By Our Correspondent
Qatar’s first Urdu language Toastmasters Club, Guzergah-e-Khayal (GK) Toastmasters completed it charter requirements with Toastmasters International, CA, US and formally launched on January 25 in Doha.
GK Toastmasters is the 50th and first Urdu Toastmasters Club formed in the country. GK Toastmasters Club says it is “first of its kind which is founded with a distinctive approach to help members improve their communication, public speaking, and leadership skills in Urdu and English at the same time.”
GK Toastmasters is the only club that provides a platform for both English and Urdu speakers. It offers a unique opportunity to non-Urdu speakers to learn while continuing their work in English until the time they are ready to deliver speeches in Urdu.
On the other hand, Urdu speakers get a chance to learn English and present their projects in Urdu while improving their English language skills. Both groups (Urdu speakers and non-Urdu speakers) complement each other. Therefore the club is open to the speakers of both English and Urdu languages. There are currently 23 members in the club.
“As I sought cup-bearer’s permission to come back to consciousness, He said a warning: beware the world is not yet an appropriate place to be,” founder president Faisal Hanif quoted a couplet from famous classical Urdu poet Altaf Hussain Hali while opening the session for GK Toastmasters Club’s officers’ installation ceremony and the first official meeting at Mazza Restaurant on the Old Airport Road.
Syed Abdul Hye, grammarian for the session, and master of the ceremony Saquib Raza Khan conducted the programme. Saquib and Muneer have been instrumental in chartering the club. They both assisted club’s founder president Faisal Hanif in the process. Division E Area Governor Naseemuddin Hameed also played an important role in the formation of the club.
The theme of the meeting was ‘new challenges’ whereas the word of the day introduced by the grammarian was ‘zeest’ which means ‘life’. Hye quoted classical poet Mirza Ghalib and contemporary poet Iftekhar Raghib’s couplets to explain the usage of the above word.
Muneer Ahmed Shaikh, Toastmasters Area 43 Governor, conducted the ceremony and took oath from GK Toastmasters executives committee members. The following officers for 2014-15 were installed on the occasion.
Founder president Faisal Hanif, vice president education Syed Abdul-Hye, vice president membership Mohammed Zafar Siddiqui, vice president marketing Iftekhar Raghib, treasurer Muneer Shaikh, secretary Rizwan Ali and sergeant-at-arms Mohammed Ghufran Siddiqui.
Saquib also conducted the prepared speeches session, in which Roase Mumtaz, Rizwan Ali, and Iftekhar Raghib presented their ice breaker speeches in Urdu. Muneer Shaikh presented his 9th project titled ‘persuade with power’ in English.
Afzal Shaikh conducted table topics. Table Topics are impromptu speeches. The purpose of the Table Topics section is to help members think on their feet and speak on a given subject for between one and two minutes.
It also allows speaking opportunities for those who are not programmed for other roles on the agenda. The Table Topics participants in this session were Syed Abdul-Hye, Syed Muti-ur-Rahman Haneef, Fakharuddin Razi, Ashfaq Ahmed, Zafar Siddiqui, and Faisal Hanif.
Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organisation that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of helping members improve their communication, public speaking, and leadership skills.
Through its thousands of member clubs, Toastmasters International offers a programme of communication and leadership projects designed to help people learn the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking.
Throughout its history, Toastmasters has served over four million people, and today the organisation serves over 313,000 members in 126 countries, through its over 14,650 member clubs.
First Toastmasters club in Qatar was founded in January 1997. Currently there are 50 Toastmasters clubs operating in Qatar with 1,335 members. Guzergah-e-Khayal Toastmasters Club is open to all nationalities. Club programmes will be held once a month.
TOGETHER: Members of GK Toastmasters in a group photo.
