THE ART OF SPEAKING-- III

 The art of speaking-- III

. Ultimately if we try to understand what is to be treated as culture, we end up in irritation not because we do not like the very suggestions, rather there is nothing to understand from those monologues and soliloquies. What is worse, each speaker carries a sheaf of papers, though faithfully assuring the audience of sticking to brevity in speech. Many have sincerely violated the time and have disgusted the audience beyond redemption. All the time the speakers assume to have captivated the audience. The real situation is the people are held captives and haplessly so. For these speakers earning the wrath seems to be a life-time mission as on every occasion they live up to the same reputation of blabber. It baffles logic as to why these speakers are invited at all. There are a number of criteria that are genuinely irrelevant in the choice. 1. The person holds a high office and could use his good offices to help our institution. [After a year or so when we try to recall his or her visit to our place, the person disowns knowledge of visiting us. We too would like to forget it but for the fear of wrongly inviting the person again we have to remember the “killer instincts”]. A serious folly of such incompetent speakers is to quote and quote wrongly as once an American President quoted “People should not throw stones if they stay in glass houses”. There was a global jubilation over this inadequacy from the highest office. Some of our speakers are more innovative and would badly paraphrase statements giving the exact opposite of the intended version. 

Poets and Philosophers are brought to public resentment long after their death by improperly quoting them. 2. Another routine on-going debacle is to try to fix-up speakers when “something has to be done to complete the programme”. The earlier speakers who had agreed to participate would discover unavoidable commitment just some 72 hours before the schedule. The organizers have a man hunt through the night. Some potential speakers excuse themselves on learning the theme. Others readily agree to it since for them all themes are of the same value.  They would rely on Shakespeare, Keats, Statistics and Politics besides jokes borrowed from sources known to everyone. They would tell the organizers that “a good speaker should be able to handle any theme”. Our experience with the person would reveal that all those who can handle all themes need not be good as they faithfully “manhandle” the audience in effect. 

Another bad dimension of some such speakers is to dwell on politically or emotionally serious sentiments dividing the audience in to rival factions. They sadly disturb the tranquility among fellow human beings. Stupidity is an in-born syndrome with them. Having invited them to be our guests, the question looming large would be “Who is stupid?” The answer would be more embarrassing than the actual event and the organizers try to take solace by saying ‘everybody can not be a good speaker’ though nobody on the occasion was good. There are a number of facets that render the event dismal. Lack of punctuality in adhering to schedules has a major demoralizing effect on the audience. On most such occasions, the people fritter away preferring something better than sitting idle. Another problem faced by the audience is the bad seating arrangements and poor acoustics at the venue. More disturbance arises from bad pronunciations like bublic [public], temparavary [temporary] Pibravary [February] and many other inabilities. These prove a nuisance to the listeners and they sag in to slumber. These are just some common ways by which speakers invite the wrath of the audience. Ironically, they never mend their ways even after years. Obviously they assume perfection upon selves.        To continue        Prof. K.Raman

THE ART OF SPEAKING -II

 The Art of Speaking-- II

They often [at least many] believe that some bewildering statistics is enough. But, people look for much more in terms of analysis and correctives.  Why so much is expected from a speaker? Often the organizers of an event try to make it appear that they have mustered the best of brains on the subject. There is no genuine assessment to ascertain the efficacy of speakers. But, the speaker’s profile or the official status is projected as a measure of value. For instance, the names carry all tags of Chairmanship, Managing Directorship, Vice-Chancellorship, Chief Executive, Professor-ship with half a dozen or more titles of academic acumen and so on. We forget for a moment that the top brass always get things done and that to expect them to help our requirement of enlightening the audience, is a folly in conception. Of late, the members of teaching community serving as Professors in Universities and Colleges have also come under the banner of blabber. Armed with the thought of their being highly qualified, they liberally blabber shamelessly [not unashamedly- for a change.]. Too often the person is conscious of his or her status than of the duties at the podium. One of the reasons of how they get away with it is our own formal vote of thanks where we interpret ideas unsaid and the speaker believes that people understood the speech better than self. But, many in the audience prefer to think of something else while still physically “attending” the session. Obviously the speaker fails to “hold” the audience. One of the steps of alienating self from the audience is to unnecessarily recall the visit to America on invitation [from the Son-in-law of course]. How in a month’s stay we assess so much about the people of that country is a matter for a genuine probe, while all through our life we are unable to decipher our own people. I remember a politician’s joy [his name is held back] when after visiting USA, he told the Indian press astonishingly that even small kids in US speak English. 

