Gateway 230811.pmd - Rotary Club of Bombay

THE GATEWAYTHE BULLETIN OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF BOMBAYVol. 53 Issue No. 8 Mumbai August 23 to August 29, 2011 Pages 8 Price Rs. 3/-For Private Circulation OnlyDr. Binayak Sen bats for the oppressedwho are also denied justiceDr. Binayak Sen, who has been inthe headlines ever since his convictionfor life on charges of seditionand the subsequent grant of bail tohim by the Supreme Court and whosecase has become a cause celebre amongthe human rights activists of theworld, has highlighted the plight of theunder-privileged sections of society(especially the tribals) who are firstoppressed by the State and then deniedjustice by the courts of law.He wants citizens to keep a closewatch on what transpires in the courts,chiefly in the lower judiciary, and statesthat “unless our courts are able to establishhigher standards of justice, I’mafraid that the kinds of tensions thatthese injustices generate will continueto fester”.Speaking at the last meeting on “Theidea of sedition and questions arounddevelopment policy,” he said that theregime of globalisation, privatisationand liberalisation ushered in by the lateMr. Narasimha Rao along with Dr.Manmohan Singh and Mr. MontekSingh Ahluwalia in 1991 had “blockedpeople’s access to common propertyresources”.The “blocking” had been effectedby the State which stood as guarantorfor the process of expropriation of thepeople’s common property resourcesthat were being handed over to corporateentities both inside and outsidethe country. (The common propertyresources were water, land, forests and“knowledge of biodiversity”.)Dr. Sen, who is a paediatrician byprofession and a human rights activistby conviction, made several pertinentpoints in the course of his brief talk inwhich he pointed to the dismal healthscenario of large sections of the populationand sought to label them as victimsof a “stable” famine; they werevictims of chronic under-nutrition,“which basically means starvation”.He also brought up the United Nations’Convention on the preventionof the crime of genocide and pointedout that it stated that genocide occurrednot only through shooting orkilling people, but also when conditionswere created in which the survivalof communities was put at risk.Near-starvation conditions prevailin large tracts of India, claimsDr. Binayak Sen while speaking atthe last meetingBut this was not a new phenomenon;the Americans had done it. WhenColumbus “discovered” America in1492, the population of North Americaand that of Europe was the same.But the population of North Americahad disappeared. The indigenous peoplein Australia had also disappeared.“We have seen a situation of theexpropriation of resources whichthose entities (such as Britain) conductedin America and in Australiaand which other countries of Europeconducted in various parts ofAfrica. In India, our ruling classesdo not have access to lands outsidethe country, so we are consumingwhat is inside the country.“In any case, the situation is suchthat there are large sections of ourpopulation whose survival is put atrisk. This is the condition in which wehave to consider the crime of sedition,”Dr. Sen declared.PP Haresh Jagtiani, who introducedthe guest speaker, called him a remarkableperson for his contributions insocial service, human rights and so on.He had carved out a niche for himselfin Chhattisgarh. He was the Vice-President of the People’s Union forCivil Liberties (PUCL) and GeneralSecretary of the Chhattisgarh PUCL.Dr. Sen was arrested and chargedwith sedition and tried, convicted andsentenced to life imprisonment in2010. His case was under appeal rightnow before the High Court of Chhattisgarhand, thanks to the SupremeCourt, he was out on bail (althoughbail was denied to him by the saidHigh Court).Haresh said that Dr. Sen’s caseraised several pertinent and fundamentalquestions regarding the manner inwhich India functioned, right down tothe issue of corruption. As for his conviction,it led one to question the legalsystem itself and to ask what did seditionstand for and what constitutedevidence in law?An eminent jurist, Haresh offered adeft summing up of the situation regardingsedition. He said sedition wasdefined under Section 124 (a) of theIndian Penal Code as “whoever bywords, written or spoken, or by signs,or by visual representation or otherwise,brings into hatred or contemptor excites disaffection towards the governmentestablished by law”.It was couched in these terms andhad to involve incitement of hatredfor the government. However, it didnot take into account legitimate criticismof the government so long as onedid not incite hatred. Disaffection alsoincluded disloyalty and all feelings ofenmity.“The larger issue that this topicraises is this: Has the government inthe country become too sensitive orthin-skinned, or outright intolerant, toany form of dissent or criticism? Andthat raises another larger issue (whichI’m sure Dr. Sen will address), viz.,are we really a meaningful democracyor just a functioning democracy?“When I say meaningful democracy,one of the essential concomitantsof democracy is the right of freedomof speech and expression; or arewe just a democracy that goes alongfrom election to election?”Haresh recalled some recent casesof intolerance. For example, writing acritique on Shivaji had led to the burningdown of a person’s library; anotherhad run the risk of having hishouse set on fire when he had questionedthe wisdom of putting up aShivaji statue in the middle of the sea.(Continued on Page 2)www.rotaryclubofbombay.orgRajendra Jainis no moreRajendra Jain, one of the seniormembers of the Club, passedaway on Tuesday, August 9. Hewas 71 years old.His full name was RajendraBhushan Jain but he was popularlyknown as “R.B.” He possessed ajovial nature and a friendly disposition.Admitted to the Club in 1983, hewas loaned the Classification “PencilMfg./Mktg.”“R.B.” was the son of the lateShadilal Jain who was a popularSheriff of the city and was thebrother of Nrip Raj Jain.Incidentally, the Rotary Club ofBombay Award for the Best InteractClub is named after Shadilal Jainwho donated it many years ago.Members present at the last meetingobserved a minute’s silence inmemory of Rajendra Jain.President PaulbereavedPresident Paul George lost his fatheron Sunday, August 14. Hewas 85 years old and is survived byhis wife, son Paul and two daughters.Several Rotarians attended the funeralwhich took place at St. Thomas’sCathedral, Horniman Circle, onMonday, August 15.The Gateway joins the members inoffering condolences to PresidentPaul on his bereavement.ForthcomingmeetingsAugust 23, 2011A talk by Dr. Justice DhananjayChandrachud.August 30, 2011The first Pravinchandra GandhiAward for Excellence in Public Lifeto be presented to Mr. Viren Shah.Mr. Shah will address the Clubafter receiving the award.

