Dominion Innsbrook Toastmasters

Madam Toastmaster, Ladies & Gentlemen Who am I, where did I come from, where am I going and what am I supposed to be doing? These are profound age-old questions. Philosophers over centuries have pondered over these issues and have not arrived at a consensus to the best of my knowledge. And you expect me to answer these questions in 4 to 6 minutes. Good luck….to me! Good Afternoon. My name is Vishwa Mitter Bhargava. Thanks you for the opportunity to tell you about myself, easy said than done. I hail from the fertile state of Punjab and the town of Bathinda, about 200 miles northwest of the Indian capitol, New Delhi. I’ve been in the United States since Nov. 1969. Let me start with my name. Derived from the ancient Indian language Sanskrit, Vishwa means universe. Mitter in Punjabi, an Indian language means a friend. The family name Bhargava is derived from our ancestor holyman Bhrigu, who lived in Vedic times over 3000 years ago. So in summary, I am a universal friend, a descendent of Bhrigu. Should I talk about my childhood growing up in a joint family of Grand Parents, Parents, Uncles and Aunts, siblings and cousins totaling 19 people as one very noisy household? By the time last person got done eating, the first one was hungry. Must have been one 24/7 kitchen. Should I talk about my education in a school, where there was no class size, which was as many students as could sit around a black board within a earshot of a single teacher- no micro-phones. We sat on dirt floor – correction; got elevated to a mat on the floor in 3^rd grade. Concept of Teacher-Student ratio, amenities etc. were unknown at that time. It was an era where Parents and teachers held the view “Spare the rod spoil the child”. Should I talk about the various languages I was exposed to? Starting from Urdu (written from right to left) till I was in 3^rd grade. I remember the tool Dad and Uncle used to help me and other children in the household memorize spellings. Pencil amid fingers and squeeze hard to facilitate recall. This by the way was not considered child-abuse. Dropping of Urdu, followed by Punjabi and Hindi through 7^th grade. Starting to learn English in grade 8, Sanskrit in grade 9. Russian as a post engineering job training. French on the streets of Paris- having been sent to France to get trained in manufacturing upper atmosphere rockets. Should I talk about my professional work assignments in India, France and the US? Working in India at its Plutonium plant for processing spent nuclear fuel, heading a team to manufacture India’s first rocket in collaboration with a French company, Sud Avation. Should I talk of my life starting as an immigrant with $600 of borrowed money landing in New York City- younger, naïve not accepting status quo? Should I talk about the why of plucking myself and wife and two young children ages 5 years and 6 months from the comfort of a government job that offered security but not enough to a fulfilling and adventuresome life. Should I talk about the experience on launching my American dream – slept on bare floors of a rented apartment in NJ. Ate from two pots and pans and 4 plates for months. Bought clothes and furniture from thrift stores. Experienced several layoffs, including the first one when family had just arrived to join me and I had saved up $800 to set up apartment and buy a car. With country experiencing recession, engineering jobs were difficult to find. So got trained as a taxi driver. Should I talk about the various business ventures that I started? Before I could buy a house, I bought a business and was taken to the cleaners. I was very trusting and people took advantage of it. Failure as not an option, so worked hard to make the business profitable. Since then have started, sold, failed and succeeded in many ventures. The latest being renovation of foreclosed properties in Dominion territory. Should I talk about the various extra-curricular activities I have had? Playing harmonica, painting still life, as Certified Laughter Leader, operating Virginia Laughter Lovers Club since 2003, Innsbrook Business Book Club since 2004, Bollywood Chorus and Dance Club for the past 5 years. Should I talk about my family? Wife of 45 years, 3 children and 10 grand children and counting. It would be overwhelming to talk about a life full of busyness and living. It would almost appear as bragging. But then, if you do not blow your own horn who else would. So I decided let me talk about my thoughts on the Purpose of Life. I believe it is to have a purposeful life and live life to the fullest. Make this world a better place than what you inherited- is a good mission statement. Do unto others as you would have them unto you is a good guiding principle. I’ve created a checklist with these headings “Professional Life”, “Family Life”, “Social Life”, “Political Life”, “Spiritual Life” and have listed specific activities that participate in feeling fulfilled. As an engineer I know- no one has escaped this planet alive. With so much to do and enjoy I am working on my life extension. My current goal is to live to be at least 145 years and I’ve yet to reach the mid point. People tell me that I do not look my age. Perhaps, they are right I do not feel my numerical age. I look forward to training and growth resulting from participation in Toastmasters. In conclusion: Who am I, where did I come from, where am I going and what am I supposed to be doing? I am a universal friend. Still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up; work in progress! Thanks for listening! ______________________________________________________________________________________

