The 5th Speech Did It!

It was a strange, surreal feeling almost. I had been in that same situation of being assessed for my speech, at least 10 times by now. However, every time it came to that instance when the Best Speaker was to be announced, I would freeze. My hands would freeze and my tongue would go limp. Yes, my tongue. So, don’t ask me any pertinent questions during this tiny but tensing window of time, and you will be spared my blank, doe-eyed stare.

So, when the Toast Master of the Evening (TME) who also happens to be the President of Bangsar TM announced my name, blood rushed to my palms – but my feet went numb. For a full 3 seconds that felt like an hour, I only imagined walking up to him to get the certificate with my name on it, rather than actually walking there. Of course, with all the smiles and gazes directed at me, I zapped out of the daydream soon enough, walked up to the rostrum and accepted my certificate from a smiling TME! I am not even sure if I smiled back, because I think my face was still frozen from the shock. It was only when I heard a click, did I realize that our VPM was diligently saving the moment for Bangsar TM’s records! I think I smiled, but a second too late. So if I seem dazed in the shot that shows me accepting my first ever Best Assignment Speaker Certificate, you know why!

So what was different about this speech that it catapulted me to first place after months and months of toastmaster speeches? Was it the fact that the topic was close to my heart? But so were the other ones! What did I do different? I could not say I sounded better at my 5th speech, compared to many of my impromptu table topic speeches made in the past. Some of those ranked high in applause units. So what was it?

Personally – and completely without reason, I think it was the Number 5. It’s lucky. (Not the Lucky we all know as Mr. President!)

F. I. V. E.
Something about the number 5. It often leads me to Happiness or a derivative thereof.

The number 1 usually is about a single shot. One-time-only “happenstances”. The number 2 usually has double-meaning to me – no pun intended. Well let me try again. Sigh. I rest my case.

3rd time lucky? Yeah, for the guy sitting three rows down and third from the left. He’s always the guy who gets picked during all lucky draws I’ve attended all my life. Never me. So the number three is out. The number 4 – hardly a source of pleasure. Have you ever had fourths at a buffet dinner and then left the room with a smile? I think not!

In any case, the 5th speech did it! I won my first certificate before these little beige declarations with embossed black letters got replaced by the newer, shinier pins that will adorn our clothes or bags in time! Like stripes on the shirt of an army officer!

Secretly of course, as smug as I may sound about the new pins sometimes, I am excited about them. They’re definitely sexier than our big beige sheets. Having said that, it felt like I was part of a legacy, being able to take home the certificate while it was still being awarded. A novelty. After all, the who’s who of Bangsar Toastmasters had all won these certificates all this time. And somehow being able to win one, suddenly felt special to me. Like how I felt when those smelly terrapins my brother reared in our room as children, died. They weren’t my favorite, but the fact that I couldn’t smell them anymore when they died, changed something - I couldn’t put my finger on it but it still bothered me.

Yeah, yeah, go ahead and call me a sentimental fool! Still, it is I who won a certificate for my 5th Speech, am I not?

I tell you, it’s the Number 5.

by Shobha
20th July 2010