Our Rhetoricians and their Oratory - A Review:

1. RITA, L R, spoke on Women’s Rights. Some of the points which she put forward, along with her pictorial illustrations, authenticated the fact that she had spent much time in fine tuning the Subject Matter of her Oratory.

She highlighted the cruel practice of dowry, were the Sons are Sold for a Sum. "Marriages are made in Money, not in Heaven," she claimed.

As a result, female infanticide has become widely prevalent all over. She said that women are also responsible for this plight.

She made it clear that, “If marriage should be honorable, you should be free from covetousness.”

She also challenged the guys by saying, “Eat the labor of your own hands, not your father in law’s hands.”

However, she also added as an appendix, “If parents give something joyfully without any form of demand, please accept it”, she said.

She concluded with a logical argument which runs thus:

“When you bring something to the house, you pay for it. So, when a bride comes into the house, you should pay for it, not the bride.”

She was convincing, authentic, and substantiated her arguments with clinching thoughts and challenging quotes. Kudos.!

2. STEFFY RACHAEL THOMAS spoke on Discrimination between States. “The unity that we see around today – isn’t it an assumed unity?” she asked, and then went on to share her experience at MCC in this regard.

Because of fragmentation, we lose a broad outlook. She spoke on Favouritism in Educational Institutions which resulted in discrimination. What should you adopt as the yardstick to select a student? Is it Merit or Preferential treatment?

To redeem the situation, and to remedy this evil, one should enlighten the children right at the Kindergarten level. They should be taught to think beyond racism. If these small evils are eradicated, Tagore’s prayer for India will become a reality. And this was the prayer of Tagore, which she’d obviously failed to memorise properly. 

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow
domestic walls;” will indeed become a reality.”

She began with a question and ended with a quote. Clear and convincing, with logical points. But the only thing she goofed up was the quote of Tagore towards the end.

3. KARTHIK VARMA spoke on FRAMEWORKS and its Meaning in our Lives. He too dashed off a question to the audience, asking them, “What’s the purpose of roads?” He got some good answers on that. According to him, a road is a clear, constructive path. In life, we build a lot of roads, which help us out a lot, but at the same time things become mundane, routine cos of them.

All stances that we take in our life are based on assumptions. What’s right for me from the podium is left for you as the audience. So what’s right and left? It’s entirely an asuumption.
Then he connected this thought with the necessity of frameworks in life. “We need frameworks to get at anything in life. If I look at this room, I don’t see any higher consciousness inhabiting it. Religion is a framework, which adds meaning to life. Each religion has a distinctive framework without which people may lose their way.

If you strip yourself of all the frameworks in your life, you lose interest in living.

He then delved into the Earthcentric view of religion.

According to him, life is measured as one unit. Hence, if two units come together, its more powerful.

Frameworks, moreover, have to be flexible. They should be stepping stones.

A lovli expository oratory, with little props. He began with a quote, with a pictorial backup to authenticate his point. Clear, convincing and lovli. Far from the beaten track…!Hence a special Kudos.!

4. ELWIN SUSAN JOHN gave a commentary on Dr APJ Kalam’s Speech at MCC. While harping on his five point agenda, Capacity Building, Research and enquiry, Creativity and innovation, Creativity and innovation, Capacity to use high technology etc.

She said, there should not be any discrimination of the underprivileged, as the term itself implied something negative. She concluded by saying its easy to say but difficult to implement it. One easy way to implement it would be to educate everyone.

Te seriousness and the effectiveness of her speech was lost in her occasional laughs and smiles, thus taking away from it, the cream of Rhetoric, Conviction.

5. BIVITHA EASO elaborated on the concept of FREEDOM, and started off with a quote of Moshe, “Freedom is the Oxygen of the Soul.”

She spoke on the different perspectives of the term Freedom, stating that, a child’s perception of Freedom is different from that of an Adult’s. An adult has the options to chose his way of life. Freedom, again varies from person to person.
She defined Freedom as, “Coming out of the established shell of society.

Another worthy quote was, “Nothing can be changed by changing the face, but everything can be changed by facing the change,” highlighting on the need for updating and upgrading ourselves in tune with the societal needs.

Presentation was convincing, and clear. As an added advantage, could have added real life examples for illustrations.

6. POTHEN CHERIAN spoke on MY MCC. He started with a quote, Make it, or break it, tat’s MCC. At MCC, no one interferes in the life of students. Students too know their limits. Only a handful have ruined their life. But still, cos of a couple of steps in the wrong direction, and the influence of politics on smaller establishments, and the political hierarchy at the top, the College has assumed the status of Parliament, and students imitate them. Discrimination against various communities was another area he highlighted. He concluded with his remarks, “College officials should change their ways or else College days will be a bad memory for us.”

The points were fine, though on a critical vein, but I expected a lot more from you da. You could have made it more focussed on one area that deserves attention in our College, which would have made it highly focalised and interesting in perspective.

7. PONNIVALAVAN, P spoke on INTERNET PIRACY. He began by giving a shocking statistics, saying that, “One out of every five softwares is pirated, according to the Software Producers’ Association. Some of these softwares reach the black markets even a full two months before their official release. Honesty, according to him, gets a beating in the world of Piracy. He spoke on P2P Technology.