Show of hands if you have participated in a Laughter Club or heard about it. Not Comedy Club but Laughter Club. In a comedy club you laugh to jokes but in a Laughter Club you just laugh. There is too much heavy breathing going on. I sense a lot of stress. Let us have some fun. Please stand, clasp you hands and stretch up, Ha ha ha. One more time. Thanks. Please be seated. Ladies and Gentlemen, My name is Vishwa Bhargava. Topic of my speech is Laugh for No Reason. I am a Certified Laughter Leader and I just made you laugh without telling any jokes. In this presentation I’ll briefly cover the history of Laughter Clubs, benefits of laughter (Not just it is the best medicine), more importantly who should not be laughing, promised bouts of laughter. In ancient times there used to be Court Jesters. When the deliberations became heated, the jesters would come in and make people laugh. Healing power of Laughter was the subject of the book “Anatomy of Illness” by Norman Cousin’s where he cured himself of a debilitating arthritis by watching funny movies and taking overdose of vitamin C. Eventually, he died as no one escapes this planet live. 1995 ABC News & World Report Article – Italian Model for Longevity: Red wine, olive oil and pasta diet – Japanese Model for Longevity: Sushi, sake wine and white rice – Indian Model for Longevity: Laughter clubs in parks. Culture is to go for morning walks before starting work. Dr. Madan Kataria is a medical doctor, a cancer specialist. Some of his patients were terminally ill. The doctor would tell them some jokes to take their mind off their ailment. He noticed that the patients who laughed responded better to the medication. This gave rise to the idea of laughter club. He went to the park and asked some folks to get together and laugh. They thought the doctor had lost his mind. They started to tell each other jokes and laugh. The group grew larger but the jokes became stale. Humor is very personal. Someone told a joke that the ladies did not like. The Doctor dictated that there would be no jokes but there will be laughter. The Doctor married Laughter and Yoga and came up Hasya Yoga (Laughter Yoga) exercises. According to Wikipedia there are 60000 laughter parties in 75 countries (needs citation). The club that my wife and I founded is known as Virginia Laughter Lovers Club. You can watch a clip on YouTube under Virginia’s Laughter Club Benefits Anti Stress, Strengthens the Immune System, Best Aerobic Exercise, Anti Depression, Anxiety and Psychosomatic Disorders, Reduces High Blood Pressure, Arrests Progress of Heart Disease, Natural Pain Killer, Alleviates Bronchitis & Asthma, Improves Stamina, Internal Jogging, Makes One Look Younger, Promotes Interpersonal Relationships, Improves Self Confidence, Has Social Benefits Who should not be laughing? l Recent Surgery l Heart Disease with Chest Pain l Pregnancy l Advanced Piles (Hemorrhoids) l Eye Complications (glaucoma) Workplace uses Laughter leads to the use of both sides of the brain. This promotes creativity and productivity. Promotes team building. Healthy people take less time off being sick. During high stress times Laughter would reduce stress, leading to safe and error-free work. Can be used to defuse high-tension encounters during meetings and project work.

