May 27, 2011 - Presenter at Indian Educational and Cultural Center

2 hrs 30 min

Today was graduation of all Indian-American Seniors at the Indian cultural and educational center (ICEC). The graduation of the seniors is hosted by ICEC every year. The graduation ceremony is to honor all the Indian-American students graduating from different high schools in Gainesville.  I have always been involved with the ICEC, however, as I started high school and got involved with crew, I could not contribute as much time as I have contributed in the past. So returning to ICEC for this graduation ceremony was like returning to my roots. Few days before, an Indian aunty (anyone close to my mom's age or older has to be called aunty in India) called my mother and asked her if I could introduce one of the graduating seniors. When my mom asked me, I was reluctant, because I had not gone to the ICEC in a while. However, my mother insisted that this was one of the ways to be connected to my community of Indian-Americans. So, I finally agreed to do it, and I am glad that I said yes. I chose to introduce Ashwini Goswami, whom I have known since I was in kindergarten. I used to hang out with Ashwini as a kid, we played Pokemon and Yugioh together, we were part of the Gator swim club together, and above all we performed at several occasions at ICEC together. As I sat and reminisced about it, I found that I could put all of my memories together and come up with a personal, but humorous speech. I also improvised my speech as I went along. Later on, when everyone had made there speeches for the seniors, I thought that mine was one of the best. Ajit was also there and he introduced Kushal Someshwar who is also one of our common friends. I later received many compliments for the humorous and jocular nature of my speech and the effective delivery of my speech. Effective speech delivery is one of the qualities I have acquired from debate...but I will discuss that at another time.