It’s recess time at Maharana Mewar Public School where a hundreds of young hearts come out of their classes flooding the hallways with noise and chatter but I can’t hear a thing… because today…. is

Valentine’s Day.

It’s the day when a guy gets to ask a girl out on a date.

Fellow Toastmasters & dear guest,

Do you remember your first Valentine day? How old were you? Who was your first crush? What happened?

Yes, we all remember the story of our first crush & today I’m going to share with you the story of “How Prateek Met Alisha?”

I was a 14 years old. Remember the students in the class who would complete assignments before time, sit in the first row and answer every question that teacher asks. The students who were teacher’s favorite and arch enemy of the last bencher’s. I was one of those students.

But everything changed when “Alisha Sharma “walked into the class. At that moment, I realized life isn’t complete until you find the person with whom you want to share your heart with…

Alisha had those mysterious look, her eyes would always twinkle when she laughed, and her hair would bounce every time she walks. There was no other girl in my school like Alisha Sharma.

I had such a crush on her that every time I talked to her I would stand still like a zombie but mind it my friends, Alisha was like no other girl in my school, she thought it was hilarious but I thought the opposite and always cursed myself.

So you must be thinking, what’s the problem.

The guy likes the girl, and the girl likes the guy.

Happy ending just like a Bollywood movie.

But here is a twist.

Two weeks ago, Alisha told me about this mystery guy on whom she had a crush. Every time she talked about him, it literally killed me thousand times.

So according to Alisha, this guy was-

• Tall
• Handsome
• funny

Okay, I knew I wasn’t tall, I wasn’t handsome either and neither was I funny.

But I was

• smart,
• cute
• short

Inspired from the movie Mission Impossible, I found my very own operation to ask Alisha out on a day.

It was 14^th February, Wednesday afternoon; Operation Alisha was on full swing. My best friend Sunny gave me an Intel that Alisha was taking to her best friend about their favorite subject The Backstreet Boys!

As I walked towards I heard a voice in my head, it said…

Hey, I don’t think we can do this…

Are you really gonna do this, what if she says no?

She’s gonna laugh at you, what if she’s talking to mystery guy??

As I got closer to her, the voice got stronger and it said…

Are you out of your my mind?

What are you doing?

STOP. Don’t do this.

and I did stop and stood there like a statue.

There was a mental war going in my mind. My heart was pounding and my palms were sweating.

But haven’t we felt like that? Perhaps on the first day of the job or perhaps when your entering the examination hall or perhaps when your giving your first speech.

and suddenly, my mind said “You can do it”

The feeling From “You’re a Loser” to “You’re a winner” kicked in.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and realized the reason why I was doing it –

Alisha was insanely cute, I had a huge crush on her and I don’t want some mystery guy to ask her out first.

The first step is the hardest step.

But regardless, take the first step.

If you want to write your speech but you’re scared to do it. Do it anyways.

If you want to sing but scared of what will people think. Do it anyways.

If you want to ask that girl out you say –

“Hey Alisha, do you want to go out on a date with me?”

No matters what happens, whatever be the result or whatever people think. You’re already a winner because you won the battle with yourself..

What I want to tell you is “Don’t expect anything to happen – just go out & get it”.

Well the story isn’t over yet.

You must be thinking what did Alisha said?

She said “Yes”

But now you must be thinking what happened to that mystery guy?

A week later after our first date, I asked her “who was that mystery guy, don’t worry you can tell me, I won’t mind”.

and she replied “Prateek, you guys totally clueless and you just don’t get it. There was no Mystery guy and she kissed me”.

Thank You!

Over to your Mr. Toastmasters.

prAts!