Some of our utterances may betray our status. Speakers are keen to register their visit to the West than registering their credentials at those places of visit. Always the people in the audience look for newer ways of analyzing an issue instead of mundane definitions and mind-boggling data. In any National data, numbers are really high even at 1% level of the population. In a casual reference, the magnitude of the problem can be highlighted. The speaker should devote time to analyze a problem and call for a louder thinking. If there are some worked out solutions, they could be shared with the audience. Let us look at how the speakers invite doom. We can also consider how one can do justice to the invitation for being a speaker on an occasion.

Inviting doom or the wrath of the listeners:

The art of earning the wrath of the audience looks to be an in-born talent among many. With in minutes of beginning a speech, the members in the audience think of the night meal some 11 hours away from now. There is a remarkable ability for many speakers who make you think of the day’s future. Often they have no clear idea of what they intend sharing with the audience. For instance, if the topic allotted is Culture, some speakers dwell at length on Cinema of the contemporary version in the name of culture. Their culture does not permit them beyond the realms of films. Some start saying on the excellent sculptures in temples and recall to our youngsters the rich culture vividly available in temples. Another person would try to narrate how people in Europe are highly cultured in waiting for their turn at toilets and restaurants and try to draw inferences as to how we lag in these peripherals like dress, food, talking in whispers and in general upkeep of our towns and cities  

To continue                                             Prof . K.Raman

THE ART OF SPEAKING

THE ART OF SPEAKING

Hitherto we have looked at varied facets of Education, Communication, Human relations and a number of Human emotions as well. On quite a few occasions I have insisted on the values of communication. Of the different forms of communication, the one rendered as speech is important and complicated. The others - written form and the spoken form in Radio or TV have the scope for correction even after the item is recorded. Therefore “Speech” delivered live to the audience has intricacies, advantages and difficulties to the speakers. Still, what matters in the final analysis about a speech is how comfortable were the audience through that speech. Very rarely does one come across a situation when a speech is said to have been good all through. It is a clear case of the speaker’s ability for the occasion. When the person has not appropriately bestowed attention on to the ingredients that conform to the status of “wider acceptability” among the listeners, it is bound to be unimpressive.  Often, well prepared and properly delivered speeches go down very well with the audience. Sometimes an initially promising effort ends up in disgust as the speaker transgresses limits of time, decency of utterance or tries to preach morals of which the very person is a known violator.  Another cause of failure for a speech could be a disproportionate importance to data or enormity of technical details in explaining a process. To strike a level of balance for the entire audience to stay comfortable is the basic requirement for a speaker, setting aside the natural inclination of exhibiting the knowledge acquired. What counts here, is the wisdom of the speaker and not the knowledge of the individual. Honestly, a knowledgeable person would know how to convey an idea. The not-so knowledgeable are eager to “create” an impression of supremacy. In this process, an idea is easily confused instead of being conveyed. It is for every speaker to precisely “plan” what has to be done and be ready to deviate meaningfully if the occasion permits. Let us try to consider the issue in detail.      

Background:            The levels of expectation from the audience for a speaker, is generally high in sharp contrast to that of the reader for a printed matter. One of the reasons is a reader has freedom to repeatedly read a passage and try to gather the message. The second advantage is the facility of availing of the time without having to adhere to any specific time schedule. In other words, to listen to a speaker the listener has to reschedule the other works. Therefore, it is understandable that the speakers have a moral duty to give the best possible on all occasions. At the same time, the speaker enjoys the scope of precisely drawing attention to definite items during the course of a speech. This provides the real advantage of “driving home” the points. A reader may not pick up the information unless [s]he pays uniform attention to the entire matter in print. By every reckoning, a speaker can do greater justice than an author. But, do all speakers sustain these?                                                                                                 The Situation:   For anything in life, effort is the basis. To strive for an effective session of speech, it is essential that the speakers do not assume the wisdom of humanity up on themselves. Instead, they should concede that there may be better intellectuals among the audience. Any gathering can not be taken for granted. Quite often speakers make the basic folly of badly judging the audience. They tend to assume that others may not be able to do as good. They fail to do the homework and try to ‘manage’ at the podium with mere statistical data on items like the scale of poverty or the huge funds allocated in the plan period etc..  

