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Vol. 54 Issue No. 52 Mumbai June 25 to July 1, 2013 Pages 32 Price Rs. 3/-We’ve shown once again that ours is a Club with a heartMyIdear Fellow Rotarians,must begin by saying that it hasbeen a privilege to lead this greatClub, a Club we all love and of whichwe are, with every justification, proud.Equally, for me, it has been a pleasureworking with all my fellowRotarians on the many good works thatour Club does.This is a Club with a long and glorioushistory. It can be a daunting task toassume the responsibility for maintainingits paramount status but all myfellow Rotarians, with their guidance,their support and their encouragement,have made it a pleasant duty.There has been a small net increasein the membership strength during theyear and it is a matter of some satisfactionthat, despite the large base, wehave achieved this increase while maintainingour stringent criteria and highstandards.I hope that the members who havejoined this year – and those who willdo so in future years – will enjoy Rotaryand will be true Rotarians.As far as the service aspects of ourClub are concerned, as with every year,there are on-going projects as well asnew projects.There is, as always, much to commendabout the ongoing projects of ourClub, but for the purposes of this Bulletin,I will focus only on what hasbeen done this year.This year, I felt that we should focuson reaching out to the underprivilegedand the under-served, or thoseorganisations which do great work butare not even on the radar of fundingagencies or other service organisations.In this, I have had the unstinted supportof the Office-Bearers and the Boardand I am truly grateful to all of them.We began the year with a visit to thepremises of the Salvation Army atAgripada. It has, among other “facili-Today’s meetingJune 25, 2013The final meeting of Rotary year2012-13. It will be held in theCrystal Room of the Taj Mahal Hotel,with Fellowship beginning at 7pm. President Nowroze Vazifdar topresent his report for 2012-13 andto present the Club Awards.Members are invited to attend themeeting in large numbers along withtheir spouse. No charges will be leviedon members and spouses.ties”, an “OldMen’s Home”which was in a deplorablecondition.So we decided torepair it and havefully renovated theplace, completelyre-doing the dormitory,the kitchen,the toilets and therecreation room,installing new fansand a television set.The 20 aged residentsnow live in agreater degree ofcomfort. This cost us about Rs 6 lakhs.We also refurbished the beds at anotherold-age home on Hughes Roadlooking after 100 men and women. Thisis a well-run facility which barely needsanything. But we established our footprintthere with a minimal expenditureof about Rs. 60,000 to Rs. 70,000.Then there is the Central Society forthe Education of the Deaf which hasthree main activities: (i) a primary specialschool for deaf children; (ii) an earlydetectioncentre for deafness; and (iii) acochlear-implant rehabilitation centre.We fully funded the import and installationof sophisticated testing equipmentin the “Brainstem-Evoked ResponseAudiometry” (BERA) testingclinic at a cost of about Rs. 17 lakhs.We associated with the DhabharCancer Foundation which provides financialas well as medical assistance tocancer patients and spreads awarenessabout prevention and early detectionof cancer. The Club has undertaken togive it a sum of Rs. 3 lakhs per yearinitially for a period of three years.The Club will be entitled to referfive patients every year for the treatmentof whom the Foundation will beara cost of up to Rs. 1.50 lakhs per year.Similarly, we associated with theCHILDReach society, which workswith slow learners and attempts to integratethem into the mainstream ofeducation. It takes care of more than45 children.We made a one-time donation of Rs.1 lakh and also were the sole sponsorsof their Silver Jubilee seminar, “AreWe Ready?”In all of the above initiatives, in orderto retain an interest therein as wellas our rights, we have provided for certainclauses such as regular reporting,inspection of accountsand premises,seat(s) onthe committee andso on.A one-time donationof Rs. 1 lakhwas made to “TheAnchorage”, whichis an organisationthat seeks to give asense of self-worthto mentally challengedpost-teens.It serves about 30students at its twounits in Mahalaxmiand Colaba.Several other initiatives also tookshape this year and I will mention buta few of them.The first was the “AttendanceSwipe card” (which, I am told, otherClubs are attempting to copy). Thishas made registering of attendancemuch easier for all of us and has alsosimplified the recording (and monitoring)of attendance. The card also servesas an ID card and can be flashed to gainadmission to any Rotary Club anywherein the world. Going forward, wepropose to upload more data on thiscard.The second initiative was the conceptof an “evening meeting”. I haveexplained my reasons for this initiativeseveral times and I am pleased that itseems to have been well-received andmeets the objectives for which I hadthought of introducing this concept.This year, there has been a goodamount of communication and informationbeing disseminated, not onlywith me talking to you (mainly throughthe forum of our bulletin, The Gateway)but also because the Chairpersonsof various Committees agreed tomy request to make brief presentationsat some of our weekly meetings on thework being done by their Committeesand their plans for the future.This has been done to make membersmore aware and to encourage participationof larger numbers in a widerrange of activities. I truly believe thatthe more you involve yourself, the moreyou will enjoy Rotary.We did not set any financial targetsfor the year because I do not believe incompeting nor do I set great store bycomparisons. However, and totallybecause of the legendary generosity ofour members, we have had a good year,financially. For The Rotary Foundationwe have collected even more thanin the record-breaking previous yearwhen an Indian (Kalyan Banerjee) wasPresident of Rotary International. Evenfor our projects, the collections havebeen satisfactory.What pleases me most is that, withoutme approaching any member atany time for any contribution, moneyhas poured in. This reinforces not onlymy faith in the generosity of our members,but also my belief that moneyshould never be our primary focus.Ours is a Club with a heart.We have, of course, tremendous resources,influence and expertise andmust continue to channel these, throughcompassion and caring, to serve theunderprivileged and the under-served.This has been a memorable year forme. Among the memories that will remainare the kindness of friends andthe great support and encouragementthat I have received from all of you.Nowroze VazifdarPresident, 2012-13First meeting ofnew Rotary year onSaturday, July 6District Governor Lata Subraiduwill be the chief guest at the firstmeeting of the Rotary Club ofBombay for the year 2013-14.The meeting will be chaired byNirav Shah who will take over asPresident of the Club from NowrozeVazifdar at the stroke of midnight onJune 30, 2013.Members are requested to notethat the first meeting will be heldfrom 11 am onwards in the CrystalRoom of the Taj Mahal Hotelon Saturday, July 6, 2013.The Fellowship will commence at11 and will use story-telling, art, musicand interactive sculpture to celebratethe onset of the new Rotaryyear.The formal meeting will be calledto order at 12 noon and conclude at1.15 pm. It will be followed by lunch– and then the party will continue.No charges will be levied on membersand spouses and the guest chargeshave been kept at a nominal Rs. 1,500per head.

The use of IT will bring the latest medical knowledgeto India, says Dr. Rohini ChowguleLasers, robotics, nuclear isotopes,calls or rush to visit their wards –CT-scans, X-rays, magnetic resonanceall that they would have to do wouldimaging (MRIs), these are someof the technological tools that doctorshave utilised to fight disease and toimprove the health of the people. Today,India has turned into a centre forthe best medical care – at a fraction ofthe price paid by patients in advancedcountries – and people from all overthe world have been coming here toavail of the excellent medical facilities.This welcome development has beenattended by two phenomena that canno longer be ignored. One, thanks tothe advent of ever-new technologicalinnovations, patients have startedbe to check the status of patientson their respective tablets (notmedical pills) or i-Pads.Once put in place, this systemwould also help track diseases in thecommunity. For example, if some patientsin Patna were down with a particularinfection and if a similar trendwas noticed in Pune or Bombay, itwould indicate that the infection wasspreading in the community. Chronicdiseases could also be tracked in thesame way.While working on chronic care andmanagement of diabetics in Washington,said Dr. Rohini, it was observedsearching for details about their illnesseson the Internet and telling doc-that older people did not have rela-Thanks to people searching for illnesses on the internet, one man has decidedto call himself ‘Dr. Google’. Dr. Rohini Chowgule at the last meetingtors about their “findings”.tives to take them to hospital; the authoritiesTwo, while some members of themedical fraternity appear to have takenumbrage to this fad (one of them jokinglysaid he was changing his name toDr. Google), there are others who believethat it’s better to flow with thetide rather than resist the sweep oftechnology.Dr. Rohini Chowgule, the renownedchest physician who is recognised bothas a champion golfer and an asthmaspecialist, belongs to the second category.She has worked hard on bringingthe benefits of information technology(IT) to bear on modern medicinethrough innovative software systemsfor health data management andremote consultation.Speaking on “Information and communicationtechnology in health caredelivery” at the last meeting, shepointed out that everybody talkedabout health care, nobody about healthcare delivery, a subject that she wouldconcentrate on in the course of her talk.Tarjani Vakil introduced her as a“Goan, full of life and one who lovesfish, music and dancing”; she had beenand would be a role model “for India’schildren who are getting lost in aglobalising world”.Dr. Rohini started by pointing outthat although it was the people whowere driving doctors to use new technology,its benefits were enjoyed onlyby those in urban areas while peopleliving in rural areas were being ignored.But IT was a powerful tool to takegood health care to rural populations.Most countries used 9% of theirGDP on health care. The USA, Franceand Germany spent 10 to 17%. Indiaspent 4% and other Asian countries 2to 3%. However, these figures representedthe amount spent by governments.Large numbers of people inIndia paid for health care from theirpockets and these figures were not includedin the GDP spend.“And because it is the governmentthat spends this amount, that’s why itis (becoming increasingly) botheredabout health care technology.”The trend was set off by AmericanPresident George Bush in 2004 whenhe noted the money being spent onhealth care and felt that something hadto be done about it. He drew up a tenyearplan to develop and implementan electronic medical system acrossthe US to improve the efficiency andstudy of health care.Research conducted by Rand HealthCare showed that if the USA pulledup its socks, it would save $81 billion,reduce adverse health care events(which were often created by doctorsand hospitals) and also improve thequality of care.Finally, in 2009, President BarrackObama brought a law. He offered acarrot to the health care industry, tellingit that if it gave up paper and shiftedto electronic medical records, it wouldnet a windfall of $19 billion.He set aside $2 billion for healthcareproviders to implement HIT (healthcare IT) and a whopping $17 billion inincentives from Medicare and Medicaidfunding if they adopted HIT by2015. Obama also offered incentivesto healthcare providers implementingelectronic records (again through Medicareand Medicaid funding).Dr. Rohini said that apart from theUS, the UK and other European countrieswere also spending huge sums ofmoney to move towards electronichealth records.What made them go for this change?They realised that health care IT (HIT)provided the umbrella framework todescribe the comprehensive managementof health information across computerisedsystems and its secure exchangebetween the stake-holders suchas the consumers, the providers, insurersand government and qualityentities.Further, HIT could yield severalbenefits: (a) improve the quality oreffectiveness of health care; (b) increasehealth care productivity andefficiency; (c) prevent medical errors;(d) reduce health care costs; and (e)improve administrative efficiency bydecreasing the paperwork.When a person went to hospital,there was needless repetition of thatperson’s medical data. This was donefirst at the registration counter, thenupon arrival in the ward and also whenhe was taken to the operation theatre.Each one of the nurses/clerks at theseplaces required the patient to repeatthe same information over and overagain.This was a colossal waste of everybody’stime. (And time being money,it was no surprise that Rand HealthCare had shown that if the USA pulledup its socks, it would save $81 billion,reduce adverse health care events andalso improve the quality of care.)If a system of electronic data storageand dissemination was put inplace, doctors and medical personnelattending to the patients wouldnot have to make or receive phonethen opened a cell whereonline data could be transferred fromtheir homes to the centre. Nurses wereposted 24x7 and kept a watch on patients’data.When a patient conducted a glucosetest, the reading went through a phoneto the cell. If the nurse felt that theblood glucose was down, she immediatelycalled and asked what was goingon. If the person said he felt a bit dizzy,she told him to stop taking insulin.This was one way of managingchronic patients so they that didn’thave to first go for a blood sugar test,then go to a doctor, wait for him, meethim, chat with him, show him the reportand return home. That was a threehourprocess best avoided, thus reducingcosts all round.At present, most big hospitals in theUS were giving tablets to their juniordoctors that were loaded with guidelinesfor treatment, side-effects of drugs,information about drug interactions, reactionsand so on. When one went tothe main page, one found full information,including, for example, which medicineto avoid if a patient was going foran abortion. This was another way toprevent doctors’ errors.Another benefit was that when theywere in the company of other, seniordoctors, they could turn on their tabletsand discuss the modalities of treatmentfor their patients.Dr. Rohini revealed that one of themajor hospitals in Bombay was on theverge of starting a similar programme.When that happened, it would ensurethe quality of care provided even byjunior doctors.(Continued on Page 4)June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 2

