‘Speaking about happy side of things make us work in that direction’
Sarfaraz Ahmed | TNN | Mar 17, 2019, 04:32 IST
Institute of Forensic Science final-year student Shweta Umre created history by winning the first edition of National Youth Parliament, organized by ministry of youth affairs and sports, on February 27. The contest was a brainchild of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who himself handed over the first prize to Umre.
Before achieving the feat, Umre had already participated in around 200 debates, won oratory titles and personality contests including a hat-trick of winning the VNIT personality contest ‘Cynosure’. An aspiring filmmaker, Umre has been debating over varied issues since her school days.
The speech which helped her win her highest award has also attracted criticism. Umre speaks to TOI about her journey to the top, brickbats she faced and why she presented a hunky-dory picture of India. Excerpts from the interview ...
Q. How was your preparation for the big day?
A. It certainly was not a one-day work. Developing the skill of public speaking took me years. Writing my speech was an easy task as all I spoke came from my heart. The biggest challenge was to be good enough to be presentable in front of an huge audience — at the venue and through social media.
Q. How was it while talking in front of the prime minister?
A. I wasn't nervous at all as he made us feel like he's one of us. The fact that my words will contribute to the government decision making through him was the best thing the government could have offered me.
Q. Some people are critical about the content of your speech. Are you aware of it?
A. Absolutely. One of the criticisms I heard and read was that I belong to Maharashtra and I did not speak in Marathi. Firstly, Hindi and English are the two major languages of our nation. And when I speak on a national platform, my duty was to use them so that people throughout my country would understand what I'm saying. Also, I always keep my English simple and understandable so that it's easily translatable to any regional language including Marathi. I started my speech by paying respect to Shivaji Maharaj who was one of the greatest kings of our lands. Thus I was paying respect to my state. Also, I spoke in English because I believe that one should always speak in the language he/she has a very vast vocabulary of. My language would be appreciated by the people who reside abroad too. I also wanted to understand the sentiments of global civilization. Does language matter if I was able to make you feel what I wanted you to feel?
Q. Your ideas painted a rosy picture of the country, they feel. Do you really think everything is perfect in the country?
A. Yes, I painted a rosy picture for two reasons, one: First, India is a perfect place. Problems and clashes don't mean we're imperfect. They mean that we have scope for being better than what we already are. Second, not everyone would want to think of everything the way I do. Some people have seen problems up close and want the government to focus on them whereas I think that positive reinforcement brings better results. When we speak about the happy side of things we tend to work in a direction of making everything happy and good even if it isn’t.
Q. Why didn’t you address about areas where the country needs improvement?
A. I did that too. I said all that the youth of India can do is to strengthen the communication that already exists within our country. Rather than causing chaos and havoc we should be talking on how do we connect to each other better. Understand and respect each other's sentiments.
Q. Do you feel you wouldn’t have won if you had highlighted problems of government and common man?
A. I absolutely don't think so. The thing is in a strict time frame of 3 minutes, I chose to speak on the areas that I thought will inspire at least some of the billions out there. I tried to show the side of my nation that a very few out there acknowledge the existence of.
Q. What do you think about voices being browbeaten in the country?
A. Everyone has a right to disagree and criticize until they have the power to come up with a solution. Also, when are we going to talk about the voices being raised in favour of the government being criticized? We'll talk on them when there'll be many of that kind. Today, it was mine.
Q. What do you think needs to be done for overall development of youths?
A. It will happen when we as youth will want to develop from our hearts. The day we start understanding that each drop of water contributes to the building of an ocean and that drop is you, that drop is me. ‘Main hu Bharat’ should be the slogan we recite in our minds.
Before achieving the feat, Umre had already participated in around 200 debates, won oratory titles and personality contests including a hat-trick of winning the VNIT personality contest ‘Cynosure’. An aspiring filmmaker, Umre has been debating over varied issues since her school days.
The speech which helped her win her highest award has also attracted criticism. Umre speaks to TOI about her journey to the top, brickbats she faced and why she presented a hunky-dory picture of India. Excerpts from the interview ...
Q. How was your preparation for the big day?
A. It certainly was not a one-day work. Developing the skill of public speaking took me years. Writing my speech was an easy task as all I spoke came from my heart. The biggest challenge was to be good enough to be presentable in front of an huge audience — at the venue and through social media.
Q. How was it while talking in front of the prime minister?
A. I wasn't nervous at all as he made us feel like he's one of us. The fact that my words will contribute to the government decision making through him was the best thing the government could have offered me.
Q. Some people are critical about the content of your speech. Are you aware of it?
A. Absolutely. One of the criticisms I heard and read was that I belong to Maharashtra and I did not speak in Marathi. Firstly, Hindi and English are the two major languages of our nation. And when I speak on a national platform, my duty was to use them so that people throughout my country would understand what I'm saying. Also, I always keep my English simple and understandable so that it's easily translatable to any regional language including Marathi. I started my speech by paying respect to Shivaji Maharaj who was one of the greatest kings of our lands. Thus I was paying respect to my state. Also, I spoke in English because I believe that one should always speak in the language he/she has a very vast vocabulary of. My language would be appreciated by the people who reside abroad too. I also wanted to understand the sentiments of global civilization. Does language matter if I was able to make you feel what I wanted you to feel?
Q. Your ideas painted a rosy picture of the country, they feel. Do you really think everything is perfect in the country?
A. Yes, I painted a rosy picture for two reasons, one: First, India is a perfect place. Problems and clashes don't mean we're imperfect. They mean that we have scope for being better than what we already are. Second, not everyone would want to think of everything the way I do. Some people have seen problems up close and want the government to focus on them whereas I think that positive reinforcement brings better results. When we speak about the happy side of things we tend to work in a direction of making everything happy and good even if it isn’t.
Q. Why didn’t you address about areas where the country needs improvement?
A. I did that too. I said all that the youth of India can do is to strengthen the communication that already exists within our country. Rather than causing chaos and havoc we should be talking on how do we connect to each other better. Understand and respect each other's sentiments.
Q. Do you feel you wouldn’t have won if you had highlighted problems of government and common man?
A. I absolutely don't think so. The thing is in a strict time frame of 3 minutes, I chose to speak on the areas that I thought will inspire at least some of the billions out there. I tried to show the side of my nation that a very few out there acknowledge the existence of.
Q. What do you think about voices being browbeaten in the country?
A. Everyone has a right to disagree and criticize until they have the power to come up with a solution. Also, when are we going to talk about the voices being raised in favour of the government being criticized? We'll talk on them when there'll be many of that kind. Today, it was mine.
Q. What do you think needs to be done for overall development of youths?
A. It will happen when we as youth will want to develop from our hearts. The day we start understanding that each drop of water contributes to the building of an ocean and that drop is you, that drop is me. ‘Main hu Bharat’ should be the slogan we recite in our minds.
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