P1:The Ice Breaker

A Particle on the Pale Blue Dot

 "From a distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different.

On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”-Carl Sagan

I Surabhi Kinariwala 1 of the 7 billion people on earth, 1 of the 2 lakh 50000 employees at my company 1 of the 8000 engineers who graduated from my University, 1 of the 200 students of my batch in school ,1 of the 16 people in my family,–am here to introduce myself to fellow toastmasters and guest.Good Morning and a Happy ‘Oye its Friday’ to everyone present here.

22^nd December 1990-an infinitesimally small baby on the pale blue dot was born to the most beautiful and compassionate woman on earth and the journey called life began for me.
Just as the earth is-- in the milky way, so was I to the outside world - A mote of dust in the vast galaxy of the world. But I had my family to keep me in orbit. A place to call home. The place where I have a Universe of my own

My Father-My Hero!
My Mother-A God sent Angel!

My Elder Brother-My inspiration!

My family –The Kinariwala’s -A gujarathi business family settled in Nagpur is very similar to the joint families they portray on Indian television.

Home is where I have learned to pray, care, share, love,to fight for my rights, so what even if it is to get my favorite Harry Potter stationery box,a place where festivals are celebrated with enthusiasm even today, a place where everyone loves me for the person I am and they assure me each day that I might be some small particle on this earth but one of the most important particle in their lives.

My first cosmic collision was in school, where every individual I met, had a galaxy of their own, with a family like mine to orbit around them.

A few of the memories of childhood and school life that I cherish are Learning to ride a bicycle,Learning to play a keyboard,Summer Holidays with cousins,To hold the Responsibility as the School Blue House captain,Lunch breaks,School picnics,Group Studies with friends,The Christmas celebrations at school and the Last day of 10^th board examinations.

I am sure everyone here has similar memories of childhood like mine for you are in your own - little galaxies.

The next two years after Std 10^th were spent mostly in studying and preparing for exams and trying to get into a good engineering college.

Now imagine a cataclysmic event, like the earth being thrown off the orbit. Metaphorically I am referring to the event where we all leave home for however brief or detail the time.

I did my Bachelors of Technology degree from a renowned university in Chennai.
My interest in Computer Logic and Mathematics lead me to choose Information Technology as my area of interest.

The best and the most amazing Practical Exam of my life,that is how I define my hostel life.

I am one of the lucky ones who get to enjoy the hostel Life.
Yes! Lucky is the word.
Whatever I had learnt in theory both at home and in school was applied when I stayed at the hostel.

And we very well know which is the best way of remembering our lessons. Reading them in theory or learning from the mistakes we commit during our practical exams?

One of the cherished lesson learnt is Decision Making:As a kid I was taught that there are  two ways of doing things the right and the wrong.

I always had this question in mind on how to find out which one is the right way.
and staying away from home helped me discover that what makes me happy and doesn't bother my conscious is always the right one.

I believe we are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.”

Yes! I found them and my friends are the ones who give me confidence to travel without the fear of getting bewildered and faith that I will find them around whenever I need them.

So that was the earth and my life in a synchronous orbit.

The present status of life being the ‘Work, Earn and Enjoy’ phase.

Now, how does that bring me here to toastmasters?

Let me put it as the ‘Big Bang’ - Where worlds collide. We all lived in our own little niches. But common interests and rational thoughts have entangled our paths. Like the earth you would just see me as a mote of dust in a sunbeam from the farthest corner of the room. True isn't it. This speech was to lend you a telescope to find out who I am?

I hope you all remember me
As a girl who is an optimists, a hard worker, a literature lover, a music addict, a trained dancer,a girl who wishes to see people around her happy.

As Surabhi Kinariwala – The Girl with the Galaxy.