Wear this Rotary lapel pin every day and wear it with pride. President Nowroze Vazifdar formally inducts two new members, Manish Kejriwal (left) and AnupAgarwalla. While Anup has been loaned the Classification ‘Mining: Coal’, Manish will represent ‘Finance: Investment’Two new members are formally inductedTwo new members, Anup Agarwallaand Manish Kejriwal, were formallyinducted at the meeting of June18, the penultimate meeting of theRotary year.While Anup has been loaned theClassification “Mining: Coal”, Manishwill represent “Finance: Investment”.Manish Reshamwala, who wascalled upon to introduce AnupAgarwalla, said that Anup graduatedfrom H.R. College and had done hisBachelor’s of Science and BusinessAdministration from Washington University,St. Louis.With over 20 years’ experience inthe coal and commodity business inIndia, he had experience in developing,financing, construction and managementof projects in coal-mining,coke manufacture and power.On returning to India, he trainedunder PP Sandip Agarwalla in his companies,BLA Industries and BLAPower. While BLA Industries was oneof the first private coal-mining companiesin India, BLA Power was thefirst independent power plant generatingthermal power in MadhyaPradesh. BLA Industries was a memberof the World Economic Forum.Anup was very active in businessand his companies conducted manyCSR programmes, including threemedical clinics, medical camps in ruralareas and supporting NGOs.He was married to Namrata, also agraduate of H.R. College, and thecouple had two daughters Urmi andShreya. He was a tennis enthusiast.Vice-President Shailesh Haribhaktiintroduced the second new member,Manish Kejriwal.He said that Manish had started startlingthe world when he was at schooland topped the ICSE. After that, hehad a brilliant career, obtaining anMBA from Harvard Business School.He returned to India, marriedSunaina, the daughter of the Honorarymember, Mr. Rahul Bajaj, and joinedTemasek Holdings.Manish had a fantastic run with investmentsin India. He had the full trustof the government of Singapore whichwas extremely demanding as an investor.But Manish surpassed its expectations.As the world’s economy almostcollapsed and in times when it wasvirtually impossible to think aboutraising money for investment in India,he and his colleagues raised over $500million for just that purpose.Truly a family person, Manish andSunaina had two sons and alwaysshared their children’s accomplishmentswith friends. Shailesh added thatManish was a second-generationRotarian.Following the introductions, PresidentNowroze Vazifdar conducted theformal induction ceremony of the twonew memebrs.But first he pointed out that boththe new members had already becomePaul Harris Fellows.He affixed Rotary pins to the lapelsof the two new members and askedthem to “wear the Rotary pin alwaysand wear it with pride”.He also presented them with a copyeach of the Club Roster, Four-WayTest placards and other Rotary literature.Welcome to the Rotary Club ofBombay, Anup and Manish.Office-Bearers'meetingsThe following are the attendancestatistics from July 1, 2012, toJune 20, 2013:Number of meetings held 48President Nowroze Vazifdar 46Nirav Shah 34IPP Paul George 31Shailesh Haribhakti* 3Sitaram Shah 46Hiren Kara 38Ishraq Contractor 5* From January, 2013Devi Thadani passesaway at 99Rotaryann Devi Thadani passedaway last week at the age of 99.President Nowroze Vazifdar said atthe last meeting that a letter of condolencewas being sent to Haso Thadaniand the bereaved family.CorrectionTHERE are two errors in the biodataof Ashok Gokal published on Page 4in The Gateway dated June 18. First,the name of his firm is “J.V. Gokal &Sons” and not J.V. Gopal & Sons aspublished. Second, the name of his elderson is Chetan, wrongly publishedas Cheta. Members are requested tomake the corrections in their respectivecopies of the Club Roster.At the lastmeeting(Held on June 18, 2013)ATTENDANCEMembers 89Visiting Rotarians 5Rotaryanns 3Total 97Svc. box collection Rs. 1,700June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 3

‘As in banking, there will be no loss of confidentialityif medical records are saved in electronic form’Continued from Page 2)What were the concerns about, andobjections to, adopting IT? The biggestfear was about loss of confidentiality.But if the widespread use of ITin banking had not raised concerns onthat issue, then ensuring the same levelof security for health records wouldnot be very difficult.A few other fears were attached tothat about loss of confidentiality. First,people did not want it to be known onrecord that they had a condition suchas HIV, diabetes, blood pressure ormental problems because that couldaffect their chances of promotion atwork.Second, they feared that if informationabout these conditions becameknown, then they would be embarrassedor shunned by their friends, relativesand associates. This informationcould also be a major drawback in custodybattles with estranged spouses.Third, insurance companies wouldimmediately raise their premia becauseof the risk of these conditions.“But all these things can be takencare of,” said Dr. Rohini.She said hospitals were worriedabout the initial cost of HIT being high;but if they looked at the overall andall-round savings, then the cost wasnot so high.Worries were also expressed aboutconnectivity, hardware and so on. Itwas felt that there would be a need toset up computers here, there and everywhere.But this was no longer amajor problem because of improvedconnectivity and cheaper hardware.“But the real crux is this – who willpay for the HIT? This is botheringhospitals, doctors and everybody else.But let us see who benefits from it.The patients benefit, the insurancepeople benefit, the hospitals benefit.So what is the hitch?”Turning to electronic healthrecords, Dr. Rohini pointed out thatthe same HIT could be used for telemedicine.Already, Time magazinehad given a name to tele-medicine,viz., “heal-wire”. And more andmore people were using IT for deliveringclinical care. But therewere two types of tele-medicine, realtime or video-conferencing, and thestore-and-forward kind.Real time was a difficult proposition.But it required hardware, software, thepresence of two doctors on the samelevel and in the same time zone. Moreover,when a video-conference wasover, there were no records.Under the circumstances, those usingthe web said that it was the bestway out because it didn’t require infrastructure.But that was not telemedicine.Increasingly, people were adoptingthe store-and-forward technology.Here, the patient didn’t have to goanywhere; his relatives gathered all theinformation and digitised it, whetherX-rays or angiograms. These digitisedfiles were then sent to experts, whetherin Japan or America; that person wouldsee it and also show it to other expertsand then collate the information andform an opinion.The advantage of this system wasthat it was cheaper, it didn’t requiremuch infrastructure and was quitequick.In India, most people rushed todoctors when they had a problem,nobody bothered about preventivemedicine. Information technologycould give a boost to preventivemedicine, too. If a man had a familyhistory of diabetes and if he kepttrack of his blood sugar levels, becausehe was collating his data, hecould note when his blood sugarwas going up and hence he couldtake steps to prevent the onset ofdiabetes. Thus, the cost to peoplewould go down if they detected diseasesearlier.What about rural health care facilities?Dr. Rohini said it was not possibleto build big hospitals in villagesbecause the population was dispersed.Besides, there were no facilities suchas cheap public transport for peopleto go to even the nearest hospital if itwas, say, five km. away.Optimum utilisation of rural hospitalswas made more difficult by thefact that few doctors were preparedto go there because (a) there was noincentive (b) there were few patientsand (c) poor infrastructure. In suchcircumstances, it was futile to expectdoctors to work wonders there. Butwith IT, those doctors could be betterequipped with proper guidance. Thiswould ensure “capacity-building” ofdoctors.The time had come for the Indiangovernment to make electronic medicalrecords compulsory at all governmentand private hospitals, at pathologicallaboratories and so on. Thiswould improve the outcome and reducethe cost.Even in a small country like Taiwan,when it was decided to give healthinsurance to all, electronic records wereprepared for each and every citizen.After that, a person could go to anydoctor in Taiwan and he would immediatelyget the person’s data and proceedwith treatment without duplicationof X-rays, tests and other investigations.The country was thus savinga lot of money.New private hospitals in India haddoctors who were often not up to themark. IT could be used to train themand to improve their abilities.Of course, everything would haveto be customised for India becausethere was no point in taking up theAmerican system and applying ithere.Dr. Rohini pointed out that the AgricultureMinister, Mr. Sharad Pawar,had set up two mobile vans that regularlywent to every mandi inMaharashtra State. Each van had softwarethat captured patients’ recordsand a staff member who did blood testsand X-rays. The information wasstored and the service offered for a mereRs. 50.Of course, Mr. Pawar was doing allthis mainly to get votes at the time ofelections, but this was another wayof improving health care in villages andfor what was called the “capacitybuilding”of doctors.In conclusion, she urged membersto opt for those doctors and hospitalsthat stored records in an electronic formator those who would store andupload the data on a website for easyaccess by the patients concerned.Answering questions posed byMudit Jain and PP Arun Sanghi, Dr.Rohini said that she was using indigenoussoftware to store records inan electronic format.Besides, she also had tie-ups withexperts from all over the world whowere sent data for diagnosis or prescription.In this way, the best andlatest medical research was madeavailable to Indian patients.So far as costs were concerned,the charge for data entry and storagefor one year was about Rs. 1,200and Rs. 10,000 for a lifetime. Therewas no limit on data size and storage,Dr. Rohini added.Many people in India were opt-ing for video-conferencing becausethey felt that it was the way forward.Well done, Rohini. President Nowroze compliments Dr. Rohini Chowgule at the end of her talk. At right, she is inconversation with new member Anup Agarwalla, who was formally inducted along with Manish Kejriwal at thebeginning of the meetingJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 4

Welcome, Ambassador. Ramesh Narayan, the brain behind the pioneering ‘Bhavishya-Yaan’ project, greets the chief guest, Mr. Julio Ribeiro.District Governor Dr. Bal Inamdar, President Nowroze Vazifdar and Hon. Secretary Sitaram Shah join Mr. Ribeiro and others after the release of themonograph on ‘Spirituality and Leadership Practices for the Common Man’MONOGRAPH ON SPIRITUALITY AND LEADERSHIPHon. Secretary Sitaram Shah, who was a key figure in the compilation of themonograph on 'Spirituality and Leadership Practices for the CommonMan', makes the welcome speech and explains some of the salient features ofthe publicationIn a project devised and conceivedby the Rotary Club of Bombay withthe assistance of District 3140, a monographon “Spirituality and LeadershipPractices for the Common Man” wasreleased by former Ambassador, formerPunjab Governor and Bombay’s ex-Commissioner of Police, Mr. JulioRibeiro, at a programme at the NehruCentre on June 14.Among those present on the occasionwere District Governor Dr. BalInamdar, PDG Ghulam Vahanvaty,President Nowroze Vazifdar, Hon.Secretary Sitaram Shah, RameshNarayan and others.The four organisations involved inthe preparation of the monograph wereR.I. District 3140, the Chinmaya Mission,Kaivalyadham (Lonavala) and theRotary Club of Bombay.The monograph contains 54 contributions(one of these by PresidentNowroze) and messages from theGovernor of Maharashtra, Mr. K.Shankaranarayanan, the Bombay UniversityVice-Chancellor, Mr. RajanWelukar, and the Vice-Chancellor ofSNDT Women’s University, Prof.Vasudha Kamat.The articles in the book describesome of the practices of national andinternational leaders. A few of themhave shared their spiritual and leadershipexperiences for the sake of thispublication.The monograph stresses the factthat spirituality and leadership are twosides of the same coin and that theyare strongly bonded by the edge providedby one’s evolving personality.It also points out that there is a continuousscaling up of an individual,from spiritual wealth to intellectualwealth, and from intellectual wealthto physical wealth (and not vice versa).Each article brings out a separateaspect of spirituality and leadershipand the reader will find many tips todevelop his multidimensional personalityto live in this vast world, wheregrowth and splendour is limitless.‘Spirituality and leadership are two sides of the same coin.’ President Nowroze Vazifdar, Club First Lady Niloufer (left) and Hon. Secretary Sitaram Shah chatwith a guest at the book release held at the Nehru Centre on June 14. Among those who can be identified in the photograph at right are Mr. Julio Ribeiro,PDG Ghulam Vahanvaty and Ramesh NarayanJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 5

