reached a saturation
point. I thought to myself, “Why did he
have to ask me? Can I just run away, my
pint of beer is waiting for me!” Though I
was not obligated to speak, I tried to fight
my fear – “Come on Vishal, don’t be a
chicken, you will lose respect even before
joining the club. Don’t bring a bad name
to your brother who is looked upon in the
Club. Moreover these people are an
encouraging lot; they are going to appre-
-ciate your speech.” With all the anxiety in “I promised
the world, I got up, treaded slowly
towards the dais, spluttered out some- myself that once
I am back to
Kolkata,
I will definitely
take this up.
And now I am
back as the
-thing for a minute or so and ran back to Sergeant–at-arms
my chair as fast as I could. Although
somewhere inside I felt I had given a very
boring speech, the applause was
at the Kolkata
deafening that time. The next session of
evaluation was very interesting as well
Toastmasters,
where every minor aspect of the meeting
and the speeches was analysed properly. raring to go
Engrossed at the meeting, my pint was And
still waiting and I had a good one and a
half hours. I had enrolled for a Masters be in the list of
degree in the UK that time and promised
myself that once I am back to Kolkata, I the achievers!”
will definitely take this up to overcome
my fear of public speaking, develop my
leadership skills and of course have fun at
the same time.
And now I’m back as a Sergeant–at–arms
at the Kolkata Toastmasters, raring to go
and be in the list of the achievers!
~ KTM Vishal Churiwal
 Ignite your passion, Enlighten your future
Winning the Speech Contest
The stage is set, Reverberations 2009,
Semi annual District Conference of
Toastmasters, Venue- Hyderabad.
Immediately the thought that ran
through my mind was Hyderabadi
Biryani with raita and korma.
Oh no! I'm fighting the battle of the
bulge. As soon as I landed in Hyderabad
the beauty of the night sky enthralled
me. There was a feeling of warmth and a
kind of connection with the city which I
felt but could not figure out then. I had
a good nights rest.
I woke up in the morning, practised my
speech, then checked my phone inbox, it
was flooded with smses of luck from all
the Toastmasters Clubs in Kolkata. It
gave me a high and raised the bar so
high. I hoped, I would be able to match
all their expectations. I found myself at
the contestants briefing and realised that
I was the only lady contestant. I was
pitted against eight gladiators of
humour. I'll be Joan of Arc and battle it
out with them.
The evaluation contest started just after
lunch. As each speaker gave their
evaluation it was becoming so difficult to
judge. No paper, no notes, only from
memory and each exuberating confid-
-ence, they were speakers par excell-
-ence. To me every one was a winner.
“Pity the leader caught between unloving critics and uncritical lovers.”
Page
October – December 2009 7
The .drums started to roll, the Humorous
Speech Contest was about to begin. We
were called forward and asked to sit in
order. Speaker number one was
announced; he left the hall in a rapture of
laughter, as each speaker came on stage
the audience was rolling in laughter.
Then came Contestant No.6, me. As I
walked up, I said to myself it’s now or
never, go Stacey give it your best. It took
me 7min 22sec to deliver my speech.
“I was so happy I
It was about 5p.m., the announcement of charged for the
the winners, I was declared 2nd runner up.
podium. As I stood
there to accept
the trophy I felt a
deep sense of
achievement”
I was so happy I charged for the podium.
As I stood there to accept the trophy I felt
a deep sense of achievement and then
realised my connection with the city. It
gave me my AWARD for all the hard work,
practice, mentoring sessions and all the
club hopping I did. This is a tribute to all
those who helped me win, THANK YOU
Pramod, Abdul, Kunal, Tulika, Brati and
all the clubs IBM, Saltlake, PWC, TCS and
KTM who bore with me and heard the
speech repeatedly and even came to
Hyderabad to cheer me...
~ KTM Stacey Fernandes
~John Gardner
 Ignite your passion, Enlighten your future
Just Like Diamonds!
We human beings are diamonds,
unrecognized, and that’s what we need
to realize. Diamond is a precious stone
because it is not easily available on the
earth. In the same way, we human beings
are found in the rarest of rare places in
the entire solar system and this makes
us especial too.
If we need to increase the value of
diamond, it should have good carat,
sharp cut, shining colors and clarity. In
the same way, we human beings need to
first realize that even we are like a
diamond and we need to respect our
self. Like diamond, we also need to
increase our value by having good carat,
sharp cut, shining colors and clarity.
The four C’s (i.e. CARAT, CUT, COLOR
and CLARITY) that make us shine and
increase our value are followed by 9 P’s
that are:
To have a good CARAT- we should have
1) PASSION: The density of diamond is
measured by its carat, similarly the depth
of the human diamond lies in passion. If
we follow our passion, everything will
follow us. Nothing can be achieved
without an unending strong passion.
2) POSITIVE ENERGY: The higher we
have the positive energy; there are more
chances of success. All the passion can
go waste, if is not backed up by a
tremendous amount of positive energy.
To have a sharp CUT we should have
3) PERFORMANCE: There is no short cut
to success. There is no comparison to
the power of sincere and dedicated hard
work. A good performance can only be
achieved if a person is sincere towards
its work. It is said that 99% of all failures
come from people who have the habit of
making excuses.
4) PERSEVERANCE: Spielberg was put in
a class for those with learning
disabilities. Michael Jordan was taken out
from high school basketball team. For
them, their ability to persist made these
ordinary failures into extraordinary
success. Be prepared to fail, but have the
“Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much.”
Page
October – December 2009 8
perseverance .to try again and again.
Success will not be far behind.
To have shining COLOR- we should have
5) PERSONALITY: In a leader, more than
a technical expertise, one need to have
good personality and to have such a good
personality, we need to work day in day
out and groom our self in all the aspect.
We need to become a great
communicator and relentlessly follow the
Law of personality building.
“We human
6) PEOPLE: A person cannot do all the
things alone. A person should have power beings are like
in believing in people. The most
important thing for a leader is to have diamonds.
replacement and then only he can grow in
his life. People skills have a synergy effect And therefore, we
and 1+1 is no more 2; it becomes 11.
To have good CLARITY we should have also need
7) PERSPECTIVE: Perspective helps in to to increase our
knowing where we are going in life, what
we want in life and everything becomes value by having
clear. Often in our life, we lose
perspective and with that we choose the good carat,
path which gives us short term returns
but it is always harmful in long term. A
clear perspective shows us the direction
sharp cut,
to follow when life brings us to a
crossroad. shining colors
8) PRINCIPLES: All great leaders in the and clarity.”
world naming, worth appreciating, have
always stuck to their principles. Sacrifice
principles and we will put a big spot
inside the diamond that will be revealed
one day or the other.
9) PATRIOTISM: It is the final symbol of
clarity of the human diamond. It’s the
love for our country and for human
beings anywhere in the world that makes
a human diamond perfect. Patriotism
makes our success live forever.
The above 9 points are the powerful
principles of discovering the diamond in
us and we need to follow that in exactly
the same sequence. Practice all the 9 P’s, The article is inspired
the result will always be positive and we by the thoughts of
Arindam Chaudhuri
will dazzle in life.
as expressed in his book
‘Discover the Diamond in You’
~ KTM Nishant Khemka
~Robert Greenleaf
 Ignite your passion, Enlighten your future Page
October – December 2009 9