To continue                             Prof.K ,Ranan

THE VOICE

 

                                                               THE VOICE

Every higher form of life has the ability to make noise from vocal chords. But, it is a gift to humans for making ‘use’ of this ability. Appropriate use of this ability is essential for the faculty called speech. Further controlling of voice helps one to sing. Though every one is desirous of singing, many do not indulge in it, for, what matters is the desire of those around. There is so much on “desirability” of a voice. Is voice an important item for singing alone? Honestly, it is important for anyone in catering to a large audience. Prima facie the listener is attracted by the voice much before the nuances of rendition take possession of the listener. Would it ever take possession of the listener is a matter that depends on a variety of other attributes. There are no broad generalizations for “accepting” a speech or a song except that the listener likes it. On occasions, indirect help may come from others who make an individual shine by contrast. The hope to shine by contrast is totally undependable and is purely a matter of chance. Singers and speakers need to cultivate a good voice and a style of rendition. Of these, the former is a divine gift and the latter a gift of effort. Effortless speech or singing implies hidden efforts in the sense, we do not “see” any difficulty on the part of the performer at the event. It does not mean that the individual has not made any effort for what [s]he is seen performing. 

The same could be put in another way. Any attempt to render a speech or a concert without the “preparatory efforts” may not make the right impact. This should not be taken as memorizing a speech or the range of items in a concert. The performer has to cultivate the process of thought and keep his voice free of ruffles and chokes. Like all gadgets, voice has to be kept intact by constant use. Without this, appropriate modulations and attaining the pitch and pace in quick time would prove hazardous to the performer. Any voice not properly trained has the potential risk of failing at crucial junctures.                      

Basically voice is a gift of treasure for its very characteristics like volume, the range over which it can amplify without breaking up and the sustenance of clarity at all volumes. These features can not be derived from practice. What I intend saying here is, any performance has to be only within the limits of the born gift. Yet, a certain degree of honing up the features of voice is possible under the broad definitions of training and practice. Even a trained voice has to be kept intact by systematic use. Otherwise it may also gather “rust” and turn rough and coarse. As common evidence of this one may recall, how after a long vacation the teacher’s voice breaks for a couple of days in the new academic year. Unlike singers, teachers can not practice at the empty halls of their homes. Any one desirous of developing the voice must also practice the habits of perfect pronunciation, accurate variations of pitch to suit the contextual effect and so on. An obvious requirement for such exercises is to understand the meaning of every word in the matter- speech or song. On all such occasions, it is the duty of the performer to keep life in the matter presented. Drawing the attention of the listeners and keeping the tempo alive are the two vital ingredients for a successful session. Keeping the audience delightfully “hooked” to the performer is achieved through a captivating voice modulation. If the voice component fails to render the right support, every other item like the depth in the matter, freshness of items and hitherto unknown techniques of rendition and such other extraordinary features alone can make the effort peaceful to the audience. Using the voice to common advantage is a straightforward approach to “win” appreciation, lest it should be a cry in wilderness.      

                                                                                             Prof.K.Raman      

SHAKESPEARE

SHAKESPEARE

Though not a student of English literature/ language myself, my awe and respect for Shakespeare keep rooting deeper, even as I wonder at his perception of human behaviour . To me, Shakespeare has been perhaps the first ever playwright to have ‘understood ‘  human idiosyncrasies, such that his description of human attitudes transcends limits of time and remains valid to date.  Was he not the first poet to portray money lenders’ rigid demand of principal and interest there of? Recall his portrayal of Shylock – keen to extract a pound of flesh for default in repayment of money borrowed. His depiction of Lady Macbeth has indeed been a prophetic assertion to highlight women’s attitude whenever an opportunity comes by. All his utterances strewn through his works remind us time and again of human re-orientation under changing circumstances. He remains a colossus on perfect prediction of human thought and strategies of exploiting weaknesses. What better could anyone have used to depict the state of mind of kids than his ‘proverbial’ ‘unwillingly going to school’? Another stroke of brilliance emerges in his expression “seeking the bubble reputation’.

As a means of recalling Shakespearean precision I quote a few of his writings just to substantiate the veracity of my appreciation of his prophetic skills; my calling them prophetic is based on the ‘timeless applicability’ and ‘universal acceptability’ which together imply that certain human traits keep traversing through generations. His remarkable ability has always been accuracy blended with sarcasm.                           

