A P J ABDUL KALAM MEMORIAL SPEECH CONTEST

Published on : Tuesday, 29 September 2020

A P J ABDUL KALAM MEMORIAL SPEECH CONTEST

By TM Mahima Bhat, PR Team

Tech Mahindra Bangalore Toastmasters Club conducted the third version of the Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam Memorial Speech Contest on 15th August, 2020, on the occasion of the 74th Independence Day. The event was attended by Toastmasters across 8 Countries and 12 Districts. 

The theme of the contest was “Making of the Republic”. The hosts, TM Jyotiprakash Sundaray and TM Soujanya Holla conducted the event with great zeal and enthusiasm, involving the audience with questions on Mentimeter.com and asking them to share personal memories of Independence Day.

Speaking on the occasion, International Director, Region 13, DTM Sudha Balajee, spoke about the struggles of our leaders for freedom and drew similarities with the members of Toastmasters as we are also part of a movement, an organization, striving to “make leaders for tomorrow”. She encouraged the attendees to take this movement forward and to step up, stand up and speak up for a cause, because we need to be better versions of ourselves. 

DTM Nirmala Lilly, District Director, District 121, addressing the virtual gathering, spoke about freedom. She termed freedom as the ability to set our schedule, to decide on the work we do, to make decisions, to be responsible and accountable for our actions. She quoted Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, “Freedom with responsibility is the only sound basis for personal happiness”. 

Curator of the event DTM Arun Ramarathnam explained the purpose of and history behind starting this contest as an annual event, in memory of the late President, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. The Contest Chair for this year’s event was TM Sai Chandar Kruttiventi. Twelve contestants from across the globe participated in the contest with great confidence, provoking the imagination of the audience. 

• Ayan Pal, District 41 ……………………. The Partition of Bengal
• Rohit Sharma, District 46 ……………… Influences from other Constitutions
• Aniruddha Biswas, District 73 …………. Colonial Hangovers in the Constitution
• Noopur Joshi, District 80 ………………. The Radcliffe Line
• Chandra Mouli T K, District 92 ………… Constitution and Art
• Sanjay R, District 98 …………….……… The Constituent Assembly
• Soosai Selvanathan, District 102 ……… Ambedkar and the Indian Constitution
• Shyamraj A, District 120 …………….…. Partition and the Refugee Crisis in India
• Anushka Nair, District 121 …….…….…. Sindh and the Partition
• Rafiq Ahmed, District 79 ………………… The Largest Migration in Human History
• Sethuram Srinivasan, District 71 …….… Britain and the Partition of India
• Nisha Shivram, District 116 …………..… The Partition of Punjab

Winner of the evening TM Noopur Joshi, expressing her emotions upon winning said, “it was truly a very big learning experience for me, someone who had left history way back in grade ten, to the textbooks. So this was a one of a kind experience. Thank you so much and I learnt a lot from all the speakers and I think all of them are equal winners.” The First Runner-up was TM Shyamraj A. The second runner-up was TM Anushka Nair.

The President, TM Visala Yerramsetti expressed her gratitude to all the Toastmasters and guests who were present on the occasion. TM Christopher Paulraj concluded the meeting with a Vote of Thanks. Tech Mahindra Bangalore Toastmasters Club, also called the HATKE club, was chartered in 2015 and meets every Saturday at 10 am IST.