‘37% of India’s total adult population suffers from chronicunder-nutrition (which means starvation)’(Continued from Page 1)And if one decided to make a filmon Sonia Gandhi, one would have topass the Congress Party’s “censorboard” because it had to know whatexactly the film was going to state.Films that touched on sensitive issueshad been banned time and again.“Of course, right now we haveseen it happening since morning(on Tuesday, August 16), with thearrest of Anna Hazare. All that hewanted to do was to lodge a protestand exercise a non-violent protest...but the government tells him, orrather the police tells him, that youcan only fast for three days. Forheaven’s sake, he’s not going on adiet! He’s going on a fast!“These are issues which I am sureDr. Sen will touch upon and I thoughtit might be pertinent in that sense tocircumscribe my thoughts,” Hareshadded.The following is the text of the addressdelivered by Dr. Binayak Sen:I am grateful to the Rotarians forgiving me this opportunity to speakon issues that have become central toour political life. I will speak aboutsedition and the role of dissent in democracy,but before that I would liketo address certain other issues which,in my view, are anterior to the wholeargument about sedition.I will talk about the “stable” faminethat exists over much of our land, abouthow people are able to negotiate thatfamine through their access to commonproperty resources. I will alsotell you how the common propertyresources which enable large sectionsof our population to negotiate the famineare being taken away from them.Common property resources arebeing taken away through State actionwhich may be peaceful if that isenough; but when that is not enough,they are taken away by armed actionby the State. Further, the laws relatingto sedition, which are outdated lawsto begin with, are being used by theState to suppress the resistance toexpropriation of common propertyresources that are essential for the survivalof these communities.I will start with the famine in largeparts of the country. Let us take thedata of the National Nutrition MonitoringBureau (NNMB) which is partof the National Institute of Nutritionand is a government organisation headquarteredin Hyderabad. The NNMBconducts serial surveys of nutritionalstatus over large parts of the country.The latest available data tells us aboutthe BMI (Body Mass Index) which,as you probably know, is an index thatgives a rapid and robust indicator ofthe nutritional status both at the individualas well as at the communitylevel.BMI is weight in kilograms dividedby height in metres, squared. Myweight is 80 kg. and my height is 1.75metres. Thus, 80 divided by 1.75 andsquared will give my BMI (which islarger than it should be). The normalBMI is between 18.5 and 22 or 23. ABMI below 18.5 is regarded as an indicatorof chronic under-nutrition –which basically means starvation.In our country, 37% of the totaladult population has a BMI below18.5. If you disaggregate this figure,you will find that among the scheduledtribes 50% have a BMI below18.5 and 60% of scheduled castes havea BMI below 18.5. As per the SacharCommittee data, large sections of theminorities have a BMI below 18.5.And we are not even consideringchildren. As a paediatrician I am especiallyconcerned about children; 47%of all children below the age of 5 areunder-nourished by weight for age criteria.Going by low birth-weight data,any baby weighing less than 2.5 kg. isregarded as being of low birth weight.Sadly, 23 to 25% of all our new-bornbabies weigh less than 2.5 kg.The new Barker’s hypothesis demonstratesthat babies with a low birthweight go on to become early diabetics;they get ischemic heart disease;they can have the entire metabolicsyndrome, including ischemic heartdisease and diabetes mellitus, chronicbronchitis and so forth.Leaving aside the fact that 47% ofthe children below 5 years in the countrywere under-weight and looking atonly the adults... the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) says that anycommunity in which over 40% of themembers have a BMI below 18.5 is acommunity that can legitimately beregarded as a community in famine.Large sections of our populationsuffer from a ‘stable’ famine; theyare in a continuous state of famine,says Dr. Binayak SenIf we take this criterion and applyit to the National Nutrition MonitoringBoard data, we find that there arelarge sections of our population whichare suffering from a stable famine andthat they are in a continuous state offamine. Thus this is a “stable” (permanent)famine.But it’s not only that we have astable famine; let’s look at the data setforth by Ms Utsa Pattnaik, an economistworking on agriculture-relatedissues at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.She looked at serial data ongrain consumption and found that grainconsumption had been declining.In an average family of five, the annualgrain consumption ten years agowas 880 kg.; now it has come down to770 kg. Actually, these are average figures,so the grain consumption at thetop end of the scale has actually goneup not because people are eating moregrains, but because