Look at these:

‘Hell is empty and all the devils are here’                                                                                          

  ‘Love is a smoke made with fumes of sigh’.                                                                                           

  ‘A Fool thinks himself to be wise and a wise man knows himself to be a fool’.                                                                                                                                                 

 ‘Uneasy lies the head, that wears the crown’.                                                                                  

   ‘Love is too young to know what conscience is’.                                                                             

  Maids want nothing but husbands and when they have them, they want everything’.                                                                                                                                                                                            

 ‘Lawless are they that make their wills their laws’.                                                                       

  ‘Misery acquaints a man with strange bad fellows’.                                                                      

  ‘When our actions do not, our fears do make us traitors’.                                                                 

 ‘The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief.’                                                                    

  ‘He that loves to be flattered is worthy of the flatter’.    

These are just some samples to show, how well Shakespeare has emphasized the play of human mind. Literally every situation in life has some or other reference in Shakespeare. Indeed a grand mind was his.   Prof. K. Raman      

PRE-UNIVERSITY

PRE- UNIVERSITY

Oh what a grand confluence it was bridging two different mind-sets –those of the school and of the university stream. Yes, mind-set tuning was the major event at that point of learning [in colleges] for teen age members. Variously named – the PUC, Pre-degree, Intermediate etc describe the ‘neither here nor there’ status of the course. Yes, as yet it is not fully a degree stream nor is it a school session; above school but below that of university by reckoning. Leaving aside the status, it was a grooming place or a conditioning domain to disband some typical school methods and to acquire new strategies of learning from well articulated lectures, physical experience from experimental approaches in the laboratories. The natural outcome of adolescence, inhibitions and entry to adulthood of the age, were compounded by the demanding ambience of the college, where the boys and girls of PU were dominated by senior students of degree classes. Those timid-looking PU creatures were ticking time bombs in the sense that they just needed to ‘settle’ in the new place - the college before they could exhibit their innate abilities or matching arrogance. Perhaps what kept them tied down was English medium, as in those days, most schools barring a few select ones offered school education only through the regional language.

 A cloud of uncertainty was lit large over the faces of those PU candidates. Such a ‘fear of uncertainty‘, was short-lived; those students have had reasonable training in English; their having to learn every subject through English did cause a temporary dislocation. But they were smart enough to come to terms with the requirement.  Yes, if we wait for the II term of the college, new band of dynamite-like characters would be noticed from PU students. Also, they would take on any senior with adequate gusto and emerge unfazed. They picked up nuances of getting on with elders/seniors, a new submissive disposition in contrast to their earlier unassailable position in their schools. Yet they were visible as ‘new comers’ in the ambience.        

The most visible feature of PU students was their fear-ridden enthusiasm to attending classes. Colleges have imposing lecture halls, large black boards, some halls had sound amplifier to enhance listener comfort. These facilities in colleges overwhelm the new comers and to an extent made them feel small. Besides, seasoned lecturers, handling subjects looked complete masters and the PU students listening to lectures delivered in English, felt a high degree of seriousness in classroom transactions.  

Another characteristic feature among PU students was their eagerness to reach the classroom at the earliest. It was a pronounced feature from the second hour of the day onwards; in colleges lecture halls are invariably close to respective departments. So, the students rush to classroom from a different area in the college. A brief 5 minute break between hours was just sufficient to make it. But, to take vantage place in a hall, one has to be ‘ahead’ of others. The boys used to move in a mass, as if in a marathon race. Blindly they would dash through varied class groups, often pushing their way through corridors / narrow paths. So to say, a melee between hours was a common sight due to PU students.  For best part of the academic year these students display undue haste in moving between classrooms.

Carrying forward some old practices                                                                     

Writing in plain paper or un-ruled notebooks is a customary practice in higher classes. But, PU students in the early face of their college study would prefer to use ‘ruled’ notebooks, though no rules were issued by anyone in the colleges. Only later they would disband this habit and switch over to un-ruled note books.  Even more intriguing was their practice with regard to practical records. Biology practical work involves depiction of diagrams in books made of drawing sheets or loose drawing sheets. Those pages are generally retained plain except for the relevant diagram; but, PU students by a sheer force of habit would draw a line on the left, signifying a margin. Margins are not demarcated in biology record books. Such a practice is proof the adage ‘Habits die hard’. Despite their earnestness, their ‘eye-hand co-ordination’ for depiction of features in record notebooks was generally poor and only by repeated corrections, they could develop a sense of co-ordination and sense of proportion in drawing specific features.                                                                         

Another trait of PU candidates was their entrenched fear in meeting the teachers even for official purposes. Only after 2 terms in the college they could come to terms with normal practices on college campuses. For the first time they got to have ‘hands on’ training in all laboratories and had close examination of biological samples and in those days received training for dissection of animal specimens and anatomical details of plants.