Then he posed the question, “Are consumers alone responsible for this state of affairs?”

“Absolutely No” seems to be the overwhelming answer. Big companies themselves foster it greatly to crush smaller companies. This is technically called as LABEL DOMINATION, he added.

By 2008, a policy called COLLECTIVE LICENSING will be implemented, which will be a level playing field for both the Producers and the Consumers.

He concluded by saying that, Piracy cant be eradicated totally.

He has done his homework well, and devoted considerable attention to the nitty gritty of the world of Piracy. He was convincing, clear and to the point. Kudos…!

8. THEKKEKARA SHARON FRANCIS spoke on Culture. The destruction of monuments, documents, books and historical records, a new culture was being manufactured. She cited the Pune and Mumbai instances as examples.

Death of a language sounds the death of a culture. Even though a lot of literature is being translated into English, translation makes a work of art lose its essence. She ended saying, when you lose your language, you lose your voice.”

The presentation seemed to highlight more of a linguistic perceptive of Culture, which related itself to the Applied Linguistics. However, an elaboration on the definitions of Culture, and its various significations would have been an added advantage.

9. PRASHANT IPE JOB spoke on Rhetoric. He traced the origins of Rhetoric, where wise men were taught to cultivate the art. Cicero was one famous exponent, while Aristotle gave it clear parameters. He spoke on Mark Antony’s speech and its appeal to the Roman audience. He read out a paragraph with almost every word starting with V.

He was convincing, and exhibited skills of a Rhetorician.

10. RAKUL, R spoke on the Influence of Media on the Youth. He defined the term Media, and elaborated on Gender Roles, a topic on which he had an extended conversation with another Professor. He also highlighted his concern for the Tamil language. He patted the Govt’s awareness programs on AIDS, citing an instance of a recent advert in the Media, which aroused the curiosity of the onlookers, which was a novel way of attracting attention. Even students had a fear that this question may be asked for their Public Examinations, he said.

He said that, a film director should be all encompassing. Just because a few things inspire him, he should not go ahead with it. Instead, he should sit back, analyse the various maladies of society, and try to bring about societal transformation through his films.

While he entertained the audience with his mannerisms, and he also laid bare a few key points, two precious minutes was made to little use cos of our Rhetorician's softness with the audience.

11. VRINDA R.CHANTH spoke on the Need for E-governance, toeing the line of Dr.Kalam’s Speech here a fortnight ago.

She dwelt on the advantages of E-governance, after defining the broad meaning of the term. For easy, clear, responsive and speedy governance the choice is obviously e-governance, she opined.

The goals of E-governance were outlined, some of them being - ,
To interact with the government at different levels.
To make the government more responsive to its citizens
TO integrate.

She spoke on the implementation of E-governance in the states of MP and Kerala, where Death Certificates, Birth Certificates, Income Certificates are issued online, making the erstwhile cumbersome process, much more simpler and easier.

She also said that e-governance enables access to the different government schedules and programmes. In Kerala, Akshaya programme was launched.

She then outlined the benefits and hurdles in implementing e-governance.
While benefits include, reducing language barriers, Reducing Costs, Increasing Efficiency etc, the major hurdles are lack of well developed infrastructure, coupled with the whopping costs in ICT.

Convincing… but a tinge of Ethos, (Emotional Appeal) would have been Clinching.

12. KUNGA NGODUP spoke on MY TIBET…

He started off on a very Indian Note by saying, “Our first king was an Indian.” He also narrated the story of how an Indian, when he arrived in Tibet, was asked, where he came from. That man pointed to the South, meaning India, but the Tibetans mistook it, and thought he was pointing to the skies. So they thought him to be a Divine Person and so elected him their King.

He elaborated on the Concept of Incarnation, on how the Soul keeps changing the Body and the 14 th Dalai Lama, who was presently living at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. Ever since the War, 6000 monasteries were destroyed.

He spoke on how China used Tibet as its military base. India has the largest number of Tibetans.

From skyscrapers to brothels and discotheques, Tibet has come far ahead… in terms of lifestyle. Chinese are eventually benefited in the end. ‘We are just the means to their end,” he said.

He also added on a sober note, “we are now outnumbered in our own country.

On Economic Changes sweeping his country, he said, these measures have caused havoc to the Wildlife, Contaminated the Water bodies etc. China tested its First Nuclear Bomb in Tibet, having eight missile bases, and eight Inter continental Ballistic missiles.

A good expository speech, relating himself to the audience, with his radiant smile, which added credibility and the needed appeal.

13. Kali Shekar spoke on Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam’s Vision 2020. He spoke from a very idealistic stand point, presenting a rosy picture of the entire Indian Panorama. He talked on Urbanisation, Literacy Levels, Improvements in the fields of Science and technology, eradication of Poverty etc.

Kali Shekar also highlighted the fact that politicians are responsible for corruption in our country, as funds meant for welfare programmes were either diverted or misused. He finished off with the quote, “ If Hardwork, is your weapon, success is yours.”

He was short, short of valid points to vindicate his arguments. Yet, was clear in his presentation.