The Magic of Believing!

Disclaimer: This is an original speech created for Toastmasters International as a part of project - "Understanding Vocal Variety" (L3P2) under Pathway - "Persuasive Influence".

No part of this content can be used without the appropriate and sole permission of the author.

This speech has been created with the intent of speaking in front of a live audience, so consider this as a transcript rather than an article in written form.

Some parts of the speech may not relate to people who are completely unaware about the Toastmasters fraternity.

Reading time: Less than 5 minutes.

Do you know the top 10 highest grossing movies of all time?

Wait.

Let me rephrase that.

Do you know the only non-fictional movie in that list?

Its Titanic.

ALL the other movies in that list are fantasies.

We have Avengers! You actually have 4 movies from the Marvel franchise there!

We have Star Wars!

We have Jurassic Park!

We have Lion King haha!

We have Avatar!

And we also have Harry Potter!

Why do you think this is?

If I have to put it into one sentence – its our THEME!

It’s the Magic of Believing!

Just imagine. Close your eyes and follow along. Ignore all the nuisance. Forget the 15 minutes of ad, forget that you have to stand up for the national anthem. Forget the latecomers who irritatingly have to stamp your feet to try to get to their seat. Forget everything.

Just think of the lights dimming, the smell of popcorn in your hand, your throat wet with that first tasty sip of your coke. Then the screen lights up!

In this dreamy comfortable scenario, would you, in your right senses, want to watch a film that depicts what you face in your everyday life? Would you want to pay 250 bucks to watch reality?

I don’t think so!

I know why I loved going to theatres. And I still do. Oh god when will they reopen?

The reason I love doing that is because for those 2-2.5 hours – I forget everything. I forget all the problems of my life. I immerse myself on Thor stretching his hand for his hammer, Harry trying to catch that pesky little Golden Snitch and closer home, I also love to wonder “Katappa ne Bahubali ko kyu maara?”

So why wouldn’t people hate reality?

Just look at what we’re going through RIGHT NOW!

During this pandemic, we’re all cooped up in our homes. In the beginning, we, or rather I, used to track numbers obsessively.

I don’t know how many of you here are aware of this person – Norbert Elekes. I have no clue what he used to do before the coronavirus. But now, he has almost 3 lac followers on Twitter just because he has been updating the COVID deaths accurately for almost every country on the planet.

Imagine what a sad job that is!

Then suddenly I read somewhere,

“A single death is a tragedy, a million is just a statistic”

It hit me hard.

I stopped following the numbers.

In such a time, those feel-good, fantasy movies, web-series play an important role in moving people’s attention AWAY from something that they cannot control to something that they can: Their emotions.

I never imagined my mom asking me to install Hotstar, Prime Video and Voot for her. She has now watched a web series on all three platforms!

But wait! Are all magic trapped in screens? Do our lives not matter at all?

My fellow Toastmasters and guests, it does.

There’s magic in all of us. It's just that we tend to downplay it.

What are we all doing here, if not creating magic?

What made all of us join Toastmasters in the first place, if not looking for magic in other fellow Toastmasters? The way they talk, the way they conduct themselves. The way they make you feel at home.

I still remember my first Toastmasters Meeting.

It was love, wait no, it was magic at first sight!

It was right here, at Toastmasters Community Club. I remember skipping a class, taking an Uber Bike and reaching Silicon Institute of Technology. I found my way towards the room. It was not the usual room they conducted their meetings at, but it felt like somewhere I always belonged. I was welcomed by almost everyone there. I remember TM Akshita was the Toastmaster of the Day (TMOD).

Her topic was related to Indian Handicrafts I think. She made use of a Presentation for her TMOD session. Honestly, that is the first and the last time I saw a TMOD using a PPT!

There was another guest that day, someone who looked as if he was very old, but I later found that he was a Toastmaster veteran. Whenever he used to travel to other cities, he made it a point to visit the local Toastmasters club there. Wasn’t that special?

He even took up a role that day. It was of the Table Topics (TT) evaluator. He was also one of the TT speakers. Later, he evaluated himself, with a lot of finesse. How cool is that?

It was my first TT speech as well. I remember TM Akshita making it mandatory for all the guests to give a speech. I feel that’s how Toastmasters draws you in, makes you feel a part of the process.

There were so many things that I learnt that day that I tried to incorporate in my club as well. Isn’t this how you learn? You get inspired by the magic that you see all around you and you hope to sprinkle some of that wherever you go!

So today, I leave you all with this lesson.

Don’t go looking for magic in movies and web-series. You don't even have to go looking for it in space, where two astronauts are joining a third astronaut who's already up there!

You know why?

Because you will find it right beside you.

Better yet, you will find it in yourself!

Thank you.