Human beings can only bear so ment and hard work of our membersmuch of an adrenaline rush. As a in general.”body sprints ahead in a race and themind forces it to do even better than itis normally capable of, the heart beatsin giant thuds and the lungs cry out formore and more oxygen. Finally, whenthe tape at the finishing line is breasted,it takes a long time for all functions toreturn to normal. It’s not possible tojust switch off the adrenaline rush andsit down and savour an ice-cream.Those who have seen athletes covera distance of 100 metres in under 10seconds, will recall that even the slowestman does not stop at the finishingline – he goes on and on, sometimesfor another 100 metres, albeit at a reducedpace. At that stage, the body is“catching its breath”.And that is exactly what the RotaryClub of Bombay did in 2012-13.Sensing the overworked (not overwrought)condition of members whenhis predecessor Paul George handedover the baton to him, PresidentNowroze Vazifdar decided to let membersrelax a little bit before getting downto business and harnessing the unbelievableenergy of the members to continuetheir service activities.The year’s agenda was planned insuch a way that while both new andold service projects were pursued withthe same diligence as before, there wasan added incentive for members – theyrelaxed at Fellowship events, enjoyedthemselves as some outstanding oratorsaddressed the Club meetings and,above all, marvelled at a novel featurethought up by Nowroze.For the first time, the Club held notone stray meeting but three meetingsin the evening hours, away from theiconic Taj Mahal Hotel, with nospeaker but with lots of dance, music,victuals, snacks/dinner, camaraderieand fun and fellowship thrown in.These official evenings were hostedby eager hosts who invited all membersand their spouse to the programme.Kudos to Nowroze for thinking upthis brilliant idea and also to RaviSheth, PP Nandan Damani and PradeepMafatlal for opening their homes,their hearts and their purses for theseexciting evenings.But to begin at the beginning (of theyear), Nowroze stated in a note publishedin the first issue of The Gatewaythat the Club owed a debt of gratitudeto the Past Presidents who hadnot only worked tirelessly to achievegoals and to set new standards in service,but also carried themselves withdignity and determination to upholdthe values that the Club epitomised.“To do so over more than eight decadesspeaks volumes not only for thededication of these illustrious PastPresidents but also for the commit-The Club was blessed to have a richlegacy and an enviable reputation, notmerely at the District but also at theInternational level. “The work that ourPast Presidents together with theirteam and our members in general havedone over the years has brought laurelsto our Club in the form of fame,recognition and respect. Clearly, thereason that the Rotary Club of Bombayis held in high esteem in the Rotaryworld is not because of the net worthof its members, enviable as that maybe, or the wealth of resources and influenceat its command, but becauseeach member is committed to workfor the Club and the Rotary movement.”Urging members to carry that legacyof service further and to build uponthe solid foundation that had beengiven them, Nowroze stressed thatRotary had made him a better humanbeing and that working with the Office-Bearers,Directors and CommitteeChairpersons over the years hadshown him that one could do goodwork and still have fun.Nowroze conducted the first meetingwith aplomb and without recourseto slides, projectors, videos, DJs, RJsor MCs (he did not even carry a writtenspeech or notes on little slips ofpaper); he spoke extempore and hespoke straight from the heart. He mighthave made a few mildly critical observations,but he more than made up forit by being self-deprecatory.He said the Club could be legitimatelyproud of the magnificent workthat its doctors had been doing yearafter year in Talwada. But what aboutthe rest of the members, including himself?For how long would they continueto bask in the glory of a projectthat was more than thirty years old?Yes, there was Bhavishya-Yaan, anotherworthwhile project with tremendouspotential and one being emulatedby many Clubs in the District. Buteven that was five years old.“Perhaps it is time to have a landmarkproject of the Rotary Club ofBombay; something that socks thepublic in the eye and which says thatthis is the Rotary Club of Bombay.”He made a plea in The Gateway inOctober urging members to give theirsuggestions to enable the Club to makea positive difference so far as the treatmentof women by a callous societywas concerned. While agreeing thatending it was a formidable task thatwould take many years to accomplish,he suggested that it was time to takeup an activist role, given the resourcesat the Club’s command. He had constituteda pilot committee and requestedRamesh Narayan and NandanMaluste to do the initial spadeworkJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 6Aftersprintingtobreastthetape,theClubcatchesitsbreath,embarksonamarathon

for an ambitious project for women’sempowerment.Speaking at the meeting of November27, Nandan said discussions hadbeen held on a multi-generation projectfor women’s empowerment that couldchange the world for the better. But itwould have to be one that would beembraced by each member, by theirsuccessors and by other Rotary Clubsacross India and the world.Likely to be dubbed the “FemaleEmpowerment and Protection Project”or the “Female Project”, it wouldaddress the subject of crimes againstA few weeks later the Club was overwhelmedto learn from District 3140that IPP Paul George’s team had sweptthe District Awards, picking up notone or two but ten Trophies andShields for the outstanding performanceduring the year gone by. Paulhad worked with a dedicated team andunder the guidance of IPDG Vijay Jalanwho took inspiration from ImmediatePast R.I. President Kalyan Banerjee.Interestingly, the Awards were notfor routine activities but for BalancedProgramme, the Best Bulletin, BestCommunity Service, Most UnusualClearly, the Club members had notearned such acclaim and encomiumsby sitting back; they were out on thetracks, running at optimum speed,sprinting away, beating Usain Bolt athis game.And now a report on the actualwork done by and under the variousCommittees of the Club during the yeargone by, 2012-13.CLUB SERVICE– NEW MEMBERSDirectorNirav ShahMembershipOne flamboyant member helped inductanother one when PP Harry SinghArora introduced Mahesh Khubchandani,loaned the Classification“Stock and Commodity Broker”.As a youngster, Mahesh was amember of the Interact Club of CathedralSchool. His father was a Rotarian.A corporate member of the NationalStock Exchange, he shared his timebetween Bombay and London. He wasmarried to Natasha, a psychiatrist.Another duo to be inducted was thatof Rajesh Shah and Farhat Jamal.Rajesh was loaned the Classificationwomen – women, especially in India, Rotary Activity, Best Rotaract Activity,Outstanding RVC Activity, Best he Club had 330 members on July als” and Farhat “Hospitality”.PP Sandip Agarwalla “Marketing and Indenting of Miner-Twere disadvantaged from conceptionto post-funerary rights. Every Rotarian Performance in World Understanding 1, 2012, and ended the year with Even as a non-Rotarian, Rajesh hadwould see this as a crime against humanity,as a crime against biology andas a crime that Rotarians had to fight.The Rotary Club of Bombay wasworking on a plan to tackle this issueand every member could contributehis/her intellect, time and money to it.Returning to more mundane matters,at the 83rd Annual General Meetingheld on December 11, 2012,Shailesh Haribhakti was elected toserve as President in 2014-2015 andIndu Shahani to succeed him as Presidentin the Rotary year 2015-2016.and Peace, Best Projects with Partnersin Service, Promotion of Ethicsand The 4-Way Test in business andprofessions and so on. The Certificatesof Appreciation were for beingthe “Soul of Rotary” and for significantPublic Relations activity.Above all there was the “A1 Trophy”– the Bombay West Rotary ServiceWheel for “Outstanding Work inall 4 Avenues of Service”. Over andabove this, Paul also received the “SuperAchiever Club Award” on behalfof the Rotary Club of Bombay.334 on June 30, 2013. Seven membersresigned, were terminated or passedaway in the course of the year. Andeleven new members were inducted.To turn to the newcomers, it was adelight to watch two women membersbeing formally inducted at onemeeting. While actor Tara Deshpandewas loaned the Classification “Art:Writer/Actor”, Poornima Advani filledthe slot for “Law Practice: Corporate”.Tara is the daughter of Leela and thelate Ajit; the feisty Poornima is a formerChairperson of the National Commissionfor Women.Soon after, the ranks of HonoraryRotarians swelled with the inductionof the well-known industrialist, Mr.Rahul Bajaj. He was formally inductedat the meeting that coincided with theDistrict Governor’s Official Visit tothe Club.President Nowroze Vazifdar invitedthe District Governor, Dr. BalkrishnaInamdar, to formally induct Mr. Bajajand welcome him into the Rotary fraternity.Two newcomers, Ashok Gokal andManoj Murarka, were formally inductedat the meeting of February 26.Ashok was loaned the Classification“Trade Merchant” and Manoj “Finance”been associated with the Bhavishya-Yaan project for more than four yearsand now looked after the project atthe G.K. Municipal School.As for Farhat Jamal, he had been amember of the Club in the past, too.He had been with the Taj Group ofHotels for more than 30 years and atpresent was Area Manager (RegionalHead) of Shangri-La Hotels in India.He was a member of the Rotary Clubof Bombay between 2005 and 2007.Earlier, he was a member of the RotaryClub of Madras (1995 to 1998)and Bombay Hills South (1990 to1995).The next new member to be admittedduring the year, Anar Ashok Shah,was loaned the Classification “Consultant:Health and Fitness”. She wasin charge of the wellness centre at thePiramal Clinic at Lower Parel.The penultimate meeting saw twonew members being inducted.Anup Agarwalla was loaned theClassification “Mining: Coal”. ManishKejriwal, the son-in-law of Mr. RahulBajaj, filled the Classification “Finance:Investment”.Among those who passed away inthe course of the year were three venerablemembers, Dr. Fardoon Soonawalla,Honouring his predecessor. President Nowroze Vazifdar presents a silversalver to IPP Paul George at the first meeting for his excellent performance Securities”.Vice-President Shailesh Haribhaktisent a brief note to The Gateway inwhich he expressed the hope thatAshok, “along with his charming family,will bring sunshine to our Club”.President-Elect Nirav Shah said thatManoj ran Batlivala and Karani, a 140-year-old financial services company.Another new member, Peter Born,was loaned the Classification “Finance:International Banking”. Introducinghim to members, IPP PaulGeorge said that Peter’s engagementwith Rotary began in 1984 when hebecame a Rotaractor in Bavaria wherehe was studying. In 1992, he joinedthe Commerzbank, the second-largestbank in Germany with headquartersin Frankfurt. He was instrumental inPrabhakar Deshpande andKekoo Gandhy.Former member Viren Shah and thenonagenarian District patriarch PDGManibhai Doshi also breathed theirlast.Dr. Fardoon was 85 and had been amember for close to 30 years. His sons,Dr. Darious and Dr. Phiroze weremembers of the Club.Prabhakar was a member for longer,for 43 years to be precise. His son, thelate Ajit, was President in 1992/93 butpassed away in 1995. Prabhakar wasa consistent donor to the Club’s projectsand made regular corpus donationsto the Ajit Deshpande MedicalCentre established in his son’s memoryin Talwada.Interestingly, two from his familyWelcome to the Club. President Nowroze presents Rotary literature to new establishing the Rotary Club of Frankfurt-Staedelas a Charter member. Leela and daughter Tara.are members at present, Ajit’s spouseHonorary member, Mr. Rahul Bajaj, who was inducted by the GovernorJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 7

Soon after, the Club received informationthat the Queen of Englandhad granted an Honorary MBE(Member of the British Empire) toCamellia Panjabi for her services tothe hospitality industry.The Investiture Ceremony washeld on Friday, February 22, at theBritish High Commissioner’s residencein New Delhi.As for the magnanimity of individualmembers, the sky was apparentlythe limit. While three membersinvited the entire membership (withspouse in tow) to evening Fellowshipmeetings, several others pulledout their cheque books and wrote outbig sums for Club and Foundationactivities.With the seventh successive tranche,PP Arvind Jolly’s contributionto The Rotary Foundation EndowmentFund reached $175,000. He hadbeen giving $25,000 every year forthe last seven years.For his part, Pradeep Mafatlalmade it eight-in-a-row by once againmaking a generous donation of Rs. 10lakhs for the service projects of theClub.Perhaps motivated by Pradeep,Aliakbar Merchant followed in hisfootsteps. He quietly approached thePresident at the Christmas Fellowshipluncheon and asked which particularareas of service had a pressingneed for funds. When Nowroze mentionedhealth and education, Alithanked him and went home.Four days later, he sent two cheques,one for Rs. 5,00,000 from theJairazbhoy Peerbhoy Khoja Sanatoriumand another cheque for Rs.5,00,000 from the Noor Baug CharitableEstate.Thanking Arvind, Pradeep and Alifor their magnanimity, Nowroze requestedmembers not to “earmark”their donations for a particular purposeor project. He assured all of themthat the Club would deploy the fundswhere these were needed the most.President-Elect Nirav Shah startedthe year with a big-bang donation ofRs. 2 lakhs. While Rs. 1 lakh was tobe used for various Community Serviceprojects, the other Rs. 1 lakh wentto The Rotary Foundation.A few days later, he made anotherdonation, one that helped him becomea “Paul Harris Society Member”. Hemade a commitment to give $1,000every year to The Rotary Foundation.With this, Nirav became the secondmember of the Rotary Club ofBombay (and the 63rd in Rotary District3140) to make such a commitment.That Rotary is never far from theminds of Rotarians became evidentonce again when Preeti Mehta andStarting the innings with a six. Mr. Kishore Biyani, the man behind theFuture Group, was the first speaker of the yearThe Investiture Ceremony. Camellia Panjabi receives the Honorary MBE(Member of the British Empire) granted by the Queen of Englandher spouse Gautam, a member of theRotary Club of Bombay Central,went on a holiday to the Baltic countries.In the course of their holiday,the urge to attend a Rotary meetingtook them to the Vilniaus SenamiescioRotary Klubas, Vilnius (the RotaryClub of Vilnius Old Town, in short),in Lithuania.Preeti stated in a note to BulletinChairman PP Arun Sanghi that despitenot knowing the language, shewas extremely impressed with themanner in which the meeting was conducted.There were approximately 20Rotarians and two Rotaractors at themeeting. The Rotaractors were organisinga rubber duck race (yes, a rubberduck race!) as a fund-raising event.So she went out of her way to purchasea rubber duck (serial number281) as a token contribution to thedrive.The information that a very rarehonour had been conferred on TarjaniVakil delighted the members. She hadjoined an illustrious list of eminentIndians to serve as Adhishthata ofthe world-renowned BanasthaliVidyapith located just outside Jaipur.(According to its Vice-Chancellor,Banasthali was a registered societyand had been notified as a deemeduniversity by the Government of India.)Tarjani followed in the footstepsof such illustrious citizens of India asDr. Rajendra Prasad, Dr. Sampoornanand,Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Dr. (Ms)Mahadevi Verma, Mrs. Hansa Mehta,Mrs. Lakshmi N. Menon, Mr. S.Nijalingappa, Prof. Aloo J. Dastur andthe Hon. Rotarian Mr. KeshubMahindra.CLUB SERVICE– PROGRAMMES/MEETINGSDirectorFramroze MehtaAttendanceArvind AgarwalThe Committee computerised theattendance system to do awaywith manual signatures on attendanceregisters. All members were issued anRIFD identity card to swipe and marktheir attendance.The machines were connected tothe database in the Rotary officewhere the data was downloaded withouttime being wasted on a manualupdating of the database. This hadsaved time and money (because timetranslates to cost) of the Rotary Officestaff.Prabhakar’s contemporary, KekooGandhy, was 92 years old and hadalso been a member for 43 years. Hehad been decorated with the PadmaShri in 2008.The illustrious Viren Shah (86),former Member of Parliament, formerGovernor of West Bengal and formermember of the Club, passed away onMarch 9. Admitted on June 25, 1952,he remained a member till 2000. Onhis last appearance on August 30,2011, he was awarded the firstPravinchandra Gandhi Award for Excellencein Public Life. A contemporaryof “PV”, Mr. Shah was, like him,modest to a fault.PDG Manibhai Doshi, who was aregular visitor to the Club even at theage of 93, was a member of BombayEast but closely attached to the Club.He invariably attended the Tuesdaymeetings and took active part in thequestion-answer sessions and discussions.ClassificationsPP Dr. Adi DasturAn updated list of open and filledClassifications was prepared inAugust and circulated to members ofthe Membership and MembershipDevelopment Committees to enablethem to look for the most appropriatecandidates to fill the vacant Classifications.InformationPP Dr. Kekoo KavaranaThe Committee worked in conjunctionwith the Membership Committeeand shared information aboutRotary with all new and proposedmembers.It informed prospective membersabout their duties and responsibilities,placing special emphasis on theimportance of attendance requirements.Working in coordination with theMembership Committee, it workedbehind the scenes and helped iron outthe wrinkles as most prospective newmembers felt a bit nervous at theirentry into the world of Rotary.Membership Development &District ConferenceShailesh HaribhaktiSeveral members attended the R.I.District Conference at which theClub picked up ten Trophies andShields for its outstanding performanceunder IPP Paul George duringthe year gone by.Members’ achievementsduring the yearNowroze Vazifdar an-President nounced amidst much applausethat the President of India had conferredthe Padma awards to two memberson Republic Day, 2013. TheHonorary member, Mr. Adi Godrej,was awarded the Padma Bhushanand Sudha Motwane the Padma Shri.June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 8