How many of you know about the cartoon character Hagar? Hagar’s characteristics are gluttony, drinking, looting castles to bring home money, staying out of Helga’s the wife way by doing no chores. In this cartoon, Hagar is climbing mountain. Being extremely over-weight, you can imagine how trying it must be. After several pictures, he reaches the top and comes face-to-face with the wise man and asks, what is the purpose of life? The wise man replies, “ who knows?” This is an age-old question defying answer. You will find books and books written by sages of all cultures, attempting to answer this question. My experience is that there is no perfect answer and that everyone has to figure out by own self. Let me share this my blue print of Life with you.Abraham Maslow identified five human needs.Physiological needs: Roti, kapada aur makan i.e. Food, clothing and shelterSafety needsBelongingness and loveEsteemSelf-actualization- Realization of potential, self-fulfillmentThe vast majority of humanity is stuck in trying to meet its basic physiological needs. Being part of a fully developed economy and employed by a solid utility, our safety and needs are met. In addition to what you may be doing in your personal lives, participation Toastmasters fulfills our need of belonging. Need of esteem and self-actualization are what I would like to talk about.After much contemplation I arrived at the conclusion that the purpose of life is to Live Life to the Fullest i.e. Have a purposeful life. Appear like a good Vision statement. This sounds grandiose but what does it mean to have a purposeful life. As they say, the devil is in details.Let us take another step in defining details. Let us add a guiding principle- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you- The Golden Rule. How about another principle- Make it a better world than what you inherited.Goal of my speech is share with you my blue print and motivate you to examine this approach to having a more fulfilling life. In return, if you have any insights for improving my life that would be gratefully accepted.Having defined these parameters, my straight line engineering mind, segmented my life in various segments.Personal Life For all this to happen, two essential ingredients must exist. You have to be alive and in good health. As some has said “My goal is to live forever. So far, so good.” Really speaking, once someone dies it is all over unless you are a Hindu, who believe in reincarnation. Well, no one has come back to tell about the next birth so we’ll leave that debate some other time. For our discussion, let us agree that this life is the only chance we have to make it.Regular exercise, healthy diet, rest and medical checkups are part of this aspect of my life. I am drug free. My stretch goal is to participate and complete a 5k run/walk this summer.Family Life: How do I make sure that I am living life to the fullest? Staying married to the same woman for the past 46 years definitely helps. Whenever we are by ourselves we play cards; I let her win most of the times. We sing songs and occasionally dance.Two daughters with families (a total of 4 adults and 5 grand kids) come over for Mama’s cooking every Wednesday- tradition that was started some 6 years ago. That translates to over 300 dinners. I army of one make up the house and kitchen cleaning crew after the meal.Son and family are in NJ and make about 6 trips a year our way and we go to see them – may be 3 times a year.Wife does a very fine job by keeping track of wishing Happy Birthdays, anniversaries to the Family, extended families in the US, Canada and India.Over the years I’ve never forgotten a birthday, first kiss anniversary and wedding anniversary. That is quite an impressive record. I have to deal with only the one pertaining to my wife.

Social Life My wife and I form Tolli (A Punjabi word meaning Team) with (5) other couples. We frequently socialize with them. A typical get together involves playing cards, singing songs and dancing. This group is called “Bollywood Chorus and Dance Club”. It was founded some (5) years ago. We have performed at a few ethnic gatherings.There is hardly an evening free when my wife and I are by ourselves. Either someone is at our house or we are invited somewhere else. Societal Life Own neighborhood: Under Henrico County Litter Control initiative, we’ve adopted our neighborhood. Four times a year, we pick up litter from our neighborhood of 152 homes.Own Ethnic Community: For the past 3 years have acted as Communication Director of Festival of India. Major part of this initiative is a take-off from the practice of continuous improvement in Nuclear Budget Unit. Performed this voluntary service at Punjabi Mela, another India ethnic group.Own state, country: Have acquired (7) foreclosed properties in Churchill area of Richmond. Have got (5) renovated and rent them. This initiative has put some good people to work during recession, minimize blight, provide affordable housing to needy people, enhance City’s tax base, provides utilities including my employer Dominion 7 new paying accounts.Native country India: Have brought over to the US, Brother and his wife. In India they were deep in debt and had no hope of every coming out of it. Coached them in the American ways. Brother is gainfully employed with Walmart. Sister-in-law has a successful catering business.

Political Life: Have you heard of Libertarian Party. On their website there is a very interesting World’s Smallest Quiz. It has a total of (10) questions regarding Personal and Economic issues. It should take you no longer than (5) minutes. Taking it would reveal what is your political ideology i.e. Democrat, Libertarian, Republican, (liberal, conservative or middle of the road). I took the quiz and it helped me decide of which party I should be a member.I am an active member of Dominion PAC. From time to time I write to my elected officials at county, state, and federal levels on issues of concern. I’ve been writing to Letters to the Editor but the publication success rate is not encouraging. So I directly write to the appropriate decision makers.In all this analysis you might wonder what is Vishwa Passionate about- appears like he is involved in many things.Having lived with own self for these many year, I’ve determined that I get bored very easily. I like new experiences. A few of the things I would like to do. Revive my hobby of painting still life. I still have pencil and pastel color paintings that I did as a teenager. Making time for this hobby would be fulfilling.I keep thinking about publishing an ethnic periodical that I talked about in my last speech. The market size is uncertain so I keep mulling about other options- perhaps publish a directory of ethnic population and businesses.Bring in own lifestyle more dancing. Would be a good exercise too.There is just so much to savor and only 145 years to do it. I am passionate about life. It is a rare gift and I am trying to make the best of it. I wish the same upon you.