All these together conferred on those boys and girls a fair idea of collegiate practices to teaching and learning ; by then they had a clear picture of handling or responding to situations in higher studies or profession studies. Needless to state that the then students did not resort to suicide attempts, having gone through real tough training and harsh realities.

Prof. K .Raman

 

 

THE SCHOOL BOY --II

The School Boy --II

Continuation from ---I

English alphabets were taught in the 6^th standard [then called ‘I form’]and in the following 5 years , those students acquired enough proficiency in handling the English language, though every other subject was learnt through Tamil medium or any other respective regional language [under different geographical locales in the state or province].

It is a sad commentary that even  after about 15 years [including the pre-primary stages]through English medium, the present day students fail to match the mastery in English, of those Tamil medium  boys and girls, who had an exposure to English, just for 6 years, starting from high school level.  The message is clear. All parameters of organizing statements, grammar, idioms, phrases and ‘constructs’ were appropriately imparted to the then learners by extremely dedicated teaching, even in villages/ small towns.

Let us recognize – what matters is NOT THE MEDIUM of instruction, but, how well any instruction is given; and how rigid and correct training practices are adopted.

Social setting in schools                 

                                                              Most of the students were from middle level or lower level economic strata of the society. Sophisticated chocolates /biscuits/ candy or beverages were simply ruled out even for their parents. The biggest items were peanut candy or some local preparations from seasonal fruits [ kadalai mittai. Ilandha vadai, kamar kat, kuchi ice [ ¼ ana –a piece ]] Except kuchi ice others were shared between friends by an imaginary hygienic practice –‘crow bite’ [kaakka kadi ] which meant rolling up the candy in a cloth to avoid saliva contact and bite it to smaller piece to be shared with the friend. It was a frequent process among friends of higher classes too. Such was the scale of economic poverty but a loving friendship, rich- for ‘give and take attitudes’ was rampant. Poverty was never an item of lamentation, though survival was possible only by the joint family system. 

Target                                                                                                                         

  People were destined to be poor, yet, everyone observed strict protocol in educating the boys and girls up to high school level, since higher secondary education was a part of collegiate education then. HS level was beyond their means of income and fortunately High school level learning was enough to seek moderate employment to clerical cadres in government services. Those candidates had enough command over their language, which proved a huge advantage in Secretarial services.

School ambience                                                                                                                     Present day schools have imposing structures, well laid out, with greenery, shady places for relaxing, reading rooms, rest rooms and so on. Staff and students appear in defined ‘uniform’ specific to each school. Physical infrastructure looks respectable indeed. But…?

The old schools that we recall here were ‘structural apologies’ to the nomenclature ‘school’. They had just classrooms, play ground and library more for teachers and honestly, I have no idea of students visiting the library. Though the schools were appearing ‘worn out’, the then teachers languishing in poverty were never poverty-stricken in teaching skills or dedication. So to say, those teachers could hold their heads high for their immaculate perfection in professional approach. In such schools of vibrant poverty, mental infrastructure was formidable-no matter what the size of the town or village was though the schools could not boast of physical infrastructure. Subjects were taught with utmost care –especially mathematics, languages for all intricacies of grammar and usages. Gadgets like calculators were unknown and one had to learn the nuances of using tables for multiplication. Daily recitation of tables in chorus in lower classes was a successful methodology to ingrain multiplication tables. That way every student learnt tables by repeated recitation. MORAL INSTRUCTION CLASSES DID REALLY PRUNE THE MENTAL ATTITUDE of children TO LIFE.  

Though in ill clad looks, those children had enough mental grid and tolerance to survive through hostile times of poverty; never did anyone speak ill of poverty or of those persons’ harsh life. The social setting in homes and schools rendered the right attitude to life – facing, braving and overcoming oddities of life only to succeed sooner or later. None ever had defeatist mindset nor did anyone get depressed by any reprimand. Those boys and girls gloriously sailed through harsh life and faced failures but succeeded in life by unflinching effort.  That puts in a nut shell the school boy /girl of 1950s and 60s across our country.

Prof. K.Raman