On public speaking & side-effects of verbal diarrhoea

Public speaking is not a forte for everyone. Some have the knack for it and are so good at it that they can pull a huge crowd with their impeccable oratory skills. Clear articulation, grabbing the attention of the audience with a powerful opening, organizing a logical flow to the entire speech and most importantly fact finding and research on the topic are some of the must-have skills that a public speaker must possess. If a person with great oratory skills is reluctant or lazy enough to do some homework on the topic he is going to speak, he should rather skip than to make up stories and come up with wrong facts and figures which may mislead the audience and insinuate a wrong notion/understanding on the very topic.
Social scientist cum educationist cum prominent public speaker ojaDhanabirLaishram’s infamous verbal diarrhoea on caesarean operations for childbirth is a fongfongsaaba example on how public speaking sans fact finding can go haywire.  The transcript of the viral video reads like this-
“Nupisingse machapokpagase masana adum pokpa yaabase “doctor lellaga pokse”…aduga doctorsu lupa lisingtaranipaan fangbanina, “lellasi lellasilellasi…” keiginoda lelladi leishabi adum oidana angaangdoh puktagi poktabanina. Leisabi se yam oiningkhraba..numit manga tarani leiraga adum feidana puktalenbase. Sangom di thoktre. Taibang paansida eigi echana ehaanhaana khongdarakpada ehaanhaana Amul ille”. Well, there are some perturbing questions related to oja’s views-
- How does a woman remain a leishabi by giving birth through C-Section? Has oja done some thorough homework on the difference between a leishabi and a mou? On what ground did he utter those words? Speaking on a public platform requires a right frame of mind. Oja’s verbal diarrhoea reflects a chronic ‘panghai haijinbi heinabi’ which is but a typical trait of the chauvinists’ guild.
- What does he know about the post-partum conditions and complications of a woman after child birth whether it’s through a normal delivery or a C-section? How could he come to a blatant conclusion that it takes only five-ten days to come to normalcy after child-birth? A social scientist who seemingly conducted a research on ‘chabokpi’ should come up with supporting facts and figures. Dear oja, excuse me but where are the facts and figures? It’s not about making a mountain out of a molehill but oja Dhanabir’s speech is unacceptably misleading in nature and reflects a deep tone of a misogynist’s views and not that of a sensible social scientist. As the saying goes ‘mina sibana chinda, shaana sibana khongulda’, it’s better to not blurt out anything in any public platform sans any supporting fact and figure. All in all it'’s a matter of great ignominy that a prominent educationist and thought-shaper like oja Dhanabir Laishram spoke at a public function on women opting for caesarean operations for child delivery in a misleading manner imbibed with a sexist tone which can mislead/misguide the audience.
PS- My column is not a personal attack on Oja Dhanabir Laishram alone. In a patriarchal society like ours there are a lot of individuals, groups and authorities which resonate the same misogynistic opinion on women’s health, right or choice sans any fact finding. It is an earnest appeal to all those ahei-apaasaaba lots to leave women’s issues to themselves and not meddle up or make them amusing topics during any public event. Last but not the least, it is a strong appeal to the organizers and also to the media persons to organize and cover events to seek out well-informed and gender sensitive speakers and not engage those speakers who are prone to suffer from verbal diarrhoea. After all verbal diarrhoea does have its side-effects and unfortunately there is no cure for the same eh?
The article does not reflect the views of the newspaper in any way