they are consumingmore grain in the form of wheat.Thus, actually the decline at the lowerend of the scale is more than the 110kg. per year that the average datashows.In this kind of scenario, how dothese people survive, how do thesecommunities survive? Our experiencewith organisations working amongtribal people and the experience ofothers working in rural and urban settingsshows that these communitieshave survived because of their accessto common property resources (suchas water, land, forests and knowledgeof biodiversity).But since 1991, with the globalisation,privatisation and liberalisationregime ushered in by the late Mr. P.V.Narasimha Rao, Dr. Manmohan Singhand Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia andtheir ilk, we have a situation in whichthese people’s access to common propertyresources is being blocked. It isbeing blocked by a State that standsas guarantor for the process of expropriationin which these people’s accessto common property resourcesis taken away from them and handedover to corporate entities, both insideand outside our country. This is thesituation we are confronting.Next, I would like to bring up theUN Convention on the prevention ofthe crime of genocide; this says thatgenocide doesn’t occur only throughshooting or killing people with bullets.Genocide also occurs when conditionsare created in which the survivalof communities is put at risk. Iwould submit to you to please examinethe moral hazard of the situation inwhich we are placed today, in whichwe are creating certain conditions...This is not a new phenomenon inworld history; the Americans havedone it before. When Columbus “discovered”America in 1492, the populationof North America and the populationof Europe was the same. Thepopulation of North America has disappeared.The indigenous people inAustralia have disappeared.We have seen the expropriation ofresources which those entities (suchas Britain) conducted in America andin Australia and which other countriesof Europe conducted in various partsof Africa. In India, our ruling classesdo not have access to lands outsidethe country, so we are consuming whatis inside the country. In any case, thesituation is such that there are largesections of our population whose survivalis put at risk.This is the condition in which wehave to consider the crime of sedition.I’m very proud to say that I havebeen convicted of the crime of sedition.Others who have been convictedinclude Mahatma Gandhi andLokmanya Tilak. Tilak was chargedthree times, the Mahatma twice. MahatmaGandhi pleaded guilty to thecrime of sedition; he said I do not holdthe British government in any affection,so it is my duty to tell the citizensof my country that I do not holdthis government in any affection. TheBritish judge who was trying MahatmaGandhi said he had been given an oneroustask but, given the nature of thelaw, he could do nothing but convicthim. Mahatma Gandhi was convictedto six years in prison; of course, hewas released after spending two yearsin prison.I do not wish to imply that I amcomparable to Mahatma Gandhi inany sense or form, but I would like totell you that the Indian judge who adjudgedmy case, not only did he notfeel the need to distance himself fromthe sentence that he was pronouncing,he also pronounced life imprisonmenton the charge of sedition againstme even though I had pleaded notguilty to the charge.The important thing that I wish tobring before you is not about my trial.The charge of sedition against me isnot the important thing.What I wish to bring to your noticeis that the communities forwhom resistance to the process ofexpropriation has become a necessityin order to stay alive, it is tosuppress those communities thatthe laws of sedition, Section 124of the Indian Penal Code and similarlegal provisions in other actsare being used. They are beingused to suppress dissent and resistanceto expropriation acrossour land.(Continued on Page 6)August 23 to August 29, 2011 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 2

Dr. Justice Chandrachud has served asAdditional Solicitor General of IndiaDr. Justice Dhananjaya Y.Chandrachud, judge of theBombay High Court, who will addressthe Club at its meeting of August23, is 52 years old. He graduatedwith Honours from St. Stephen’sCollege in Delhi in 1979 and obtainedhis LL.B. from Delhi University. Afterdoing his LL.M. at Harvard LawSchool, he did his S.J.D., also fromHarvard Law School, in 1986.Dr. Justice Chandrachud enrolledas an advocate in 1982 and was designatedSenior Advocate in 1998. Hetaught International Law at OklahomaUniversity in the USA from 1983 andwas a Visiting Professor of ComparativeConstitutional Law at BombayUniversity from 1988 to 1997.Specialising in constitutional litigation,he appeared in several importantpublic interest litigations on therights of bonded women workers, therights of HIV positive workers in theworkplace and the rights of religiousand linguistic minorities.He was the Additional SolicitorGeneral of India from 1998 till hisappointment as a judge of theBombay High Court on March 29,2000.As a judge of the Bombay HighCourt for over ten