Mixed Bag

A Torn Page:
Club Achievement of the year:
From KTM Priti Jaitha’s Diary of Good Thoughts
KTM Stacey Fernandes receiving the 2nd Runners Up award in
District Humorous Speech Contest at Reverberations 2009

Toastmasters Moment of the year:

Haikus from the Hills of Mussoorie: District 82, being recognized as the Best District
Excerpt from KTM Tulika Pabrai’s Mom’s Collection in the Distinguished District Program in 2008 - 2009

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more,

do more and become more, you are a leader.” ~John Quincy Adams
 Ignite your passion, Enlighten your future Page
October – December 2009 10

The Ascent of Money

by Niall Ferguson

The year 2008 saw the world witness a
severe financial crisis. Many called it the
worst financial crises since the great
depression in the late 1920’s. Today,
investment of one’s money seems like a
confusing, complex and critical task. And
I include ‘critical’ because it is
increasingly becoming difficult to stay
away from it all - even if we wanted to.
For all those of us who feel intimidated
and dumbfounded when it comes to
finance, there’s a new guru on the block.
Neil Ferguson’s ‘The Ascent of Money’ is
a carefully written out book on money. In
the book, Ferguson explores the history
of money from the ancient Aztec
Civilizations, to the Spanish legions, to ~ KTM Kunal Pabrai
the Clay tablets of Babylon. The book
takes .us through the origins of money
and gradually directs us to modern times.
The coup de maître (or stroke of genius)
of this book is its ability to use history to
dissect a complex topic like the various
aspects of money – into a fun, easily
understandable piece of literature – that
almost reads like a story!
If the concept of money fascinates you,
give this book a read.
Pages: 366
Price: Rs. 399
Penguin Books

The Book review page hopes to encourage sharing of books among Club members. If you
are Interested to read the books reviewed here, please contact the reviewer. If there is
a book that you have read and would like to see published, please contact the Editor.

