In January this year I was invited to speak at the flag hoisting ceremony on the occasion of India's Republic Day.


It was a beautiful day and hundreds of children had came to the program with their parents. 


It was all set and good...


They asked me to speak and interact with the students. 


Any day I would have loved to talk to the young kids and teach them the benefits of planting trees and about environment but I was afraid

I was afraid because I am not perfect in Kannada language and most of my audience spoke fluent Kannada and not English or Urdu that I am good at.

I could not refuse them so I said yes and I gathered all the courage I had and I took up the mic and spoke.

I spoke in broken Kannada, I stuttered, I had a slur,  I misspelled words and this made the kids smile.


They didn't just smile and chuckle but those little naughty children started to giggle and laugh and I think I saw a few of them hold their stomachs and roll on the floor. Like a literal ROTFL moment!!!


It was good and the children started to teach me the correct pronunciation of the words and it gave me a chance to connect with them.

I spoke for 10 minutes and then I came back to chair.

I know the kids learned a few things but I learned a lot of things.


One important lesson that I learned is that no matter how scared you feel the best thing is to try and face your fears. You can always improve and there's another day for perfection. 

![IMG-20190126-WA0030.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmb6kUB1jFToYFE7H3uFrkproYZWhYNgVVSdGpxhnJXVmG/IMG-20190126-WA0030.jpg)