years, Dr. JusticeChandrachud has written several judgmentson human rights, including theenforcement of socio-economicrights, issues of disability, rights ofchildren in inter-country adoption,social security for the aged, the constitutionalguarantee of free speechand protection of the environment.He has extensive experience in adjudicatingupon complex commercialdisputes and has headed the taxationbench of the Bombay High Court.He is also associated with projectsfor alternate forms of disputeredressal, including mediation andconciliation.As Director of the State JudicialAcademy and Indian MediationTraining Centre, he designed andimplemented the curricula andprogrammes for training judges andassociated with the project of e-governancefor the Judiciary in the State.Dr. Justice Chandrachud has deliveredlectures at many national andinternational institutions on issuesrelating to human rights, constitutionallaw and governance. He hasaddressed the Australian NationalUniversity, the UN High Commissionon Human Rights, the InternationalLabour Organisation, the LondonCouncil for International Arbitration,the Singapore InternationalArbitration Centre, the Tata Instituteof Social Sciences and the Asiatic Society.In recent years he has travelled tothe U.S., the U.K., South Africa,Australia, Fiji and the Maldives todeliver lectures.Dr. Justice Chandrachud is marriedto Kalpana Das, formerly employedby the British Council; sheserved as Country head of SheffieldHallam University; and at presentwas National Coordinator for Partnerships,Tata Medical Centre Trust.The couple has two sons, Abhinav,who has just completed his LL.M.from Harvard Law School, U.S.A.,and Chintan, who is a student at theGovernment Law College, Bombay.Birthday donationPresident-Elect Nowroze Vazifdarannounced at the last meetingthat Dr. Sorab Javeri had made abirthday donation of Rs. 10,001.He added that the contributionwould go towards the AjitDeshpande Medical Centre.And a clarificationIt was reported on these pages inThe Gateway dated August 16 thatPresident Paul George,The Fellowship Committee andOur Parsi RotariansAre pleased to invite you to aMusical Eveningand toCocktails and Dinneron Friday, 26th August, 20118 P.M. onwardsat Joss, 30 K Dubash Marg, Kalaghoda,MumbaiThere is NO entrance fee for all Rotary Club Members andtheir Spouses. However, please give your name to Mr. EruchIrani latest by 22nd August.(Those who have given their names in and do not show up,will be charged Rs. 1,000 per head!!)‘PARSI NITE’ ON AUGUST 26:WILL YOU BE THERE?The eagerly-awaited Fellowshipevent, the “Parsi Nite”, will beheld this year at the Joss,Kalaghoda, on Friday, August 26.Hon. Secretary Jagdish Malkani informedmembers at the last meetingthat the venue had a capacityof only 150 persons; therefore, itwas necessary for those interestedin attending the event to registertheir names as soon as possible.Jagdish added that there would be nocharges for members and theirspouses, but with the caveat thatthose who registered their namesfor the Fellowship but failed toshow up for some reason or other,would have to pay a penalty ofRs. 1,000 per head.Fellowship Chair Shernaz Vakil andher team were working hard tomake the “Parsi Nite” a memorableevent.President-Elect Nowroze VazifdarAt the last meeting had made a birthday contribution ofWanted: Two Khurshed Poonawala was making the(Held on August 16, 2011) Rs. 5,000 and that he had also sent aPRESIDENT-Elect Nowroze cheque for Rs. 9,000 as his annualarrangements for some outstandingmusic to keep the participantsVazifdar called the meeting tocontribution towards becoming awindow airorder and welcomed the guestPaul Harris Fellow.in thrall and on the floor.However, this information is not conditionersspeaker, the Visiting Rotarians,correct, for Nowroze is already a PaulTThe “Musical Evening”, along withRotaryanns, guests and others.he Bhavishya-Yaan Committeeis planning to open aHarris Fellow.cocktails and dinner, would featurea lot of music, singing and danc-HAPPY NEW YEARAs for the contribution of Rs.Nowroze wished all Parsi membersand their spouses a veryMunicipal School. Right now it is ing.new centre at the N.M. Joshi9,000, he points out that it hasbeen sent in response to the appealHappy and Prosperous New Year made by Vice-President Niravseeking a member who would like Jagdish reminded members that theand (Pateti) Nowroze Mubarak. Shah to all members to contribute to donate two window air“Parsi Nite” would be held from 8ATTENDANCEat least $200 to The Rotary conditioners for installation at thepm onwards on Friday, August 26,Members 167 Foundation in the course of the new centre.at the Joss, K. Dubash Marg,Visiting Rotarians 1 year.Members who would beRotaryanns 6 We regret the error and join interested in issuing a cheque for Kalaghoda. It was being hosted byGuests 5 Nowroze and Nirav in requesting this noble purpose may get in touch the Fellowship Committee alongTotal 179members to contribute their mite (at with Chairman Manojj Patodia or with some Parsi members of theleast $200 during the year) to TheSvc. box collection Rs. 6,790Co-Chair Manish Reshamwala.Rotary Foundation.Club.August 23 to August 29, 2011 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 3