“On a more selfish note,” saidArvind, “it has saved the time of mystaff who used to go to the RotaryOffice every week to update their database.Now the data comes from theRotary Office in the form of a softcopy which is udpated into our system.The make-up data is still manuallyupdated but efforts are on toeliminate even this in the comingyear.”At a Club meeting at which he introducedthe new system, Arvind saidthat the ID cards issued to membershad the unique Rotary Identificationnumber that was exclusive to everymember – not only at the Club levelbut also at the R.I level. This numberwould be useful even when memberswent abroad, especially in Clubs thathad already computerised their attendanceand other records.Arvind gave full credit to PresidentNowroze who initiated this innovationand without whose active guidanceand support the entire exercisewould have been futile.Mr. Eruch Irani and his team at theRotary office patiently vetted thesystem and were now using it successfully.In another initiative, memberspossible to trigger all-round prosperityby encouraging “consumption”.Introduced as the pioneer of the modernretail business in India and mentorto many entrepreneurs, he spokeon “Retail and beyond” and was heardin rapt attention by a full house in theBall Room.From the three-letter word “Buy”to the four-letter “Land” – “Get land,forget it and then sell it for windfallreturns at a huge profit!”Mr. Anuj Puri, Chairman andCountry Head of Jones Lang LaSalle(JLL), said that Mark Twain was onthe spot when he said “Invest in land,because we are not making any moreof it”. To prove his point, he claimedthat the medium-to-long-term returnfrom office premises was $1.2 forevery $1 invested and from residentialproperty a mere $1.1.But those who bought land, left itas it was and did nothing about it,made a lot of money when they soldit. A survey by JLL showed that landyielded a whopping $5.2 on every $1invested. The message was clear – getland, forget it, then sell it for a hugeprofit!He added with a straight face thatthose who worked hard for years creatingJust when the whole world wascelebrating the discovery of the elusiveHiggs boson, also described as“the God particle”, along came a researchscientist from the TIFR whohad worked at the one and only CERNlaboratory to say that he was willingto accept a wager on whether theHiggs had actually been found.Not merely that, the Professor saidat the end of his talk that he did notbelieve science would ever be able tounderstand the origin of the universe.With that, Prof. Spenta Wadia completeda stimulating oration on “TheHiggs” in the course of which hetraced man’s understanding of theuniverse and the efforts made to plugthe loopholes in knowledge.From the fundamentals of matterand the universe, members came downwith a thud when the very nextspeaker, Ms Brinda Somaya, architectand heritage conservationist, toldthem in no uncertain terms that theircity would never be free of slums.“Let’s be realistic. We’re not goingto be able to get rid of slums. Theonly thing we (the privileged people)can do is think about how to improvethem and learn how to live cheek byjowl with them.“Many rehabilitation projectshave been implemented but thenumber of slums is increasing atan even faster pace... We havereached a stage where probably 55to 60% of the city is now in unorganisedhousing, a more pleasantterm for slums,” she said.Ms Somaya added that the time hadcome for politicians and bureaucratsto understand that urban design andplanning were highly technical areasand they had to have the courage andability to appoint professionals; theirjob then would be only to get thingsexecuted. But the problem was thateverybody seemed to know everythingabout everything and hence nodecisions were taken by anybody.In an unintended irony, the verynext week saw one of the biggest realestate barons of India, Mr. NiranjanHiranandani, asserting that “Whetherit’s housing, re-housing, infrastructureor new concepts, moneywill follow innovative ideas whereverwe can create them, whether in governmentor in the private sector, whetheryou're putting up a hospital,building or industry. Money is available...good people are not. Leadershipis lacking”.would be given the option of going onthe net and entering make-up attendancedetails, thus avoiding the needto send to the Rotary office the makeupcards received during their visitsto other Clubs. The Committee wascollaborating with Mr. Viraf Hansotiaof Spenta Multimedia and wouldimplement this system from the newRotary year.As per his wont, Arvind once againfollowed the policy, “without cost tothe Rotary Club of Bombay”.Well done, Arvind!Programmesassets, whether office, commer-cial or residential properties, only lostmoney. But not those who boughtland.Out-of-the-box thinking couldhelp end corruption in the countrybut the process had to involve allsections of society, politicians, bureaucrats,civil society and ordinarycitizens. Just as records were meantto be broken, good ideas were meantto be copied. And ideas were aplenty,whether indigenous or from distantlands.However, according to Mr. S. ShankarMenon, a retired IAS officerPP Haresh JagtianiHaresh and Harish (Anil) made a and former Additional Chief Secretaryto the Government of Maha-perfect team as they set out tooffer members some delectable fareat the Tuesday meetings. They alwaysrashtra, the one essential ingredientin any effort to end corruption had toGermany and France are the original bad boys of the European Union.Thus spake the well-known economist, Dr. Ajit Ranadehad a standby speaker and keptthe President in the loop about theirchoice of speakers. They also invitedand welcomed suggestions frommembers for speakers.The duo could not have found abetter opening batsman than the toastof the retail world, Mr. KishoreBiyani, Founder and CEO of theFuture Group. He presented his readingof economics (and a very successfulone at that) when he urged peopleto “Buy, buy, buy! That’ll help thecountry grow... Consumption at theretail level will make us one of themost powerful economies in theworld”.A first-generation entrepreneurbe an inner desire to end it once andfor all.“Germany and France are the originalbad boys of the European Union,”according to one of India’s leadingeconomists, Dr. Ajit Ranade, ChiefEconomist with the Aditya BirlaGroup of Industries. Speaking on“Europe – crisis or not?” he said therewas indeed a crisis in Europe but neitherwould it lead to a break-up of theEuro Zone nor would it sink the Eurocurrency.However, the crisis would not endovernight. It would be a long-drawn,painful process with brinkmanshipon a daily basis. German ChancellorAngela Merkel would act tough andwho called himself a humble shopkeeper,he proclaimed that it was going to keep quiet either.First to speak on 'The Higgs' and then to receive the Sohrab Godrej Awardthe French and the Italians were not He came, he saw and he shone. Prof. Spenta Wadia visited the Club twice.June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 9

He recalled that the BJP-Shiv Senagovernment had built the Bombay-Pune Expressway and 35 flyovers overthe two highways leading to Bombayeven though it had no money. But itcreated the Maharashtra State RoadwaysDevelopment Corporation (MS-RDC), appointed an able IAS officer,Mr. R.C. Sinha, as MD and CEO andasked it to implement projects worthRs. 3,000 crores. But the bankers insistedthat the government would haveto put in some equity.How much did the governmentput in? A mere Rs. 5 crores! Withthat paltry equity, 15 years ago theMSRDC built the Bombay-PuneExpressway and 35 flyovers over thetwo Highways in Bombay.One baron was followed by another.The leading industrialist, Mr. RahulBajaj, who spoke after receiving theClub’s Pravinchandra V. Gandhi Awardfor Excellence in Public Life, said hegot very angry when he saw thingsgoing wrong in the country and whenthe poor and those with fixed incomes– those very people (the aam aadmior common man) to whom the governmenthad assured succour – werehit hard by inflation.“I believe the time has come forcities by enhancing ecological and economicsustainability.A young MP, Mr. Piyush Goyal,Treasurer of the main oppositionBharatiya Janata Party, raised severalpertinent issues. Did disruption ofParliamentary proceedings serve anypurpose? Did political parties receivedonations that were accounted for?Was the BJP stretching things by callingfor a nation-wide closure (bandh)?What was the inside story behindCoalgate, the newest scandal to hitIndia? Did India really need FDI (foreigndirect investment)?He made a valiant effort to addressmany such questions both in the courseof his talk as well as the brief question-answersession that followed.He also had to contend with a googlybowled by the irrepressible BurjorPoonawala who wondered whether itwould be better if the BJP remained inthe opposition permanently so that itcould keep on exposing the wrongdoingsof the Congress party. He tookit in his stride.Another young man, Mr. AshwinSanghi, claimed that as an author heheld the world record of 47 rejectionslips for his first book, The RozabalLine. In contrast, J.K. Rowling ofAnil Harish, who introduced him,put it more succinctly when he saidthat the individual ingredients in a salad“co-exist and add flavour to each otherso that the combination is better thanjust the individual parts”.What a paradox! In a country wherewater, sanitation, poor health, illiteracyand many chronic ills plagued a majorityof citizens, the market for luxurygoods was flourishing and growing at25% per annum. This was stated byMr. Vinod Gupta, Founder and CEOof “Luxurionworld.com”.He also quoted the Coco Chanel slogan,“Luxury is a necessity that beginswhen necessity ends”. Historyshowed that the consumption of luxuryitems actually commenced in Indiathanks to the royal patronage of rajas,maharajas, nizams, moguls and rajputs.They patronised manufacturers suchas Cartier and Louis Vuitton in London,Paris and Milan. Even today,many Indian families’ heirlooms borethe “Made in England” or “Made inFrance” tags.Several shocking facts about theestablishment’s attitude towardswomen came to the fore when threepersons campaigning for an end to violenceagainst women spoke on “Theglobal war on women”. They said thatone of the shocking statistics that hadbeen unearthed through the work ofLaadli, founded by Bobby Sista, wasthat Malabar Hill had one of the highestrates of female infanticide or foeticidein the country.The speakers were Ms MahabanooKotwal and her son Mr. KaizaadKotwal, both celebrated theatre andfilm personalities renowned for bringing“The Vagina Monologues” to thestage in India, and Dr. ArmidaFernandez, Professor of Neonatologyat the Sion Hospital and MedicalCollege who founded the “Sneha” shelterin Dharavi. They were introducedby Mudit Jain.“The soul is supreme – it designsthe human body and even chooses theparents,” this was a claim made by apast life regression therapist, Mr.Soketu Parikh.Mr. Parikh started by pointing outthat when one talked about life, onemeant three things, the body, the mindand the soul. Life was incompletewithout even one of these. But themost significant aspect of life was themind.When a soul took birth, it registeredits entire memory in the mind; but manybusinessmen to engage more activelyand more purposefully in public life (Iuse the term public life, not politics),to ensure both economic and socialdevelopment of our country.” Headded that “if, despite all our publicfollies”, the country continued to makeprogress, it was because “most of ourbusiness and society still walk at a differentrhythm than our governments”.A pleasant departure from slums,builders and barons was Ms RoshanCurmally, a soft-spoken teacher with65 years’ experience, who received theRotary Club of Bombay SomchandParikh Award for Best Teacher.She was scathing in her observationthat there were very few hands-onHarry Potter fame received 12 rejectionslips, Richard Bach who wrotethe classic Jonathan LivingstonSeagull 18, Stephen King 30 and Margaret“Gone With The Wind” Mitchell38.The rejections made him adopt thepseudonym Shawn Haigins and go forself-publication; but once he was ableto discard the anonymity of his nomde plume and regained his identity, hegot back his rather laconic, self-deprecatingwit; as proof of which he describedhimself as “a pot-belliedMarwari businessman”.Now a best-selling author whosethree works of fiction had clocked combinedsales of nearly half a million, Mr.mothers. “Why are your maids comingto collect your children” she demanded.Urbanisation was back in currencywhen a Bombay boy, Mr. ArishDastur, son of PP Dr. Adi and Dr.Nayna, working as Co-Team Leaderwith the World Bank, emphasised that“runaway urbanisation is an opportunityto avoid past mistakes”.The World Bank was supportingthe emerging “reorientation in developmentthinking” and attempting toguide developing countries to adoptEco2 practices for the benefit of citizens,he said. But what was Eco2? Itwas an acronym for “ecological citiesas economic cities” (with “Eco” occurringtwice, the choice of acronymcame quite easily).Sanghi is also the son of Rotarians PPMahendra and Manju Sanghi.The Consul-General of Singapore,Mr. Lin Chung Ying, gave an interestingtalk on “Multiculturalism: TheSingapore experience”, in the courseof which he showed that not only didhe know his country’s demographicprofile like the back of his hand, hewas also able to throw light on suchmundane things as why the Chinesepreferred red clothes over black orwhite; why Muslims prayed four timesa day; how Singapore handledproselytisers; were all Indians Tamilsand so on.In other words, he ended up servinga delectable, many layered “salad” thatoffered Singaporean multiculturalismas a delightful dish with each ingredientA son who works with the World Bank. Mr. Arish Dastur is flanked by hisfather, PP Dr. Adi (left) and President-Elect Nirav Shah after his talkdistinct and retaining its individu-Another son who spoke. Mr. Ashwin Sanghi, whose proud parents areIts objective was to bring greaterhuman and social well-being in these ality.PP Mahendra and Manju Sanghi, also addressed the ClubJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 10