Nautical Miles
by IMS Publications

We all love entertainment whereas we special notes .and vocabulary building

are generally averse to labour that leads
to learning. That’s why we entertain
ourselves with thrillers and love stories
while books on vocabulary and language
lessons gather layers of dust upon them.
But what if learning and entertainment
are juxtaposed and you are gifted with a
unique piece of marvel? Yes, Nautical
Miles by IMS Publications is precisely the
same. It was originally meant for CAT
aspirants and students of similar
competitive exams. But why should there
be a limit on the area of application of
something good that can cater to all?
The book contains a continuous novel
divided over several chapters and at the
end of each chapter there are exercises,
tips. As you go on reading, you will learn
new words, improve upon your reading
skills, and exercise the acquired learning.
At the same time the thrill that is there in
the story will bind you to the habit of
continuous reading till you reach the end.
Remember, in your voyage amidst the
endless sea of learning, you have to
navigate in the right direction and you
have miles to go before you sleep.
Pages: 312
Price: Rs. 250
IMS Learning Resources
~ KTM Niladri Sekhar

“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

~ Stephen Covey
 Ignite your passion, Enlighten your future Page
October – December 2009 11

Distinguished Club Plan – KTM’s Progress

Goals Target Actual Status

Competent Communicators 2 1 In progress

Additional Competent Communicators 2 0 In progress

Advanced Communicator 1 0 In progress

Additional Advanced Communicator 1 0 In progress

Competent Leader / Advanced Leader / DTM 1 1 Done

Additional Competent Leader / Advanced Leader / DTM 1 1 Done

New Members 4 4 Done

Additional New Members 4 7 Done

Officers Trained 4 +4 7 - july In progress

Membership Dues Renewal and Officers’ List Submission 1 +1 1 +2 Done

Total Goals Achieved Till Date ( 31st December 2009)
5 Goals

Welcome New Members! Birthdays

Amaresh Chatterjee: Amaresh is working as regional commercial manager in an MNC. He (Jan – Mar 2010)
joined Kolkata Toastmasters Club in October ‘09 to become a good communicator. His
hobbies include travelling and listening music. Dola Chandra – Jan 18
Tapan Kr Gope – Jan 21
amaresh_chat@yahoo.com 9903970595
Kunal Pabrai – Jan 27
Anju Ghoriwala: Anju, a homemaker, loves to spend time with her two Suryakant Marulkar – Feb 11
children. Her hobbies include music, reading books, and making friends. She Naveen Misra – Feb 22
joined KTM with an aim to gain confidence in speaking in front of people. Tulika Pabrai – Mar 6
anju68@hotmail.com 9830961567 Nishant Khemka – Mar 08
Siddharth Agarwal – Mar 14
Vishal Churiwal: Bachelors from Symbiosis and Masters from Lancaster
Saktipada Maity – Mar 24
University, He is currently in the family business. Other than enjoying dancing
he is also learning to play guitar. His reason for joining KTM is to overcome his
stage fear, and to develop leadership skills and have fun at the same time.
Vishal.churiwal@googlemail.com 9830541188

Shisham Kayal: She has just completed her Bachelors in Journalism & Mass
Communication. She joined KTM so that she can be a convincing speaker. Her
hobbies include painting & travelling.
shisham19@gmail.com 9163692050

Tanu Sadhwani: Graduated as a B.Com., Tanu is now a successful homemaker

and proud mother of two beautiful kids. Some of her hobbies are like listening
to music, reading, netsurfing and swimming. She joined KTM to improve her
communication skills and also to gain more confidence.
sadhwani.t@gmail.com 9830076979
Anniversaries
(Jan – Mar 2010)
Paresh Patel: Paresh is an entrepreneur. His hobbies are reading and playing
with his kids. He has joined Kolkata Toastmasters Club to improve his Ashok Gupta – Jan 17
communication and presentation skills. Praveen Verma – Jan 22
cs.paresh@gmail.com 9831047985 Naveen Misra – Jan 23

“You do not lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership.”
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
 Ignite your passion, Enlighten your future Page
October – December 2009 12

Kolkata Toastmasters Club is the first community Toastmasters club of Kolkata. One and a half years old, it has traversed
a wonderful path of molding ordinary mortals into good public speakers and leaders. Kolkata Toastmasters is on its
way to produce dozens of competent communicators and leaders! But more than all this, members of KTM share
a unique bond of friendship, making KTM a club of fellowship, rather than just a public speaking forum!

For more details please visit our website : http://kolkata.freetoasthost.ws

District website : http://www.t82.org International website : http://www.toastmasters.org

Executive Committee – July to December, 2009 Meeting Venue

President Siddhartha Churiwal 98360 41188 Calcutta Chamber of
VP Education Ankit Mehra 98366 76575 Commerce, Park Street
VP Membership Amit Kumar Singh 98310 49199 (between Music World
VP Public Relations Niladri S. Jyoti 98317 32856 and Peter Cat restaurant)
Treasurer Nishant Khemka 98301 91000
Secretary Dola Chandra 98303 54194 If you can GET out of Toastmasters,
Sergeant-at-Arms Nishika Sharaff 90071 03601 everything you CAN get out of Toastmasters,
Immediate Past President Abdul Rahim 98310 57949 you can never get OUT of Toastmasters !!!

We hope you’re enjoying the Toastmasters experience!!!

For Private Circulation only. Edited by Niladri S. Jyoti. Published by Siddhartha Churiwal, President - Kolkata Toastmaster’s Club.
Email: kolkata.toastmasters@gmail.com