When the Rotary Club of Bombaydoes something, even if it is theclosing ceremony of a workshop forschool children, it does it in style.After completing a one-and-a-halfmonth-longworkshop on “Art andcreative thinking” at the Dr. AmbedkarMunicipal School in Worli, the teamexecuting the Bhavishya-Yaan projectarranged a “Grand finale” that easilybeat all grand finales.Priyasri Patodia, who had conductedthe workshop on behalf of the Cluband the Committee, invited several celebritiesand fellow Rotarians who hadacted as mentors to the closing ceremonywhich was graced by a grandturnout of outstanding professionals.Among them were the well-knownfilm photographer, Mr. Vikram Bawa,and the popular contemporary artist,Mr. Sunil Padval (both of whom actedas judges).There were three special guests (orguests of honour) who turned up forthe programme. They were Mr. AyubKhan, a popular film and televisionactor; Mr. Aarya Babbar, also a wellknownactor; and Ms Madhu Shah,the woman who played the eponymousrole in the acclaimed Roza.Some of those who had volunteeredto serve as mentors earlier were alsoinvited to the closing ceremony. Theyincluded Ms Reshma Jain, former Editorof Marwar magazine; Mr. Sumedh,a bright young artist from the Fine ArtsCollege in Baroda (who assisted Priyasrithrough the entire length of the workshop);Nandan Maluste; Ms TaraKhandelwal, a student of New YorkUniversity who volunteered for amonth during her summer vacations;and Mr. Quasar Padamsee, theatre personalityand son of Dolly Thakore.The Rotary Club of Bombay wasrepresented by President Paul George,PP Ashish Vaid, PP Nandan Damani,Vice-President Nirav and Devina Shah,Arvind and Rachna Agarwal, AshokChinai, Ajit Lalvani, Arin Master, S.K.Mitra, Manojj and Nandita Patodia,and Manish Reshamwala.As members are aware, Bhavishya-Yaan is the brainchild of RameshNarayan; it is a unique programme initiatedby the Rotary Club of Bombaywhich conducts it in municipal schools(three at present) where it takes underits wings some students from theA GRAND FINALE TO BEAThey’re all in it together... The judges, the guests othe President, the students at the grand finale of ththinking' workshop conducted by Priyasri PatodVIIIth, IXth and Xth standards forgrooming and mentoring. Not only arethey helped in their studies, they arealso given lessons in English speaking,in handling computers, self-confidence,public speaking and other extra-curricularactivities.An amazing fallout of this programmeis the workshop on “Art and creativethinking” which is organised byPriyasri; she invites well-known artists,even those from the arena of theperforming arts and from the fields ofadvertising, journalism and so on.Interestingly, this programmewas designed by Priyasri under theguidance of her own mentor, theveteran artist, Mr. Akbar Padamsee.Mr. Padamsee attended the veryfirst workshop held at the Dr.Ambedkar Municipal School threeyears ago and was an instant hitwith the students.When the project was launched, itwas observed that most of the studentswho had done their schooling inregional languages were aged between13 and 15 years, hailed from familieswith very low incomes and accountedfor the highest percentage of dropoutsafter the IXth and Xth standards.Further, what they knew abouthigher studies and vocational or professionalchoices could be reduced tojust three words, viz., doctor, engineerand teacher. Their horizons were severelyrestricted. Sadly, some studentshad absolutely no idea about professionsor vocations and many sportedblank looks when asked what theywanted to do when they grew up.The “Art and creative thinking”workshop was conceived as a measureto expose the children to creative professionslike dance, music, productdesigning, advertising, creative writing,journalism and other forms of fine artsand visual arts which they could pursueeven if they chose not to continuewith their studies.Considering the rather poor qualityof education, the surfeit of graduateswith B.Com., B.A. and even M.A.degrees in the job market and the highunemployment despite there beingample work for all, the workshop wasused to introduce the children to variouscreative professions. It was alsoan attempt to recognise the students’talents and to encourage them to questionthemselves about what they wouldenjoy doing most in life.But the most important thing thatthe “Art and creative thinking” programmeof Bhavishya-Yaan hoped toachieve was to help children shed theirfears and inhibitions; to stretch theirminds and horizons by exposing themto lateral thinking, creative writing anddeveloping their aesthetic quotient; andto touch upon their emotional quotient.Of course, it would be impossibleto achieve all these high-sounding goalsin the course of a workshop lasting amonth or a month and a half. But thechildren were indeed shown a glimpseof several alternative professions.The fact that some former participantsof the “Art and creativethinking” workshops now wantedto pursue a “different” career,whether in the fine arts, in productdesigning