Sidharth M. Joy, a Plus Two student of Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Vazhuthacaud, is one of Nirbhaya Debating Society’s success stories or ‘jewels’ as the team like to call champion orators like him. He won the second prize for elocution in the state school youth fete. “I’ve always been interested in public speaking and thanks to Nirbhaya’s training I have learnt to approach it scientifically,” says Sidharth.
There’s a science to it? “Of course! For example, when you present your points for a debate, you chart it out in a specific order, starting with the present – an introduction to the topic with important data. Then it's back to the past – a historical perspective of the topic in question and, finally, the future or where you explain your idea of where the topic might go, what we can do and so on,” explains Sidharth.
Nirbhaya is a city-based open forum comprising an eclectic bunch of school and college students, research scholars and young professionals, from the city and beyond, who have bonded together to promote their interest in and passion for debates and discussions and the art of public speaking. At present the society has around 60 active members, not to mention some 2,000 plus likes on their Facebook page.
The group, which recently celebrated its second anniversary, is the brainchild of A.P. Prejish, himself a champion debater and quizzer, with several local, regional and national oratory contest wins in his kitty.
“Outside of one-off events, there was a dearth of a platform for people to get-together to discuss and debate issues of importance. A few of us keen debaters, who were familiar with each other, having met at various debates and college fetes in the city, started the forum,” says Prejish, who was a final year postgraduate student of commerce at Mar Ivanios college then. “Public speaking plays a huge role in learning, critical thinking and all round development of an individual. The key to public speaking is to not think of it as a contest or a game of one-upmanship. It involves a whole lot of commitment, research and observational skills and an inquisitive mind,” adds Prejish, talking nineteen to a dozen over the phone that’s its hard to get a word in edgewise. He is the chairman and mentor/moderator-in-chief of the forum and recently quit his job as a teacher in a self-financing college to pursue his passion for mentoring youngsters in the art of public speaking.
Nirbhaya started off its activities during the last Lok Sabha elections by organising a ‘Meet the candidate’ programme, where candidates standing for election from Thiruvananthapuram met for a lively discussion on issues concerning the city. Since then they have been organising at least one event a month, discussing issues on a wide range of topics, in addition to lending support for debates and discussions conducted by various colleges and institutions in different parts of the state, the latest being the Indian Institute for Space Science and Technology's Model United Nation’s event. “No topic is taboo. We try and get the best possible speakers from both sides of the spectrum for each topic of discussion,” explains Dhanesh Ravindran, post-graduate student of Journalism at the University of Kerala, who has been with the forum since the beginning. “Our aim is to train youngsters in the art of public speaking so that they themselves become mentors to others,” he adds.
Right now, they are taking classes on public speaking and personality development for student police cadets from rural parts of the district at a summer camp in Varkala. Concurrently, they’re running a ‘My Vote’ campaign in colleges in the city to highlight and discuss the importance of elections and to urge young people to vote. Then, it’s on to ‘Vagmi 2016’, the third edition of their annual speech orientation camp for school and college students, which begins on April 29. They’re also all set to launch Nirbhaya Institute for Human Development, an education start-up that’s focuses on improving oratory skills and personality development.
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