new memories were thrust upon themind in the mother’s womb itself whichmade it difficult for one to rememberone’s past.Each human being was “nature’sgreatest miracle”, said the inspirationalspeaker, Mr. Azim Jamal, whilespeaking on “Business balance andbeyond”. He had written six books andwas promoting his seventh, Businessbalance and beyond, which capturedhis “Corporate Sufi” philosophy.He hailed from Tanzania in EastAfrica, his grandfather having migratedfrom India. At present he lived in Canadawith his Byculla-born wife andfamily.of Medicine at Harvard Medical Schoolat Brigham and the Women’s Hospitalthere, while speaking on an unusualtopic, “Be kind, unwind: Yoga forhealth, the scientific perspective”A wizened senior citizen, his whitebeard flying in the air, he launched alow-key pitch about the influence ofYoga, but by the time he completedhis talk he had picked momentum andclaimed it was time the worldrecognised the benefits of the 5,000-year-old Indian system of spiritualintervention and introduced it in primaryschools everywhere.This would not only save upcominggenerations from such modern-dayMr. Jamal offered food for thought ills as obesity, stress, anxiety and depression,it would also pave the wayThe UPA-II government has failed, declares Ms Aruna Roy after receivingwhen he said that even a penniless blindthe Club award. She is also a recipient of the Magsaysay Awardwoman of 90 could give something to for a better world in which suchothers, whether a smile, a prayer, goodwishes or forgiveness. A man with twohandicapped children said that the joythey brought him every single day waspriceless. Napoleon, on the other hand,had power, prestige and a beautifulwife, but before he died he said that hehad not known six happy days in hisentire life.Going back to governance, Mr. RaviNarain, Managing Director and CEOof the National Stock Exchange of IndiaLtd. and recipient of the RotaryClub of Bombay Ramkrishna BajajAward for Good Governance, said thatgood governance alone would helpcorporate India garner capital.lifestyle diseases would not extract aheavy price in terms of man-days lost,medical costs, hospital stay and so on.A hard-hitting presentation wasmade by the Magsaysay Award recipient,Ms Aruna Roy, about sixmonths before she resigned as a memberof the National Advisory Council(NAC). She confessed that the currentNAC had no mandate and hadnot achieved anything as yet.The first one was set up to monitorthe implementation of the NationalCommon Minimum programme of theUPA-I government. But the remit ofNAC-II, if any, was to see that thepromise of passing several importantHe admitted that governance was Bills, a commitment made in the The hep daughter of the hippie generation. Ms Pooja Bedi, daughter ofsomething the country had been strugglingwith over a long period of time. of the two Houses of the current Par-President’s address to the first sessionKabir and Protima, recalled her parents with prideCorporate India and the securitiesmarket (to which he belonged) wereno different. But if corporate India reallywanted to meet its ever-growingrequirement for capital for activitiessuch as building projects and businesses,then governance was of theutmost importance.That truth was stranger than fictionwas proved yet again when a recipientof a Rotary Award revealed how a detailedreport on her talk at the Club in2011 that was carried in The Gatewayhad led to many unknown peoplemailing cheques to her.Ms Safeena Husain, founder andExecutive Director of Educate Girls,an NGO, who spoke after receivingthe Rotary Club of Bombay AnitaParikh Award for Empowerment ofWomen, said people believed that shewas doing excellent work – after all,the Rotary Club of Bombay hadhosted her, hadn’t it?Not in their wildest dreams hadmembers of the Club imagined thatsuch a true story would be describedto them by one who had experiencedit at first hand.Little-known truths about the beneficialrole of Yoga were shared by Dr.Sat Bir Khalsa, Assistant Professorliament, was fulfilled.But “we have not been able to push(the Bills) through; the government hasdeveloped skills to stall all that goes toit from the NAC. We have met withbureaucratic resistance.”Returning to the crisis in Europe,two distinguished Germans assertedthat it would be overcome.They recalled that the internationalmedia had expended a lot of energyasking Eurozone countries to be alertand telling them that if the Euro didnot stabilise, then it would be better ifcountries such as Greece, Portugal,Italy and Spain left it. However, thelimit was reached when a legendaryinvestor, Mr. George Soros of theUSA, suggested that perhaps it wouldbe better if Germany itself left theEuropean Union.“This (I say this in my personalcapacity) is sheer rubbish,” exclaimedMr. Heiko Quast, the German Consul(Financial Sector) in Bombay.Joining him was Mr. Tomas Notheis,the Bundesbank Representativein Bombay. The two debunked all thedoomsday scenarios with regard toEurope and the Euro.The effervescent Ms Pooja Bedi,an offspring of the “Hippie” generation,was studying in the USA, hopingto fulfil her dream of a career onWall Street; she wanted to be one ofthe movers and shakers of the world.But she had to rush back home becauseher mother suddenly wanted toleave, to fulfil her dream of creating“Nrityagram” (a dance village).When she returned to Bombay, therewas no one at the airport or at home.When she protested that it wasn’t fairto be abandoned when she was just18, her mother said, “So what? I was16 when I ran away with your fatherto live with him. We were given twotoasts and two eggs by the landlady.You at least have a roof over your head.Just believe in the universe and, and...goodbye”.The young girl was left with a dog,a cook, (housing) society bills whichhad to be paid regularly and about Rs.20,000 in hand. Today, Ms Bedi is anactress, author, columnist and activistwith a desire to change lives.A lot of things happen at the age of18. From being abandoned to beingthreatened with a gun. The veteranactor, Mr. Vinod Khanna, a formerBJP MP and a Minister in the AtalBehari Vajpayee government, revealedthat his father had held a gun to hishead when he said that he wanted toact in films at the age of 18.Having received the Rotary Club ofBombay Shyam Munshi LifetimeAchievement Award for PerformingArts, he recalled that he had grown upin a normal family that had lived inPeshawar for about 15 generations.But just before partition the familyof Punjabi Pathans, a minority in thatpart of the world, moved to Bombay.His father was a businessman andwanted his son to continue the familybusiness.The youth received the best education,went to the best schools, completedhis Senior Cambridge and joinedSydenham College to study Commerce(he would have become a charteredaccountant.) But he was 18 yearsold when he was offered a film by thelegendary Sunil Dutt. “This is howdestiny takes you through life,” he said.Mr. Tarun Tahiliani, consideredto be the pioneer of the fashion revolutionin India, said that it was the endof socialism that had heralded the adventof the fashion industry in India.Till the early 1980s, Indians had tomake do with ordinary clothes, butonce the fetters of socialism were lifted,fashion blossomed as never before.June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 11

Today, at least one survey had reportedthat the fashion industry wasthe third most popular career choiceamong the youth.Real estate raised its beautiful/ugly(?) head once again with Mr. SatishMagar, CMD of the MagarpattaTownship Development and ConstructionCo. Ltd. He revealed that the9,000 apartments in Magarpatta City(on the outskirts of Pune) yielded zerogarbage; that every house had a solarwater-heating system; and that theCMD also acted as the “civic chief”.Manojj Patodia, who introducedhim, said that Mr. Magar was the brainbehind the project that involved the“This is a very special day for me.My younger brother is presiding overthe gathering at this illustrious Club.And my parents are here to see bothof us on the same stage. It’s a veryspecial moment for me because wewere born and brought up in a Rotaryspirit. My father used to be a Rotarian.”This was how Dr. Swati Piramalbegan her presentation on “Innovation”,speaking before an almost fullhouse after an affectionate introductionby PP Dr. Adi Dastur.Dr. Swati, the spouse of Mr. AjayPiramal, an Honorary member of theClub, sister of Nirav Shah and a formermember herself, gave a very interestingtalk in the context of the rejectionfamilies of 123 farmers (who were theDr. Swati Piramal addresses the issue of 'Innovation' following a Supremelandowners) and had got together as by the Supreme Court of India of aCourt ruling in a patent caseshareholders in a company that was patent appeal by a pharmaceuticalgiving them rich benefits.Wharton Business School had prepareda case study on Magarpatta forinclusive capitalism. A similar exercisehad been undertaken for the 9th WorldCongress of Metropolises in Sydney,Australia. Former President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam had lauded the project.Prof. Spenta Wadia, the “Higgs”man, was back, this time to receive theSohrab Godrej Award for Science andTechnology. In the course of a brieftalk, he requested the private sector tosupport research in basic science.Mr. Adi Godrej, an Honorary memberof the Club and nephew of the lateSohrab Godrej, and Mr. Nadir Godrej,multinational.Were mobile phones leading to deafness?No, that had not yet been proved,said Dr. Shaila Vora, audiologist andspeech and language therapist. Sheclaimed that the development andavailability of excellent hearing aidswere sounding the death-knell forschools for the deaf.Gone were the days when childrenborn with hearing problems had to goto special schools. Most of thoseschools were closing down because thetechnology employed in the new generationhearing aids was so sophisticatedthat children picked up soundslike normal children. If they were fittedwithin the first one to two years of More than cancer, it's the fear of cancer that kills. Dr. Rajendra Badwe,his brother, presented a silver salverand the citation to Dr. Spenta Wadia, life, they were able to go to regular Director of the Tata Memorial Centre, speaks at the ClubProfessor at the Tata Institute of Fundamentalschools and to speak normally.Research, Bombay, and Di-rector of the International Centre forTheoretical Sciences, Bangalore.Invited to introduce the award-winner,Mr. Nadir Godrej surprised membersby doing it in a poetic mannerbefore reading out the citation.Urging the authorities in Bombayto forget FSI and go for UDI (UrbanDesign Index) was an urban design expertfrom the US, Mr. MahenderVasandani, Director of M Square,who practised urban design in Chicagoand had been coming to India for someyears to look at the reconstruction,redevelopment and reformation of variouscities, especially Bombay. He hadbeen in touch with several leaders inan effort to improve the living conditionshere.If the UDI system was adopted, hesaid, the focus on FSI would be diffused.It would still be a part of thematrix to get plans approved, but therewould be a simultaneous emphasis onthe UDI. And that, to some extent,would help the people to give somethingback to the community. He wasspeaking on “Improving Mumbaithrough Urban Design” and was introducedby Moy Biswas, his classmateat IIT, Kharagpur.An example of thinking out of thebox was provided by the artiste andsatirist, Mr. Aabid Surti. Speakingafter receiving the Club’s Taru LalvaniAward for Environment Protection, hesaid his story was not one of goingfrom rags to riches, but from rags tohappiness.He grew up on the pavement. Thefamily lived in a chawl, a single roomfor a family of 15. There was no placeto sleep and no water and there was adaily fight for every bucket. He carriedthat memory with him. As he grewup, whenever he visited people, henoted that at least one tap in theirhome, in the kitchen, bathroom or toilet,was leaking.A newspaper report told him thatthe waste on account of one tap drippingwas colossal. So he decided to dosomething. He hired a plumber andstarted visiting people’s homes in distantMira Road and offering to repairtheir leaking taps for free. But he hadno money. When he received an awardand a cheque for Rs. 1 lakh, the moneyfinanced his crusade for a few years.And then some more money came in.And so his movement continued.Be afraid, very afraid, of diabetes,hypertension and high blood pressure,said India’s top cancer specialist, Dr.Rajendra Badwe, Director of the TataMemorial Centre. Decorated with thePadma Shri in January, he was speakingon “Prevention of cancer”. He wasintroduced by Zinia Lawyer.Dr. Badwe insisted that cancer wasnot as deadly as it was made out to be.In fact, diabetes, hypertension and highblood pressure were some of the greatestthreats to life, yet most peoplewere terrified by cancer even thoughnobody could say with any degree ofcertainty that it would lead to death.If people were careful about justthree things – infection, obesity andthe use of tobacco – they would doubletheir chances of surviving cancer in afew years (which was not the casewith diabetes, hypertension and highblood pressure which took a big toll inthe distant future).Dr. Sitesh Roy, who was voted oneof the best doctors in the USA for fouryears and who featured in the guide toAmerica’s top physicians every yearfrom 2005 to 2010, asserted that mostdiseases began in the gut because 90%of the human immune system lived inthe gut.An expert in allergies and asthma,he said India used to be very low in thelist of patients with such conditions.But in the last 20 years there had beena rising trend and now India had startedmirroring what was seen in the US,the UK, New Zealand, Australia andother countries 20 to 25 years ago.Younger children were going downwith problems, people without previoushistory were suddenly being laidlow with disease –all because of immuneimbalance, immune dis-regulationand loss of equilibrium. Whilesome blamed it on diet, others mentionedthe “westernisation” of lifestylesand diet; still others blamed iton stress. Global studies had shownthat these were indeed connected.Mr. Sabyasachi Mukherjee, theDirector-General of the ChhatrapatiShivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya(earlier known as the Prince of WalesMuseum of Western India), made ascholarly presentation and stated thata museum could easily be turned intoa cultural centre.But he added that the city’s museumwas now like an NGO; it neededmoney to maintain its Grade I heritagebuilding and to preserve over 60,000priceless artefacts.Interestingly, the 91-year-old museumwas set up under the Prince ofJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 12

