My initiation into formal Public Speaking was an 8-weekend training course conducted by the Dale Carnegie Institute of Public Speaking, when I was 14. That came in handy in College and college politics. Beyond the demands of a PG in English Literature, creative writing, travelogues and opinion pieces have been my interests, carried by national newspapers and magazines. As a Corporate Communicator for four decades, speechmaking and speechwriting were always part of the 360 degree gamut of communication across media.

I joined Toastmasters in January 2015, just to validate my methods of teaching Public Speaking and Debate to undergraduates, to justify to myself the decent remuneration I was getting. Soon I started liking it so much, though the course was abandoned, and with that my second career in teaching, I continued in Toastmasters and discovered contests, mentoring, evaluation and… against my resolve and intent, District officialdom!

Scripting and delivering speeches have given me the greatest joy. Here are my speeches in the Competent Communicator series, with video recordings of some of them. I will be pleased if they add any value to Toastmasters anywhere.