My Ice Breaker Speech at Toastmasters Program:

Breaking out of my Shell

Toastmaster introducing Me...

Thank you!  That was really a good introduction. Last time any one said anything that nice about me was back in 1988 when I was the first child in kindergarten to tie my own shoes.

No matter how many times I stand at the lectern, I still feel the butterflies in my stomach.

I want to share a few stories about "Breaking out of my Shell"

I grew up in a very small town in a remote region of south India. Where 90% of people are drop outs from school including my dad.

For some reason my dad had an obsession with the English Language. So he always wanted me to learn it.

There were only 3 schools in my town and one of them taught English ,its called "English medium school" but no-one spoke English and that was the only coed school, but boys were not allowed to talk to girls

We always saw English as a subject not as a Language. So it was really tough to learn this in my early years.

So just to make my dad happy, I started showing some interest in English, but things were not going my way. I got a new English teacher in my school and I dis-liked her, she always reminded me of Glenn Close in 101 Dalmatians. I still get nightmares about her.

I remember an incident in 5th grade; I was unable to pronounce the word "immemorial" 

She beat me black and blue and had me say that word 1500 times, that was one of the most "IMMEMORIAL" stories of school.

As a kid, I was always shy. Scared to talk to new people.

Not open for interactions. And was afraid to address a crowd.

The biggest crowd in front of which I gave a speech was 3 (my dad, my mom and my sister)

I never tried to come out of that circle. Before I realized, there was a big shell built around me.

Years passed and I went to college. That is where I got the first crack on my shell.

That’s when I started learning things. Lot of friends all from different places. They all spoke in English.

And a lot of pretty girls. And there were no restrictions like my previous school. I was allowed to talk to girls. And of course my first date. You know what is the most difficult thing is for a teenage guy? It’s to look into the eyes of a pretty girl and say “Do you want to hang out sometime”. Trust me I kept on postponing the opportunities just because I feared I might get rejected. Eventually that did happen.

 That taught me some lessons.it doesn't matter how you look, how you talk. It’s all about confidence.

As Years passed I did my masters. Then, I got an opportunity to do an internship in NYC and for the first time I flew overseas. I was scared ,I was sure it would be tough to survive in a new country in my shell plus I had this issue with the language. I was sure I would have to go through lot of embarrassment and it happened very soon.

In India the vegetable (Okra)  is called ladies finger and only God knows why it got that name. And my mom says it’s really good for memory. When I was new here in New York, I walked to shop rite looking for ladies fingers. I couldn't find them .I walked to the sales girl and asked do you sell ladies fingers. She goes what?  I eat fresh ladies fingers for lunch. And she gave me a weird and scary look as if I'm an American psycho. And I understood things are different here.

There were even more challenges in the work place. I had this fear to talk to random people in the office .When I met somebody in the kitchen I said “how are you?” and I stopped.

I wasn't exactly sure what I should ask. And after sometime I came up with this new strategy On Monday's I would ask how the weekend was. And Friday's I would ask what the plan for weekend. I avoid talking on other week days.

When I thought of how to extend my conversations that’s when I started learning new things. I learned American football. Just to talk about the super bowl in office kitchen

I followed all TV shows for the same reason. Eventually I got addicted to few. I started using a few dialogues in my conversations. If someone speaks very softly or if I can’t hear someone I would say.

"Dude, I can’t hear you over the sound of a butterfly landing on a leaf 3 blocks away."

So day by day I tried something different from normal routine to improve my confidence to break out of my shell.

Days passed. I still needed to socialize more. I decided to start interacting with new people. I was in a bar with couple of friends

We bet each other to talk to some stranger for at least a minute. And it was my turn I saw this girl standing alone. I just approached her with a weird pickup line

I said "Hi” there are 21 letters in English alphabet .she goes "what”. There are 21 letters in English alphabet. She goes I think there are 26. I said, Oh!  I'm missing 5  “U R A Q T” and that was the first time ever a girl laughed at my joke and I realized no matter how u look, how you talk. It’s all about confidence. And I was about to extend my conversation with that girl a well-built 6 foot tall guy approached, he looked like Jon Crosier on steroids and unfortunately he was her boyfriend. So I had no other choice other than to run away L

So the only weapon to break your fear is confidence. The first step of confidence is to act like you don't have fear, that is what I'm doing right here.

This toastmaster club is a great opportunity which really helped me to break a major portion of the shell around me.

I may not become a Jimmy Mount; but mountains are meant to be climbed.

Be Confident & come out of your shell.

Thank you!