Wales Act of 1909 as an autonomousbody to be run by an independent boardof trustees. The State gave it an annualThakore had introduced him by statingthat he was going to be “lovably,irreverently, intellectually interesting”.that a person could access it anywhereand at any time.Fellowshipbers bought their own victuals, washeld at the CCI, the third at the popularwatering hole, the “Tote” atgrant of the then princely sum of Rs. Although he indulged in a great dealPP Ashish VaidMahalaxmi, and the fourth once againT1.36 lakhs. However, nobody botheredabout inflation and the grant retion-answersession that followed he mittee this year was, “Party hard August saw ten Rotary families onof leg-pulling, in the course of the ques-he motto of the Fellowship Com-at the Willingdon Club on June 18.mained static at that level till it wascompletely withdrawn in 1998.“Loot and plunder is the order ofthe day, but where is your outrage?”demanded Ms Sucheta Dalal, theoriginal scam-buster, columnist andfinancial journalist who broke the storyof the Harshad Mehta, C.R. Bhansaliand other huge scams two decades ago.She urged members to speak outagainst the situation in the countrywhen probity had lost all meaning andwhere a scam a day was par for thecourse. The financial regulators wereeither sleeping at their job or winkingat wrong-doings under their noses; flyby-nightoperators were duping gulliblepeople of hundreds of crores ofrupees; ponzi schemes had acquired akind of halo and their promoters wereplaying with the life savings of lakhsof people.In the midst of all this, the mediaappeared to be complicit because itallowed its hallowed space to be filledwith dubious claims and did not bothercame across in a different avatar, as aserious person with unexpectedgravitas.When the applause at the end ofDolly’s introduction died down, hisfirst words were: “What a long roundof applause! Thank you so much.Don’t stop (continue), take your time!But first I would like to welcome arguablyIndia’s greatest fiction writersince Shobha De, Dolly Thakore! Idon’t know what she was talkingabout. They were all lies!”Addressing the burning topic of theday, viz., spot-fixing, match-fixing,bookies, players and the role of thelaw, PP Haresh Jagtiani insisted thatbetting was not a crime in India. Buthe wanted to know why the BCCIwas allowed to behave like a law untoitself.It was time someone challenged andoverturned one wrong judgment of theSupreme Court (in the case filed byZee TV against BCCI for rescindingits contract), because that would leadand donate generously”.Ashish and his team believed thatFellowship and Fund-Raising were thetwo pillars of the Club. It was throughFellowship initiatives that membersof the Club bonded and became onebig, happy family. Hence, it was incumbenton each and every Rotarianto participate actively in the variousFellowship events.This year, the Sports Committeewas subsumed with the FellowshipCommittee. Moy Biswas, the man incharge of sports, had planned golf,cricket and tennis events.Ashish said his Committee wouldorganise one Fellowship event everymonth. In fact, the year had startedwith a Fellowship under a new initiativecalled “Treat Yourself”. It was heldat the Willingdon Sports Club and wasa huge success. Forty members (includingspouses and families) got togetherin July and “virtually took overthe entire place”. The second in thisseries of Fellowships, in which mem-a memorable trip to the Taj HolidayVillage in Goa. Such was the bondingthroughout the trip that “they visitedevery one of the hot spots of Goa...PP Arjun Bulchandani and Ashok Jatiahit jackpots. They promised to donateall the winnings to the RotaryClub Bombay Charities Trust No. 3!”exclaimed Ashish.The Diwali Fellowship was held atBreach Candy Club on November 27.It was hosted by President Nowrozealong with Madhusudan Daga, ManojIsrani, Ashok Jatia, Jayesh Jhaveri,Manojj Patodia, Subhash Sagar, AlokSaxena, Aditya Somani and AshishVaid.December saw the Christmas luncheonat the Taj Mahal Hotel. Thisevent was sponsored by PresidentNowroze, Ashish, Sheila Bulchandani,IPP Paul George, Suresh Goklaney,Joseph Koshy, PP Gul Kripalani,George Mathew, Aliakbar Merchant,Sunny Pariyaram, Bernd Schneiderand Nirav Shah.about checking the antecedents of thosewhom it promoted, so long as themoney kept flowing in.It took a Bombayite, a former PoliticalDirector in the Executive Officeof the Secretary-General of the UnitedNations, to explain the intricate, highlynuanced workings of the world body.Mr. Kishore Mandhyan, whoworked over the last five years in theabove post, revealed all in the courseof an interesting talk on “The viewfrom the 38th floor of the United Nations:A day in the life of the UN Secretary-General”.PP Haresh Jagtiani revealed whileintroducing him that he had rubbedshoulders with several Heads of State,to revolutionary changes in the functioningof the all-powerful BCCI.While passing judgment in that case,the apex court had held that the BCCIwas a private body; it was not a “state”or an authority as contemplated underthe Constitution; therefore, its actionsdid not come under judicial scrutiny.Haresh was unsparing in his criticismof that judgment. “I think thatjudgment is wrong... The BCCI is apower centre. It controls the lives ofcricketers. There is a lot of public interestinvolved in the game of cricket,”he added.At the next meeting, Anil Harishdelivered a master class on the crucialbut neglected subject of “Wills” (as inincluding Barrack Obama, George W.Bush, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter andbequests). It was as if he was dictatinga chapter in a forthcoming book. HeWho says betting is a crime? It's not. But the bigger issue is that the BCCI isallowed to behave like a law unto itself. PP Haresh Jagtiani speaksmany others.He had lectured at Harvard Universityand at Boston College and hadreceived several accolades, includingLifetime Achievement Awards fromthe Tufts Global Institution and theUniversity of Bombay.In the course of his talk, he offered asnapshot of what occurred on the 38thfloor of the UN (where the offices ofthe Secretary-General were located),the context within which it occurred,the content of the occurrences andsome of the key challenges faced bythe office.One of the most irreverent peoplein the mass media, Mr. Cyrus Broacha,showed in the course of a talkpresented all aspects, including shortcomingsand pitfalls, and spoke withsuch erudition that members were leftmarvelling at his grasp of the subject.Departing from the norm, the reporton his talk was presented in theform of a chapter in a legal textbook,complete with crossheadings (butwithout annotations). He ended histalk by stating, “Making a will doesn’tmean you’re over the hill”.The speaker at the last meeting, heldon June 18, was Dr. Rohini Chowgulewho spoke on “Information andcommunication technology in healthcaredelivery”.This was an IT-based system thatshe had pioneered and helped develop.that there was a serious side to him. It was a unique software to store medicaldata electronically on the web soDeepak Kapadia and Arjun JollyCricket aficionados all. From left in this picture are Jaidev Merchant,This was in spite of the fact that DollyJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 13

Yet another traditional “Fellowship”was the colourful Holi eventorganised by Naresh Kumar Jain athis bungalow in Khar. A large numberof members and their spouse attendedthe colourful programme and enjoyedthe dance, music and snacks (especially“Dilli-chaat”) spread out by the hostfamily.In a programme decided upon suddenly,the Fellowship Committee encouragedmembers to visit the famousBombay Museum to witness a specially-arrangedshowing of “Mummy– an exhibition explaining the mysteriesof the Egyptian mummy”. Themummies and other artefacts were onloan from the British Museum.Three evening meetingsAshish had no hesitation whatsoeverin experimenting with thenovel concept of evening meetings suggestedby the President at the firstmeeting. Nowroze had said then thathe appreciated the fact that with moremembers having their workplacesaway from the vicinity of the Taj, itwas difficult for them to attend weeklymeetings in South Bombay on Tuesdayafternoons.For the convenience of such members,and to strengthen the bonds ofFellowship, he proposed that weeklymeeting be held in the evening on atleast three Tuesdays . Accordingly, thefirst meeting was held of December 4on the terrace of Ocean House in Worliand hosted by Ravi Sheth.Nowroze had stressed two pointsin relation to the evening meetings. Thefirst was that they would count as regularmeetings and members would gettheir attendance marked; and the secondthat, once the formal business ofthe meeting had been concluded,Rotarians and spouses would mingleover a “fun” evening to get to knoweach other better.These purposes were well servedat the very first meeting when theattendance exceeded the 150-mark.It was an evening of merriment andhosts Amita and Ravi Sheth pulledout all stops, with music, drinks anda sumptuous dinner. Everyoneagreed that the “evening meeting”was a good idea and should be repeatedfrequently.The second in the series of eveningmeetings was held on January 29, 2013,on the verdant lawns of “The Club”attached to the sprawling PlanetGodrej in Central Bombay. And likethe first one, this one, too, was a resoundingsuccess.There was a tremendous turnout ofmembers along with their spouse andall of them were full of praise for theexcellent implementation of the ideaand the delicious snacks, victuals andexcellent music organised by PPNandan and Shreelekha Damani.Finally, it was the turn of PradeepMafatlal. Going all out to make it anevening to remember, he and Divyaopened the doors to their palatial bungalowon March 5 and offered an unbelievabletreat to their guests.The guests were greeted personallyby the hosts and by PresidentNowroze as they entered and theircomfort was ensured in every possibleway. Music played discreetlyin one corner, while guests mingledon the spacious lawns, treatingthemselves to drinks and an endlesssupply and variety of cocktailsnacks. When the innumerablefood counters were thrown open,the members were amazed at thevariety of dishes on offer. There wassomething for every palate, howsoeverfinicky or fastidious.President Nowroze stated in a signedarticle in The Gateway that the“proof of the pudding lies in the factthat many members have been heardsaying that they solidly support theidea. Some even have gone to the extentof saying that all meetings shouldbe held in the evening!”SPORTSAdozen tennis aficionados welcomedthe day as it dawned overthe Willingdon Sports Club on a hazySunday in December to take part inthe Tennis Fellowship arranged by theindefatigable Moy Biswas, the de factochief of most sporting activities of theClub.President Nowroze, who was thenon-playing and non-interfering captainof the tennis team, cheered on theplayers; as did Rotaryann PervinJehangir who applauded PP Rumi’sground strokes.At the end of the strenuous seriesof sets, Nowroze presented everyplayer with a commemorative “Champion’sCup” designed by Moy. Andthen, in true Rotary spirit, the TennisFellowship ended with a hearty breakfastenjoyed by all.In another activity organised byMoy, Rohini Chowgule bagged the golftrophy a second time, but it was Fellowshipthat triumphed in the end.The annual golf tournament for thetrophy instituted by the Biswas familyin 2008 was held at the WillingdonSports Club. Six years on, the evergrowingpopularity and appeal of thetournament led to a roster of no lessthan 32 competitors.Exciting and electrifying as the tournamentwas, the Fellowship that followedwas equally engaging and exhilarating,what with the presence ofseveral stalwarts and family members.What was unique about the Fellowshipwas the presence of many pastand future leaders.Past Presidents Arvind Jolly andAjay Kanoria were out on the greens,but awaiting the outcome of the tournamentat the Cabbage Patch were PPsDr. Adi Dastur, Kalpana Munshi, Dr.Rumi Jehangir, Ashish Vaid and NandanDamani. Accompanying them wereIPP Paul George, President Nowrozeand Nirav Shah.Finally, cricket. And here the newswas quite shattering – a team comprisingyoung students of theBhavishya-Yaan defeated the RotaryPresident’s XI by 6 wickets and with3 overs to spare!The match was played at the P.J.Hindu Gymkhana situated along theiconic Marine Drive and was a tremendoussuccess, with several nonplayersand non-cricketers waking upearly on a relaxed Sunday morning toreach the venue.They enjoyed the game, watchingenthusiastic cricketers turn out inwhites to play the gentleman’s gameafter President Nowroze had been introducedto both teams.It was the combined effort of thetireless Moy, working in tandemwith PP Ashish and ManishReshamwala, under the overallguidance of President Nowroze,which ensured a good turnout anda successful event.Bulletin, Website & Public RelationsPP Arun SanghiThe Club’s official newsletter, TheGateway, continued to be publishedwith clockwork precision everyweek; and the website had far morehits than in the year gone by.Sergeant-at-ArmsRoda BillimoriaThe Committee did good work allthrough the year, attempting tomaintain discipline and decorum at theweekly meetings.But this was a particularly interestingyear as the role of the Committeewas altered. The President had suggesteda few changes. First, he wantedthe Sergeant-at-Arms to welcome theguest speaker and then escort him/herat the end of the meeting. Secondly, hesaid it was time for the Committee tostop minding the collection box, thusfreeing the members from their cashier-liketasks.Initially, there was some resistance,but gradually members adapted wellto the new system. As a result, theCommittee members had the opportunityto interact with speakers, withfellow members and also to sit backand hear the speaker, of course, afterensuring silence in the hall.Just how do they do it? Hosts Pradeep and Divya Mafatlal marvel at themoves of Malti Jain and PP Harry Singh AroraGo and play the game in the true spirit. When President Nowroze said thisto the young boys, he had no idea they would go on and beat the Rotarians!June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 14

