Saturday, July 17, 2010

Speaking, no laughing matter

“I invite RR on stage,” declared the speaker.
What? On stage? I shuddered. What will I talk? As my mind struggled in the conflict zone, someone literally pushed me onto the stage.
“Buddies. I can’t speak. See, already my legs are shivering,” I started.
“Ha, ha,” one fellow laughed.
“Hey, not joking. See,” I lifted my leg like a donkey.
“Ha, ha, ha..” five fellows laughed.
“Come on, why you guys laughing? Can’t you see me trembling?” I almost did a twist dance on stage.
More of them laughed.
“Thank you,” I went back to my seat.
This is the beauty of humour clubs. Audiences are told to laugh and clap for anything and everything. If they don’t, others won’t clap for them.
To break my stage fear, I had joined a prominent public speaking school in Mumbai Fort area years ago. I wanted to beat the childish voice phobia. Surprisingly, during the entire session, no mike was used and the purpose was defeated. Also surprisingly, I came second in the class. The first was grabbed by a good-looking doctor. Unfortunately for me, she had great skill too. The master praised me more for my body language than speech skill. Maybe I had danced better during those sessions.
Heard this joke: A speaker told the audience: “I won’t bore you with a long speech.”
“Ya, you can do that with a short one,” replied one.

19 comments:

  1. Woah..I can never manage that as well! :(

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  2. what to do you like to give long speech or shorter ones?.

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  3. hmmm......... even I have a stage phobia too and attended one of the chopra's class at AMA, A'bad... It helps....
    Your post always makes me smile... :) ....

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  4. Hahahaha, but the audience laughed!! Purpose solved :-D

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  5. I hardly pegged you for a guy with stage fear! Wow! :O

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  6. I wish I were there to see the spectacle.On a serious note, shivering legs are quite common with even good public speakers.

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  7. public speaking and knots in the tummy are never far from each other. But I guess, its just that first few minutes, once you start, things settle down.

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  8. Well, if you do not make it as a public speaker, you could give dancing a go. Very brave of you, the very thought of public speaking fills me with dread.

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  9. 'Podium varai odiyum samalikkalaamae!'(quickly hide behind the podium) But then, if you are a good dancer, your dance will speak more than your words..

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  10. ha ha ha! So, did you keep it short or long this time?

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  11. what was the topic of speech

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  12. Oops, I have the same problem too... I will explain everything one to one, but I tend to stammer in presentations... have always thought of joining personality development classes, but havent really managed to... I can feel churns inside when I see faces looking at me... I can imagine your situation when pulled on the stage without prior preparation... and your honest confession actually amused the audience!!

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  13. luckily i have been an extrovert since pre birth:p stage was always like my best friend..that's why i chose singing as my career..:)

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  14. funny...!
    cool ;)

    so fear huh...?
    very strange ya...! you seem to me like
    "been there done that" kinda cool dude :D

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  15. You really have stage fear? Difficult to believe!

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  16. I can't picture you having stage fear, I just can't...haha.

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