or architecture, showedthat this ambitious effort was yieldingresults. Of course, it was noteven a drop in the ocean right now,but a beginning had been made.Another pithy observation made bythe Committee and by Priyasri wasthat art was turning out to be a greatstress-busting exercise. The studentshad learnt some nuances of fine art techniquesand also about the life stories ofsome great artists. A few of them hadtaken off on their own and were writingstories and creating fictional characters;others practised being journalistsand interviewed their classmates.Essentially, all of them were probingwithin themselves, trying to learn,to find out more about themselves.Above all, it was turning out to be agreat emotional outlet as the childrenopened up and expressed their fears,their hopes, their joys and their painsand, at the end of the catharsis, emergedas better individuals who were morehopeful about life.Among those who had acted as mentorssince the beginning of the “Artand creative thinking” programme wereeminent personalities such as Mr. AnilDharker, Mr. Prabhakar Kolte, a representativefrom the architectural firmof Talati and Pantakhi, Mr. PremMehta of Lintas, Ms Riddhi Doshi(journalist), Mr. Ashok Asthana (expertin lateral thinking), Mr. ShoumikSen (writer and director), Mr. BharatBala of Vande Mataram fame and manyothers.One of the Club members who hadbeen working for the children wasManoj Israni who conducted a motivationalworkshop and offered sweetmeatsto them at the end.Rotaryann Nandita Patodia not onlyworked behind the scenes, she also distributedsnacks to the children on morethan one occasion.To return to the grand finale organisedfrom 4 to 6 pm on August 10, MsNazia of the NGO Vidya (which conductsclasses for the Bhavishya-Yaanstudents), welcomed the gathering towitness a preview of the works completedby the children as part of theone-and-a-half-month-long “Art andcreative thinking” workshop for studentsof the Hindi and Urdu mediumsof the Dr. Ambedkar School.Chairman Manojj Patodia describedthe genesis of the programme and howit had now spread to four municipalschools. He welcomed the specialguests and the judges, Mr. Vikram Bawaand Mr. Sunil Padval, and then requestedPriyasri, the coordinator of theworkshop, to share her experiences.Priyasri revealed that when she wasinvited to join the Bhavishya-YaanCommittee three years ago, she had toHearing them in rapt attention. Among those in the first Manoj Israni, who is also an art aficionado, conducted a With some of the works displayed onrow are, from right, PP Nandan Damani, Arin Master motivational workshop for the children and served them the wall behind them. Vice-Presidentand Ashok ChinaisweetmeatsNirav Shah with Arvind AgarwalAugust 23 to August 29, 2011 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 4

T ALL GRAND FINALESof honour, the mentors, the Committee members,the one-and-a-half-month-long 'Art and creativedia under the auspices of the 'Bhavishya-Yaan'spend about three hours every week atthe Worli school, interacting with andmentoring the children.“When I asked the children abouttheir career goals, some of them wereclueless; a few said that they wantedto be a doctor or an engineer. I askedthem who was an engineer and whatdid he do? But they looked at me withblank faces.“A few of the children answered thattheir parents, who were not so literate,had told them that if they became doctorsor engineers, they would earn a lotof money. I then realised that thesechildren, unlike those in privateschools, were just not aware about differentkinds of professions or the degreesfor which they could study.“On what basis would they choosewhich academic degree to opt for?More significantly, how would theyever know what kind of talent layhidden inside them? Or what theycould achieve on their own and makea success of their lives?”Priyasri noted that although theBhavishya-Yaan curriculum included anintroduction to different kinds of vocations,there was very little about creativeprofessions such as product designing,architecture, creative writing,theatre or the fine arts. It was thisrealisation that had sparked off an ideain her mind and led to the launch of the“Art and creative thinking” workshop.But that was easier said than done.For, she wondered, what would she beable to achieve in just a month or amonth and a half?She was happy to admit that shewas wrong. Today, she looked withwonder at some of the students whohad taken part in previous workshops.One of them, Irfan, wanted to be anarchitect; another, Pankaj, was determinedto become an artist.Even in the latest batch, one of thestudents had been “spotted” by a journalistwho conducted a workshop. She(the journalist) had said that Sujit, thestudent, was simply fantastic and didnot even know about his own talent.Priyasri thanked Mr. Sumedh, thefine arts student from Baroda who hadhelped her right through this year’sworkshop; Nandita for her timely supplyof snacks; and Ms Tara Khandelwal,a student from New York whowas in Bombay for her summer holidaysbut preferred to spend a monthat the Worli school as a volunteer. Mostgirls of her