COMMUNITY SERVICE– MEDICAL IDirectorDr. Percy ChibberChairman Emeritus, Talwadabeen described as the “Kohinoor”project of the Club. Not without reason,because it had already tended tohundreds of thousands of poor, indigentpatients trekking from long distances.Those people were sure theirPP Dr. Rahim MuljianiEarly on the morning of Sunday, eyes would be safe in the care of theFebruary 24, a fleet of cars headed noble doctors from Bombay who hadtowards Talwada, the tribal hamlet thathad been virtually adopted by theRotary Club of Bombay. This was theplace where the renowned HasanaliTobaccowala Eye Centre (HTEC), theAjit Deshpande Medical Centre(ADMC) and the Anusuya DeviTaparia Junior College stood.The convoy ferried Tara Deshpandeforegone a weekly holiday to traversethe long distance to their village.What the doctors offered was thekind of sophisticated ophthalmic carethat was only available (at very highprices) in Bombay.Repair, replacement and replenishmentwere a continuous process at theHTEC, with ageing equipment beingand Daniel; Chitra and Ashokkumar; replaced as and when the need arose;This is the O.T., the theatre of action. PP Dr. Rahim Muljiani describes theDolly Thakore; Arin and Percy Master;Pallavi Jha; Pervin Jehangir; Arti available; the latter was seldom a ma-the finances were found and madefacilities to members of the Club who visisted the HTEC at Talwadaand Dhananjaya Mehta; NatwarlalBrahmbhatt; Freyaz Shroff; Phirozaand Dr. Aashish Contractor (with theirdaughter Shanaya); Tarang and SorabhJain; Jayanti and Sandeep Dasgupta;Vatsala and Ashok Jatia; S.K. Mitra;Pranay Vakil; Mahakhurshid Byramjee;Dr. Vandana Bulchandani; Dr. MalaJagtiani; Dr. Sohrab Javeri; Dr. RajeevNarvekar; and Moy Biswas.Fellowship Chairman Ashish Vaid,President Nowroze and Peter Bornwere also in the convoy that wasjoined en-route by the Club’s Executivejor concern, thanks to the generosityand magnanimity of members.(An unusual feature of the HTEChad been the readiness with which evennon-Rotarians who had never heard ofTalwada promptly handed over contributionsto those from whom theyreceived information about the excellentwork being done there.)The HTEC was truly a labour oflove of Dr. Rahim and the apple of hiseye. (Please see Table for statistics ofthe work done during the year.)ADMC, TalwadaSecretary, Mr. Eruch Irani, and his Dr. Sorab JaveriLspouse.ater in the year, a small group ofWaiting for this enthusiastic band Rotarians once again visited theof early-risers were Dr. Rahim and Ajit Deshpande Medical Centre With the indefatigable Dr. Yadav who mans the ADMC. With him (centre)Chairman Dr. Rumi Jehangir who, aftera quick breakfast, took the visitors operations. It was led by President(ADMC) at Talwada to review its are President-Elect Nirav Shah and Chairman Dr. Sorab Javeriaround the facilities at the centre. Soon,the group moved to the Taparia JuniorCollege and took a quick round of thissimple but aesthetically-pleasingsingle-storey structure. The Principaland other staff of the college were athand to shower encomiums on theirstudents, proudly stating that the passpercentage was in the upper 90s.Then it was time to move to theADMC where President Nowroze wassubjected to the time-honoured traditionof being forced into the dentist’schair (despite his vociferous pleas thathe had undergone this torture severaltimes on earlier visits to Talwada),while “Dangerous Doctor” AshishVaid laid into his open mouth withvicious-looking instruments.Dr. Yadav, in charge of the ADMC(his counterpart at the HTEC beingDr. Deshpande) took everyonearound, showing them the various facilities.Rotarians and Rotaryannsquickly made friends with the manychildren who had come there to havevarious ailments attended to by Dr.Yadav and his team.Nowroze and included Nirav Shah, hisspouse Devina, ADMC Chairman Dr.Sorab Javeri and a duo from the OralHealth Committee, viz., Dr. RajeevNarvekar and Dr. Mala Jagtiani.Apart from going around the centreand interacting with some of the patientswho had come in for diagnosisand treatment, the team from the RotaryClub of Bombay also met theyoung members of the Rotaract Clubof Government Dental College whovisited the ADMC twice a month tooffer free services to the poor andneedy.The resident doctor at the ADMC,Dr. Yadav, showed the team aroundand explained the centre’s working.The team also visited the HasanaliTobaccowala Eye Centre where it metthe resident surgeon, Dr. Anil Deshpande.(Please see Table for statisticsof the work done during the year.)COMMUNITY SERVICE– MEDICAL IIDirectorDr. Vandana BulchandaniCancer Aidtreatment of cancer-affected persons,especially children. However, therewere a few gut-wrenching aspects totheir plight that not many people wereaware of.One was the fact that when a childwas diagnosed with cancer, the chancesof the parents taking him for the bestpossible treatment at the best possiblehospital were very high. But God forbid,if it was a girl child who was afflicted,then the chances of her receivingadequate medical care dropped precipitously.When members of the Cancer AidCommittee observed the pitiable conditionof the girl child diagnosed withcancer being virtually denied treatmentby her own parents, they felt a greatdeal of revulsion.On a previous visit to the TataMemorial Hospital when they offeredfinancial assistance to the parents ofcancer-affected children, they hadpleaded with the authorities to allowthe girl patients to survive (a plea bestmade to their parents).Perhaps the gods above heard thegroup of affected children. The sightof girls brought no morbid, perversedelight to them but a glimmer of hopethat perhaps the tide was beginning toturn.The second gut-wrenching aspectwas that the parents of cancer-affectedpatients spent almost their entire lifesavings in order to offer the best treatmentand to pay for the costly medicines.But did anybody know whathappened when the patient passedaway despite the best medical care?Often, the bereaved relatives were leftholding the body. Rendered almostpenniless, they could not meet eventhe funeral expenses.On learning of this during a visit in2011, Shernaz Vakil had spontaneouslyoffered a donation of Rs. 50,000to what the Tata Memorial authoritiescalled a “Bereavement” fund.In the course of this year’s visit, thegroup of Rotarians was surprised tolearn that that contribution had beenmuch appreciated. But the socialworker, Ms Shalini, added there wasalways a need for more money.HTEC, TalwadaZinia Lawyerprayer. As if in answer to that, when As if on cue, two members, KhurshedPoonawala and Hoshang Nazir,PP Dr. Rumi JehangirIScores of concerned, kind-hearted they visited the Tata Memorial Hospitalon September 13, they noted that immediately donated Rs. 25,000 eachn its 35th year, the Hasanali donors readily put their hands intoTobaccowala Eye Centre has often their pockets to offer funds for the there was more than one girl in the to the “Bereavement” fund.June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 15

The team of Rotarians visiting theTata Memorial Hospital was led byPresident Nowroze and consisted ofDirector Vandana Bulchandani, ChairpersonZinia Lawyer, Ritu Desai,Hoshang Nazir and KhurshedPoonawala.According to a report filed by Zinia,the team members were deeplytouched when they interacted with thebrave children and their stoic parents.Before leaving, they requested the hospitalauthorities to inform them whenevergirl children required assistance.Heart Care & HealthDr. Aashish ContractorThis Committee catered to peoplefrom both ends of society – theelite at the Taj Mahal Hotel and theresidents of slums in Cuffe Parade.Free blood pressure readings wereoffered to members at three Rotarymeetings. Rekha Tanna and FreyazShroff volunteered to assist ChairmanDr. Aashish in measuring BP with thehelp of automatic machines.According to Dr. Aashish, the responseto this drive had exceeded hisexpectations. However, most memberswere sceptical about the accuracy ofthe digital machines. To reassure them,he told them that several studies hadshown that “clinical grade digital machinesare as accurate as manual onesand that they are much more efficientin group settings”.The blood pressure of some of themembers was quite high. But the testscould serve as wake-up calls and remindersto go for regular check-upsbecause blood pressure was known tobe a silent killer and had no specificsymptoms.At the second drive to check members’blood pressure at the Taj, Dr.Aashish pointed out that blood pressurereadings fluctuated throughout theday and it was normal to have a highreading at one point and a normal oneat another. However, his advice to thosewith high readings was to get their BPchecked at least on another two occasionsand to remember that it could becontrolled.Making a new beginning in heartcare, Aashish organised an ambitiouscamp for the residents of Siva SastriNagar in Cuffe Parade. He told themthat heart disease was the leading causeof death among both men and women.However, such deaths were preventableif the causative factors were identifiedand treated at an early stage.Two hundred men and women turnedup for the camp and were screenedfor various cardiac risk factors (exceptlipid profile), including an electrocardiogram(ECG) where needed.All this was done in a systematic,disciplined manner in a matter of justfour hours. The camp was conductedwith the help of volunteers of the AsianHeart Institute, members of the RotaractClub of Hinduja College and collegestudents from the local community.Those who were examined werecounselled on the findings and giventips on how to reduce their cardiacrisk.The camp on December 16 was attendedby several members of the Clubled by President Nowroze. Amongthem was Ramesh Narayan whohelped coordinate the programme withthe local residents.A few days later, Aashish went backto Siva Sastri Nagar to see those whoneeded a follow-up. He attended to 22men and women who required followupmedicines and a few blood tests.He also got in touch with Dr.Shahbazkar, the owner of a pathologylaboratory in the area, to arrange a 30%discount on blood tests for the patientsseen by him. The pathologistwas chosen after ascertaining his professionalcompetence.An analysis of the data collected atthe heart check-up camp revealed that22% of the population had hypertensionand not just “borderline BP”.Further, 24% of them had high bloodsugar levels (above 140 mg/dl in thenon-fasting state).Concerned by these findings, Aashishsaid he would train members of thecommunity, including the children ofsome of the patients, to serve as healthresources so that the work initiatedby him would continue for many yearsand would not depend only on his visits.Following the successful conduct ofthe camp and the subsequent followup,he Aashish said that there was alarge healthcare gap in the communitythat needed to be filled.“I believe that Rotary in general (andthe Rotary Club of Bombay, in particular)are uniquely placed to help bridgethis gap. It’s probably time for thenext big Rotary healthcare initiative,especially with polio on its way out.“I know this may sound too ambitious,but if we can consistently dogood work in the slum area of CuffeParade, we can win the trust of thecommunity and look to implementother healthcare-related projects (includingsanitation), which could serveas a template for other urban slumpockets,” Dr. Aashish added.PolioPlus & Differently AbledShyyamniwas SomaniThe regular collaboration betweenRotarians and Lions continuedthis year, too, with the annual eventon October 2, when several operationsand corrective surgeries were performedon polio patients at St.Elizabeth’s Hospital.Several members, led by PresidentNowroze and Niloufer Vazifdar, werepresent They also went round thewards, meeting individual patients. Asusual, the Club offered a token contributionto the Lions to help defray partof the project cost. The Club also offeredcallipers to some needy patients.Among those who attended wereChairman Shyyamniwas, Ratan Tankha,Hon. Secretary Sitaram and PPKalpana Munshi. Shyyamniwas hadbeen associated with this project forseveral years and attended the poliosurgery programme every year. He alsohelped raise funds for the project.Differently abled children, particularlythe deaf, would be taught to lipreadand speak, and not use “sign” language,by the CSED (Central Societyfor the Education of the Deaf) withwhich the Club had earlier signed amemorandum of understanding.A landmark facility for early testingof newborn babies, christened the Rotary-BERA(Brainstem-Evoked ResponseAudiometry) project, was nowa part of the Central School for theDeaf at Agripda.Under the MOU, the Club contributedRs. 16.20 lakhs for the importand installation of sophisticatedequipment and Rs. 10,000 per monthtowards the running expenses of thecentre. President Nowroze led a teamfrom the Club to attend the inauguralfunction on March 4.According to Mr. J.R. Behlihomji,Hon. Treasurer, the CSED was recentlyrecognised and awarded a trophyfor being the best charitableorganisation by the Jamnalal BajajCouncil for Fair Business Practices.Some of the students trained byCSED had gone on to become civilengineers and computer and softwarespecialists, while others had made aActivities conducted at the HTEC, Talwada (2012-2013)Activity July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. April May June TotalOphthalmicOPD 1221 1257 1323 1289 1409 1506 1486 1443 1395 1179 1216 14724Spectaclesgiven 103 119 112 102 122 134 127 112 108 97 103 1239Operations 59 64 71 79 82 86 81 88 86 79 56 831Patients fortreatment 11 10 9 11 8 11 9 13 11 12 9 114Intra-ocularlens 52 51 59 57 68 62 59 64 62 64 44 642Yag laser 11 13 11 9 22 19 16 14 15 16 14 160K/plorta - - - - 1 - 2 1 - - - 4Green laser 2 1 1 - - - - 1 - - - 5June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 16

