Batata-wada, Feared Words and a Lesson – Goa SHG, 17 Apr 2010

This week we decided to meet on Saturday evening. This time, the meeting was attended by, after a long long gap, Stanley!  Rahul and Stanley were meeting for the first time. So we had a brief introduction to start with. Then we found a place to sit, and got started with our discussions.  Two things need to be highlighted about our chit-chat. As we were talking about how we tend to search about “stammering” on google and then read lots of stammering sites. We were also discussing how this search led us to discovering of TISA. Then we asked Stanley if he reads about stammering. He said he has stopped doing it. He opined, that by doing it, we tend to focus too much on stammering, and forget about other aspects of our life. We tend to remain in a same environment, reading about stammering, and talking to other PWS. Whereas he thought that we should also speak to other people, and read about other stuff like Stock, Sports, Entertainment and much more.  Then we discussed about feared words. I told how “Batata-wada” was a nightmare for me, and how I landed up never ordering it in the restaurant, even if I want to, and ordered Samosa instead. About feared alphabets, Stanley said, if we fear about say, P… then we tend to stammer only when we are subconsciously aware about it. But have you ever thought how many words we might have spoken that begins with “P”, unknowingly? There will be many! And yet we focus on the one which we fumbled.  We discussed many other things. I and Stanley remembered the days when we attended the Mr. P’s workshop in Goa. Stanley talked about how Yoga, Meditation and even… Karate helped him. This reminded me of the Karate sessions Dr. Sachin had in Kolkata Workshop.  We discussed a lots of things, exchanged views and opinions, and finally decided to call it a day. Having Stanley in the meeting after a long gap was great. He seems to have the right attitude. As he puts it, Stammering is a part of me. It doesn’t bother me. But at the same time I don’t stop working on it. Another lesson learnt in the SHG!