age would have been doingother things, she added.After Tara, the mentors, studentsand special guests present on the occasionwere requested to say a few words.Ms Reshma Jain, former Editor ofMarwar magazine and mentor, saidthat when she asked the children tointerview each other, she was surprisedto note that all of them had their ownstyle of writing. She also enjoyed readingthe scripts that they had writtenkeeping a particular actor in mind (thiswas an exercise they had undertakenwhen a writer-director had conducteda workshop on creative writing).She was followed by four childrenwho had taken part in the workshop.Fathima spoke about the classeswhich she would miss now that theyhad ended. She had never heard of athing called “product designing” whenMr. Alok Asthana asked them to redesigna cupboard. But the activity shehad enjoyed the most was “destructionday” in which she had made apainting and was then told to destroyit using a brush and paints.Anjali spoke about her favourite artistVan Gogh. Of course, she had neverheard about him till she attended theworkshop. She recalled that he was avery restless man and never waited forthe paint to dry – he painted over it.Van Gogh did not sell a single paintingwhen he was alive, yet today he wasworld famous, she said.Pankaj, a former student of the workshop,recalled that when he first attendedit, he wanted to become an engineer.When Priyasri asked himwhether he knew what an engineer did,he did not know. So she made him meetsomeone who told him about differenttypes of engineering. Then he did notwant to become an engineer!When the students visited the J.J.School of Art in 2010, he felt that hesimply had to go and study there.Right now he was studying for hisXth exam and also preparing for theexams that would help him to join afine arts college. He loved to paint.Irfan, a Bhavishya-Yaan student ofthe Xth standard, said he would takeup science because he wanted to becomean architect. At last year’s workshophe had met Ms Shravanya fromthe architectural firm Talati andPantakhi. She had exhibited some slideswhich gave a lot of information aboutinterior decoration and architecture.Later, he had had an opportunity tomeet an architect who told him aboutthe kind of work that he did. That hadexcited Irfan and he had decided to becomean architect. He thanked the RotaryClub of Bombay, the Bhavishya-Yaan project and Priyasri for teachinghim English and also for enabling himto make the discovery that he wantedto be an architect.Next, Bhavishya-Yaan Co-ChairManish Reshamwala appealed to thejudges, Mr. Vikram Bawa and Mr. SunilPadval, to announce the winning entriesselected from among the dozensthat had been put on display. He alsorequested Mr. Ayub Khan and Mr.Aarya Babbar to give away the prizesand to say a few words.Mr. Khan said it was a privilege tosee the work being done by the RotaryClub of Bombay. He told the childrenthat there were many doctors and teachersin the world, but what the worldneeded most were creative individuals.As for him, he had worked in films,on theatre and on television, but whicheverfield one chose, one had to workhard and to struggle. But if one enjoyedthe work that came one’s way,then there would be no pain (of struggle)and success was sure to follow.Mr. Babbar had a piece of advice forthe children: “Do not worry or getscared if you fail after you have decidedto do something; keep trying andyou will achieve your goal.”Ms Madhu Shah said it was importantto first become a good human beingbefore becoming a professional. Shecongratulated Priyasri and said thatBhavishya-Yaan was an excellentprogramme. She wished more schoolswould adopt it.“I wish I had a teacher like Priyasri!”exclaimed Mr. Sunil Padval. “The exerciseshe made the children do wasvery profound – and that is the onlyway a person can become a good artist.One has to drop one’s fears.”Mr. Padval said that he, too, hadstudied in a municipal school; he knewhow difficult it was and how the childrenwere simply not exposed to theworld. But when a person wanted todo something, opportunities openedup on their own.He was surprised that the childrenwho had attended the “Art and creativethinking” workshop knew aboutpainters like Dali, Van Gogh, Pollokand Akbar Padamsee.Mr. Vikram Bawa recalled that whenhe told his father that he wanted to bea photographer, he had sneered andasked whether he wanted to spend hislife taking wedding pictures. He hadquietly joined business, but he failed.He then started out once again to becomea photographer. Finally, he hadsucceeded and had been able to make aname for himself.The last speaker was President PaulGeorge who expressed wonder at thework that the children had produced;he was also deeply impressed when heheard them describe their experiences.He said that true to the name of theprogramme “Art and creative thinking”,none of those seated on the dais(or the mentors) was a doctor, engineeror teacher. All of them representedthe creative field. India needed morecreative people, he said, asking the childrento choose a creative career if theyfelt that they had the talent for it.Manish Reshamwala proposed thevote of thanks.On her toes all the time. Priyasri, Two wise men. Mr. Sunil Padval, the well-known artist And the three guests of honour. From left, Mr. Ayub Khan,who coordinated the workshop, (left), and Mr. Vikram Bawa, the popular photographer, Ms Madhu Shah and Mr. Aarya Babbar, with some of theshares her experiencesafter judging the entriesbest entriesAugust 23 to August 29, 2011 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 5

