Living with Glossophobia – Part 2

As I said in the previous post, I never took part in a fancy dress competition after that and my parents also did understand for good that I was not made for that.

I left that school, not because of the competition but because my parents got transferred which was kind of a good thing. I thought I could make a fool out of myself again because these were new people.

But even then, I was scared as hell to go on stage ever again.

The end of the year, brings the annual function for most of the schools in my part of the country. So the annual function preparations started in St Vincent’s Convent School.

One day, I am called out of the class into a hall where the Hindi play or skit was supposed to be practiced and the characters were being decided. I was asked to audition for the same and say any Bollywood dialogue that I knew. It was the time when Gadar had come out and the patriot I me became a huge fan of Sunny Deol and so I stood up and delivered the epic dialogue, “Doodh mangoge kheer denge, Kashmir mangoge cheer denge.” Even though I felt very strong and manly while saying the line, I forgot the fact that I had a feminine touch in my voice. Nonetheless they liked the passion and selected me for the role.

We practiced for almost one and half months and the entire team became a family and I was constantly improving my performance. Then came the day of stage and dress rehearsal. Fortunately or unfortunately, many of the parents came to see how their children were doing. That was the moment which struck me that on the day of the performance there would be a lot more people. I messed up the rehearsal and the organisers has no clue why.

I went home and told my grandfather about the mess I had created and told him that maybe I will not be performing. As all Indian parents, he didn’t pay any attention to the fact that I was going to screw-up. He was just happy that I will be on stage. So as per plan 

I took the props which were a dhoti, fake moustache and a pair of specs.

On the day of the dress rehearsal, I didn’t have the specs but when we decided to do a dry-run right before the actual play I put on the specs. As I put it on, I realised I could not see through the specs. Voila, that was the divine intervention I was looking for. I stumbled on the stage and found the place I was supposed to stand at. I dropped my drops many times but what mattered is that I could act without being nervous because I could not see the people in front of me.  

So, even though it seems to be difficult but there is a way out of the phobia as well, find yours. 

Living with Glossophobia

              

Glossophobia or the fear of public speaking is one of the most common fears among people across the globe. Being one of the common people, I too suffer from this phobia.

I have always been the fat one, right from my childhood. As if it was not enough for my parents to feed me and make me fat, they also thought that because I am fat, I should portray the role of a cook in the school’s fancy dress competition. As per the plan, I was made up to look like a dwarf cook with my already protruding tummy made even larger with make-up. I had a bald patch to cover the centre of my head, because somehow the cooks manage to be bald at that particular place.

The clock strikes nine and I realise it is time for the competition to start. I gather the stuff that I need to take on stage and rehearse the lines in my mind and wait for my turn.

“Abhilash Mallick”. That was the name called and I went on stage and that is when I realised there were a lot of people in front of me. This was not as easy as I was told. I looked at people and tried to find a familiar face and there was none. So I decided to start with the act and I looked into the bag which had all the props I was supposed to use on stage.

I whispered my name into the microphone and told them what character I was playing. I looked around again and failed to find any motivation this time around either. Thus, I took the exit on the other side of the stage leaving the crowd confused.

Never did I take part in a fancy dress competition after that. 

First Post, literally so.

Hello Blog,

In the past few days, life has been quite a roller coaster ride for me. Juggling between assignments and fun, I kept looking at the funnier side of everything happening to and around me. As I started to recollect the stories and narrated them to a friend, she told me that she won't be surprised had I committed suicide because of those.

And amidst one of those discussion someone suggested me to write down instances when I was in mess but I looked at the funnier side of things and just had fun.

The posts will not be in chronological order but will be posted as it comes to my mind.

Let's see if I can pen down my experiences in way which will be as funny as the verbal narratives were.

Oh! before I forget, many references made are made to real people and it is just for making things funnier. No offence intended.

Cheers!