Ars Longa Vita Brevis

My maiden Toast master speech 'Ice Breaker' topic script :))  

Gerund - in English Grammar refers to those words which are of verb + ing form. Here i am, with my heartbeat racING, mind bogglING, tongue slurrING ..a walking talking example of Gerund.

Ladies and Gentlemen...It gives me an immense sense of honor to stand at this very place.. and here..and here.. and all over this place.. that has produced some of the funniest and finest orators this place has ever seen. I wish and hope they were at least half as nervous as i am now when they gave their maiden speech. This Toastmasters club has a thing in common with one of Steve Jobs Quote. You STAY HUNGRY..for obvious reasons (timing is from 1 PM to 2.30PM)..but unlike the quote its NEVER FOOLISH to STAY.  

As per any typical Icebreaker's procedure I've to talk about myself..and what's more easier than talking about ones own self. Or at least that's what i thought. When i sat down to jot down points that i can say about myself, then only i realised how tough it actually was to talk about oneself. What should i say about myself?? Should i say that i am around 6 feet tall and i weigh less than a quintal? It was like those essay questions which they give in schools right after the holidays asking you to describe your vacation in not less than 100 words. My essay always fell short by 90 words for my all vacation activity can be described in exactly 10 words.

Eat through every waking hour and sleep rest of the time. 

Had there been a competition for laziness..i would've won it hands down..for i wud've been so lazy that i would have skipped taking part in the competition itself. 

My tryst with drawing is a well chronicled affair. Right from my pre school days me and drawing were never on the same page. Neither were my drawings. Once in a PTA meeting my drawing teacher had asked for my mom in particular and had shown her my drawing book. Instead of coloring the birds and fruits inside the box i had dutifully colored everywhere on the pagelet apart from the picture. Poor teacher, guess she was not a big fan of thinking outside of the box.  When my mom saw the other pictures that had been colored by me she was in for more shock. Well..if you see an orange colored elephant..guess you are entitled for a bit of a shock too. I used to have this seasonal favourites in colours. Every now and then i would fall in love with a color and it would linger for a while. Thats a habit i carry till date. At that point of time in my life it was orange. And had painted every single picture on my drawing book in orange. 

Then came the time i had to decide which group i had to take for my plus one and plus two classes. Just like how One's strength drives him towards his goal..my fetish for drawing drove me away from biology group. I safely landed myself with Maths for my under graduation. But that wasnt the last of my escapades with drawing. There was a compulsory competition about which I dont remember the details but it was more like a portrait drawing. Picture of a famous personality would be given to you and you have to draw the face. I drew a round, circumference for face. It actually came out well. I was able to meet the ends and form a circle. Patting myself for the job well done, i began to draw the left eye. I was mesmerised by what i drew. The lids came out in perfect symmetry. I thought the God of drawing is happy with me today and said a little thank you. A second later i realised it was a thanks wasted. For how much ever i tried for the remaining one hour i couldnt get the right eye in synch with the left eye. Poor Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, whose face i've to draw, ended up looking like Captain Jack sparrow minus the beard of course. The reviewer thought i was anti-congress and gave a feedback saying my portrait was politically motivated.

After that my life was incident for nearly a decade. Just like any good horror movie, a recent incident reminded me its not over yet. My neighbours kid one day came to me with a note and the dreaded color set in hand. even before i could say anything i was given the task of babysitting by her parents. I knew what i did that summer when i was of her age that had made me an urban legend of drawing. She ensured that her parents have left, switched on the TV and started watching pogo after giving me the task of doing her homework before her parents came. I took the bait aka challenge and started dutifully. With a beaming face i handed her the book, as proud as Michelangelo after he painted Sistine Chapel. She was looking at it like an art connoisseur and with each change in her facial reaction i was edging close to a nervous breakdown. Finally she asked me why my parrot is black in color while its nose is red. Ooopss...i did it again. I thought i would make a joke of it and replied it got sun burnt in chennai's hot climate and since it was suffering from cold its got a red nose. The look that she gave made me realise why comics use special characters to describe foul language. I can see the whole lot of them dancing on top of her head. Needless to say, she never ever entered our house with homework book again.

The time has come to tell the meaning of the title and to windup this speech. 'Ars longa vita brevis' meaning art is long while life is short. I have learnt my lesson and have now made peace with my drawing skills. Like Pandora's box, dinosaurs from Jurassic Park or even spectrum scam for that matter, certain things are better left undisturbed. I add my drawing skills to that list.