August 23 to August 29, 2011 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 7

ROTARY CLUB OF BOMBAYFOUNDED 19 MARCH, 1929Charter No. 3128, Dated 08 May, 192997-B, Mittal Tower, Nariman Point,Mumbai 400 021, INDIATel.: +91-22-2202 4089Fax.: +91-22-2202 4509rc_bombay@rediffmail.comOFFICE-BEARERS 2010/11PRESIDENT PAUL GEORGEImm. Past President Pradeep SaxenaPresident-Elect Nowroze VazifdarVice-President Nirav ShahHonorary Secretary Jagdish MalkaniJoint Hon. Secretary Sitaram ShahHon. Treasurer Ishraq ContractorCLUB SERVICE – New MembersDirector in charge Nowroze VazifdarClassifications PP Dr. Adi DasturMembership PP Ashish VaidMember. Dev. & DisCon Nirav ShahInformation PP Dr. Kekoo KavaranaMentoring & Assimilation PP Sandip AgarwallaCLUB SERVICE – Programmes/MeetingsDirector in charge Framroze MehtaFellowship Shernaz VakilCo-Chair Pranay VakilCulinary Delight Ritu Prakash DesaiCo-Chair Renu BasuSportsHiranmay BiswasProgramme Dolly ThakoreCo-Chair Nandan MalusteSergeant-at-Arms Roda BillimoriaCo-Chair Hiren KaraAttendance Arvind AgarwalBulletin & Website Farokh BalsaraCOMMUNITY SERVICE – MedicalDirector in charge Dr. Vandana BulchandaniChairman Emeritus,TalwadaPP Dr. Rahim MuljianiHTEC, Talwada PP Dr. Rumi JehangirADMC, Talwada Dr. Sorab JaveriOral Health Dr. Mala JagtianiControl of TB Prof. Rohini ChowgulePolio & Jaipur Foot Shyyamniwas SomaniCancer Aid Zinia LawyerCo-Chair Farokh BalsaraCOMMUNITY SERVICE – Non-MedicalDirector in charge Shailesh HaribhaktiRCCPP Kalpana MunshiOld Age Homes/Senior Citizens Ratan TankhaHealth & Heart Care Dr. Aashish ContractorDifferently Abled Naresh Kumar JainVOCATIONAL SERVICEDirector in charge Vineet BhatnagarRotary & Public Awards Nelum GidwaniFour-Way Test Suresh JagtianiLegal Case Practice Sameer TapiaArts & Public Relations Priyasri PatodiaINTERNATIONAL SERVICEDirector in charge Ashok MinawalaR.I. Programmes PP Arun SanghiRotary Foundation PP Arvind JollyFund-Raising (Dr.) Sonya MehtaCo-Chair Pradeep ChinaiNEW GENERATIONS – EducationDirector in charge Arin MasterBhavishya Yaan Manojj Kumar PatodiaCo-Chair Manish ReshamwalaSuraksha LoansScholarships Ashok JatiaMerit-cum-MeansScholarships Freyaz ShroffTEAC Junior College Bipin KapadiaManagement Studies Poonam KumarNEW GENERATIONS – YouthDirector in charge Arjun JollyInteract - IMeera AlrejaInteract - II Shahzad QadirRotaractMehul SampatCo-Chair Ravindra FotedarNight Study Centres Bimal MehtaRoad Safety Deepak KapadiaDISTRICT THRUST PROJECTSDirector in charge Suresh GoklaneyWater Conservation/Rural Development Dilnavaz VariavaSolar Energy/Environ. Madhusudan DagaDisha/Vocational Trg. Sunny PariyaramSlumber Kits PP Rajnikant ReshamwalaRegd. No. MH/MR/South-109/2009-11; R.N.I. No. 14015/60Posted at Mumbai Patrika Channel Sorting Office, Mumbai 400 001, on every Saturday-MondayFriendship Exchange withBrazil in 2012The District 3140 Rotary FriendshipExchange Committee reportsthat a team of Rotarians fromBrazil (District 4480) will visit thisDistrict in early 2012.According to Dr. Amrish Mehta,the District Chair for Rotary FriendshipExchange (RFE), the incomingteam’s visit would coincide with theR.I. District 3140 Conference whichis scheduled to be held on February11 and 12, 2012. The District 4480RFE Committee will send its team toDistrict 3140 from February 1 to 14,2012.Members of Rotary Clubs in thisDistrict will provide home hospitalityto the Visiting Rotarians for theperiod between February 1 and 14.Those interested in hosting theVisiting Rotarians from Brazil havebeen requested to send their applicationsto the District Committee assoon as possible. They may contactthe Rotary Secretariat for further details.Happy BirthdayManoj IsraniAugust 24Ashok Kumar JalanAugust 26Cyrus PatelAugust 26Narinder KumarNayyarAugust 24Anil MehtaAugust 26Ranjit SinhAugust 27Spouses/RotaryannsArti MehtaAugust 25Dina GolwallaAugust 26Neelima BaligaAugust 27Dr. Ushma BatraAugust 27Neeraja TapariaAugust 27Usha AgarwalAugust 28Justice Sujata ManoharAugust 28OneProfitsMostWhoServesBestEditorial Consultant: Anmol Purohit,Sajjan Sons, 203/204 Triveni, MithChowki, Marve Road, Malad (West),Mumbai 400 064. Cell: 09322227026;Landline: 022-28880712E-Mail: anmolsp@gmail.comRegd. No. MH/MR/South-109/2009-11, R.N.I. No. 14015/60Printed, Published by Rtn. PP Arjun Bulchandani on behalf of Rotary Club of Bombay and printed at Nikeda Art Printers Pvt. Ltd., Unit No.H & I,Kanjur Industrial Estate,Quarry Road, Off L.B.S. Marg, Bhandup (West), Mumbai 400 078 and Published at 97/B, Mittal Tower, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021. Editor Arjun BulchandaniAugust 23 to August 29, 2011 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 8