Toastmaster's Advanced Speech 8 - "Roshni’s Deliverance"

This is speech #4 from "Storytelling" manual, called "The Touching Story". The objectives are to understand the techniques available to arouse emotion and to become skilled in arousing emotions while telling a story. Time allotted is 6 to 8 minutes.

On a dull, damp morning of July, Roshni woke up to her mother’s frantic shakes, “Roshni! Get up! You don’t want to be late on your first day in your new school, do you?”. But Roshni wanted exactly that. In fact, she did not want to go to this new school at all. She had gone there earlier for the admission interview. It was so big and sophisticated, with everyone talking in English, she hadn't understood quite a lot and had felt like a misfit.

She had spent days haggling with her mother to not send her to this alien place. “I promise I will be a good kid now, I will listen to everything you say. I will sleep in the afternoon and not bother you or ask you to play with me. Please, I don’t want to go to this school”. But Mother was firm in her decision, “It is for your future Roshni. You will thank me later.”

And finally the day had come. Roshni put on her brand new uniform, shiny shoes, bag and water bottle and set out for the dreaded place in the school rickshaw. At the school, everyone was gathered in the assembly hall and she was asked to join the line of students of her class, the third standard. It was a painful experience for the shy and reticent Roshni. She did not even know the prayer they were singing! Or that she was not supposed to carry her bag and bottle into the assembly area! She thought everyone was looking at her as if she had committed some heinous crime.

In the classroom, she quietly went and sat on the last bench alone, out of the line of sight of the teacher. All children around her were bubbling with excitement and were enthusiastically chatting away about their summer holidays, “You know I went on a trip to Shimla! Oh it is sooo beautiful!” , “ I went to a summer camp and learnt skating! It is so  much fun, you should try it!” “My cousins from America visited us! They are so cool!” and so on..

Roshni wished someone would ask her about her holidays. Or how she was. Or maybe just what her name was. No one did. However, the teacher was kind and introduced her to the class. “Students, this is Roshni. It is her first day in our school and she’ll be studying with you all now. Let’s welcome her!” Everyone clapped and that was that. She again went back to her bench and sat alone.

Then came lunch time. It was then that Roshni discovered that there were separate groups of 4-5 students each within the class, who ate in their designated areas. She wanted to be a part of a group of girls who seemed likable.  But how could she go and ask? Wouldn't it be sort of an intrusion? What if they bluntly refused to accommodate her? She was the one eating alone…couldn’t people see that? Was she so unwanted here?

All such thoughts ran through Roshni’s mind and her eyes welled up. She spent the rest of the day counting down to the last period, crying silently, with no one to console her. No one even took notice. For them, it was an exciting beginning of another school year, of getting back with old friends - they did not have time to spare for this unexceptional new comer. 

Roshni went home, barely managing to hold her tears back. At the sight of her mother she could no longer hold her emotions -  she ran to her and clutching her arms started wailing at the top of her lungs. Mother was alarmed, and asked, “Roshni what happened beta? Are you hurt? Did someone say something to you?”. Between sobs, she told her about the day. Mother just smiled and said, “That’s it? And you are taking the roof down for this small thing? Honey they don’t know you yet, do they? Once they get to know and understand you, you will be friends! For that, you will have to take the first step, go and talk to them.”

But Roshni had other ideas. With her sense of extreme self respect - that people often mistook for ego - she decided that she would not be the one approaching people or asking for their attention. After all, action speaks louder than words! So instead, she devoted all her energy and concentration into studies; went to her teachers to get clarity for things she did not understand due to the new language; and of course took her mother’s help, who was always there for her.

Six months passed away in this fashion and the day came when the class teacher walked in with the results of the half yearly exams. Customarily, she announced, the third ranking student is….Abhishek…the second ranker is Dolly..and the first rank this time has been bagged by…Roshni. Roshni stood up and walked to her teacher to collect the report card. With her head still meekly down, she took the card and went back to her seat, ears ringing with her classmates’ applause, and sat there alone.

That was the last day she sat alone.

This speech took 9:15 minutes to deliver and was appreciated for story development, dialogue and the climax. The characters could have been described better.