Is it possible in today’s day and age that a speaker who is supposed to speak for half an hour at a college function can actually hold the audience in pin-drop silence for an hour and a half? And when lights go out towards the end, far from walking off, the audience lights up the torchlight on their mobile phones urging him to continue speaking.
Unbelievable though it may sound, this is exactly what recently happened at Manickchand Pahade Law Collge at Aurangabad.
He spoke about his life experiences, defining moments of his journey so far, his zeal for the cause he so ardently believes in, trials and tribulations that came his way and peppered them with some interesting anecdotes.
His eloquence left everyone spellbound and the audience that comprised of law students, faculty, lawyers and judges seemed oblivious to everything else. He had agreed to speak for half an hour but it was over an hour and the audience just didn’t seem gratified enough and evidently yearned for more, their urge to go on listening to him seemed insatiable.
He also had a flight to catch… every time, he would steer his speech towards conclusion, there would be a concerted appeal to continue.
In the face of entreaties aplenty he relented and spoke for a little longer. While he acceded to their request in the midst of the ‘to do or not to do’ dilemma, darkness suddenly descended on the hall due to power failure.
The speaker thought it would give him an opportunity to wind up, but then he saw that everyone in the audience had turned on their phone flashlights and were looking at him expectantly-in pin drop silence - waiting for him to speak more.
He spoke for five more minutes till the power was restored and humbly reminded the audience about his upcoming flight to Mumbai and that another set of eager listeners were waiting to listen to him.
Seeing that the audience refused to relent, the hosts finally gave up trying to convince them about letting him go! The speech that was to last for half an hour continued for over an hour.
Guess who the speaker was…none other than Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi.
The college had been sending invites to him since 2015 but due to his chock-a- block schedule he could never commit himself, but this time around he took time out to be in Aurangabad to grace the occasion. The organisers quipped that their unquenchable thirst to hear him more was a result of eight years of wait.
‘Speakers who can talk about what life has taught them, never fail to keep the attention of other listeners’
-Dale Carnegie
Comments