mark in the world of sports. The schoolhad 60 students on its rolls and providedits services totally free. CSEDwas the first school in India to beequipped with an early interventionunit and to use a multi-disciplinaryapproach. It also offered the servicesof an audiologist, a psychiatrist and aspecial educator under one roof.COMMUNITY SERVICE– NON-MEDICALDirectorSunny PariyaramRCCPresident Nowroze, Paul George,Nirav Shah and (then) Vice-PresidentRamesh Narayan attended a preliminarypartnership meeting with office-bearersof the Salvation Army,Western India, at the latter’s social centreat Agripada.The meeting was also attended byPP Kalpana Munshi, Sitaram Shah,Shyyamniwas Somani and NareshKumar Jain. Representing the SalvationArmy were Col. T. Vijaykumar;Lt. Col. B. Randive, the secretary forprogramme administration; Chief SecretaryLt. Colonel K.C. David; andMajor Sanjay Vanjare.After a brief introductory speechby Lt. Col. B. Randive, Col. T. Vijaykumarsaid that any partnership betweenthe Salvation Army and Rotarywould go a long way in the developmentof the community. Theunder-served would definitely benefitif these two internationalorganisations joined hands to undertakeprojects.Lt. Colonel K.C. David also welcomedthe proposed partnership andcomplimented members of the RotaryClub of Bombay for their zeal in ensuringthe development of the poorand underprivileged sections of society.Nowroze stated that the educationsector played a crucial role in communitydevelopment. Children could learnand develop skills only on the solidfoundation of a good education.Following the formal meeting, theSalvation Army undertook a notebookdistribution programme for the underprivilegedchildren of Agripada and theneighbouring community.The day’s engagements ended witha visit to the Salvation Army campushousing senior citizens. Accompanyingthem was an engineer who wouldprepare a report on how the centrecould be repaired and improved.Soon after that meeting, a munificentdonation was offered by PPMahendra Sanghi to help repair andrenovate the Salvation Army home forthe aged at Agripada. In the course ofthat visit, the Rotarians had noted withregret that it was not in good condition.The Club then decided to helprepair and renovate it.On learning about this, PP Mahendraoffered to bear the full cost of theproposed renovation. Accordingly, hemade a generous contribution of Rs.5.63 lakhs for the purpose.The renovated home was opened ata simple function by PresidentNowroze. Also present on the occasionwere Paul George, Nirav Shah,PP Ashish Vaid, Sitaram Shah, DirectorSunny Pariyaram, MadhusudanDaga and Ratan Tankha.A few weeks later, the RCC Committeeorganised a free eye check-upcamp at the Mumbai Port Trust Dockand General Employees’ Union,Kamgar Sadan, Mazgaon.PP Dr. Rumi Jehangir, an eminentophthalmic surgeon, spoke of the importanceof regular eye check-ups, especiallyfor those working in the shipbreakingindustry. He was thrilled withthe positive response of the community.He added that in case anyone requiredfurther treatment, he or shecould be treated free of cost at theRotary Club of Bombay’s sophisticatedHTEC eye centre at Talwada.A total of 136 people had their eyeschecked at the camp. Two cataractcases were detected and referred to thenearest municipal hospital at Mazgaon.President Nowroze, Hon. SecretarySitaram and PP Dr. RumiJehangir were felicitated. Also presentwere Joseph Koshy and Ratan Tankha.Three students from the MaharashtraInstitute of Labour Welfare andplaced at MbPT, helped the RCCmembers in organising the participantsand also helped make arrangements forlunch and other refreshments.Dr. Tejaswini Varale and Dr. MonalSainani led the team of doctors whocarried out the eye tests and consultations.They were assisted by Mr.Ashok Patel, Mr. Mukesh Kapadiaand Mr. Deepak Ashar. Mr. Jitubhai,the optician, took charge of providingspectacles to the needy.Also present at the camp was Dr.Shabana Shaikh, general practitioner,who came for consultation on otherhealth problems of the port workers.Old Age Homes/Senior CitizensNaresh Kumar JainThe young at heart Naresh KumarJain was quite busy all throughthe year, organising programmes forthe residents of homes for the agedwith the active assistance of the Club,his Committee members, severalRotaractors and many Interactors.The President led a team of Rotarians,including Sitaram Shah, Sunny,Naresh and Rotaryann Phiroza Contractorto celebrate Parsi New Year withresidents of the F.S. Parukh Dharamshallaat Old Khareghat Colony.They were joined by several membersof the Rotaract Club of College H.R.College who went on to present amusical programme to entertain thesenior citizens.Naresh offered shawls to all the residentsof the Dharamshalla. He wasjoined by Nowroze and Sunny whodraped shawls around the shouldersof the delighted recipients.The H.R. Rotaractors renderedsome old songs that reminded residentsof their youth. They played a game of“musical housie” with them but soonit was time to clear the floor and forthose keen to do so to take the floorand dance to their hearts’ content. Andhow they danced! All 50 residents hada great time.Two centenarian residents, one saidto be 100 and the other 104, also participatedin the programme and enjoyedthe music and games.Some weeks later, Nowroze, Sitaram,Sunny, Naresh and PP KalpanaMunshi visited the All Saints Homeat Mazgaon, said to be one of the oldesthomes for aged senior citizens inthe city. They were joined by Rotaractorsof H.R. and Jai Hind whohelped make arrangements for the eventand to ensure its successful conduct.Before long, the ageing walls of theAll Saints Home began reverberatingwith the sound of music and laughteras the seniors shed their worries andinhibitions for a few hours.The H.R. Rotaractors welcomed theteam of Rotarians and greeted the staffand residents of the home. A quick formalfunction had Nowroze greeting theresidents and wishing them good healthand happiness. He was followed byPP Kalpana who shared her experiencesand also rendered a few lines ofa song. Sitaram gave a brief speech andwished the residents good health.Activities conducted at the ADMC, Talwada (2012-2013)Activity July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. April May June TotalDentalclinic 72 83 112 102 - 101 82 82 85 93 67 879Pathologicaltests 94 83 67 78 79 100 88 88 109 84 58 928Paediatricclinic - - - - - - - - - 24 17 41Dispensary,OPD 2809 3002 3038 2019 1194 1513 1396 1446 1514 1322 1363 20616TB Patientstreated 31 34 32 35 3 25 27 24 27 31 24 323Skin Clinic - - - - - - - - - - - -June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 17

Formalities over, Sunny joinedNaresh, Nowroze, Sitaram and Kalpanain distributing shawls and polybags containing toiletries and items ofdaily use such as hair oil and soap.And then it was time for music, songand dance.Rotaract President Aditya Shah ofJai Hind College proposed a vote ofthanks to the Rotarians and the residentsconcern that the management showeredon them was the same. By takingup a rather simple job, that of repaintingthe beds used by the aged, the RotaryClub of Bombay might not havemade a drastic change in the living conditions;but it certainly did point tothe fact that every thoughtful act ofkindness made a big difference.Environmentof All Saints Home.Jagdish MalkaniJA similar programme was arranged agdish and his Committee gave fullat the Our Lady of Piety old age home assistance to the Bombay Naturalwhere the Rotarians interacted withthe residents and the staff and made aconcerted effort to spread cheer andgoodwillHistory Society (BNHS) as it organiseda poster competition in connectionwith the World Wetlands Day atits Conservation Education Centre inThe residents were presented with distant Goregaon.Ms Prema Jayakumar, the daughter of a rickshaw driver, stood first at thetoiletries and other items of daily use The event, held on February 2, wasall-India CA exams and received the Uma Jain awardby President Nowroze and Naresh. a resounding success. The setting wasShawls were draped around the shouldersof the senior citizens, thanks toNaresh.The next stop was the PallonjiShapoorji Home where Naresh andhis Committee organised a specialChristmas party. Members of theRotaract Club of H.R. College and theInteract Clubs of St. Anne’s Girls HighSchool and the Convent of Jesus andMary took active part in making theprogramme a rollicking success.President Nowroze, Ratan Tankha,Freyaz Shroff and Naresh also participatedin the revelry which lastedfrom 4 to 6 pm. When he was calledupon to address the gathering of about50 senior citizens, Nowroze wishedthem happiness and good health in theNew Year. Similar sentiments wereexpressed by Naresh who also blessedthe residents.Mrs. Cymbeline Pereira, the Club’sInteract Coordinator, spoke briefly andurged the children to be bold and braveand to take part in such programmes.Then the enthusiastic youngRotaractors and Interactors took over,making the seniors play games, singsongs and listen to Christmas carols.Here, too, Naresh distributed shawlsand “Santa caps”. The Christmasparty, coordinated by Preeti James,the social worker of the Club, endedwith the distribution of snacks, softdrinks and gifts.The Club revisited the ParukhDharamshalla a few months later, thistime for a different reason. During thefirst visit it had been observed that thefurniture was in a state of disrepair.Nowroze, Naresh and his team hadtaken on the responsibility of giving aface-lift to the beds by applying a freshcoat of paint.When the task was completed andthe verdant 10,000-square-foot BHNSCentre inside Film City on a 33-acreforest plot. What was even more gratifyingwas the turnout of children. Noless than 60 reached the rather remoteenvirons of the Film City. They representeda total of 15 schools from allover the city.The children worked thoughtfullyon their respective works from 9 inthe morning to 1.30 in the afternoon.While Dr. Rajeev Narvekar waspresent at the venue all morning,Jagdish was present for the rest of theevent which ended around 5 pm.Ms Chitra Vaidya, a well-knownlandscape painter, and Ms JyotsnaPathare, former Principal of the L.S.Raheja School of Art at Bandra, werethe two expert judges.The participating children, whowere provided snacks in the morning,were served meals in the afternoon (thesnacks and meals were sponsored bythe Rotary Club of Bombay).While the judges were assessing andjudging the posters that the childrenhad turned in, the latter were taken ona unique jungle trek by the BNHS staff.The prize-giving ceremony wasconducted in the CEC auditoriumwhen each participant received a certificatefrom BNHS. The winners receivedtheir prizes amidst loud applause.The judges were full of praise forthe high quality of the posters submittedby the children; the managementthen decided to display about 30of the posters at Sewri when the BNHSheld its annual “Flamingo Festival”which attracted hundreds of visitors.VOCATIONAL SERVICEDirectorShernaz VakilRotary & Public Awardsthe prestigious Rotary and PublicAwards of the Club.Pravinchandra Gandhi Award forExcellence in Public LifeHe had been honoured innumerabletimes and with several titles. But whenhe received this award, Mr. RahulBajaj, the leading industrialist, said hefelt both humbled and honoured becausehe was being recognised by andin the city in which he had grown up.There were two other reasons hefelt proud. First, the award was namedafter Pravinchandra Gandhi, doyen ofboth the banking and the newspaperindustries; and second, because thefirst recipient of the award was thevenerable Mr. Viren Shah who had beenlike a member of his family.Mr. Bajaj was introduced by ChairmanRam Gandhi (who had institutedthe award in memory of his father, PPlate Pravinchandra Gandhi) as one ofthe few who were an inspiration notonly for the younger generation butalso to his fellow industrialists. Suchwas his fame and renown that almosteveryone pointed to the manner inwhich he conducted his business asthe ideal to be followed by all.Somchand Parikh Award forBest TeacherA wizened old lady, frail yet combative,was the cynosure of all eyesas she received the Award for BestTeacher. But Ms Roshan Curmally,Principal (Emeritus) of the extraordinarypreparatory school calledWest Wind, was even more delighted.For, among those felicitating her weresome of her oldest students and atleast one of the youngest ones.She was surrounded by students andwell-wishers at the end of meeting.Among them was PP Nalin Parikh whohad instituted the award in memory ofyoung minds” over several generationsat the West Wind School.West Wind School was a co-operative,non-profit institution that accommodated70 children from the ages of3 to 5. But such was the stamp it lefton its students that it was often referredto as the “nursery to the moversand shakers of Bombay city”.Ramkrishna Bajaj Award forGood GovernanceWhen he received the award, Mr.Ravi Narain, the MD and CEO ofNSE, said it belonged to the institutionhe represented and not to him asan individual. Chairman Ram Gandhiread out the Citation that was presentedto him along with a commemorativesalver.Shailesh Haribhakti, who introducedhim to the members, said that Mr.Narain was an institution builder. Hewas part of the team that had foundedthe NSE, an institution of which Indiawas truly proud and which was nowranked among the top five exchangesof the world. He was also a member ofthe core team that did the initial workfor setting up India’s market regulator,the Securities and Exchange Board ofIndia (SEBI).Apart from NSE and SEBI, he hadalso helped build other institutionssuch as the National Securities DepositoryLtd. (NSDL), a depository of highrepute, the India Index Services andProducts Ltd. (IISL) and NSE InfotechServices Ltd.Anita Parikh Award forEmpowerment of WomenMs Safeena Husain, founder andExecutive Director of Educate Girls,an NGO, was delighted to receive theaward, adding that there were two specificthings that she had to mention.“I am very pleased to let you knowNowroze led the Club’s team to theRam Gandhihis father but whose family’s associationwith West Wind only started with ity stamp; I have received invitationsthat being invited here is like a credibil-Khome, the residents effusively thanked eeping up the good work that ithim for the gesture.did last year, the Committee did his daughter and grandchildren. to speak at other Rotary Clubs... because,The Dharamshalla had about 100beds for use by the residents. Theirnumber kept changing, but the care andwonderfully well this year, too, seekingout and zeroing in on the most appropriatepersons on whom to conferVocational Service Director ShernazVakil, who introduced Ms Curmally,said that she had “taught and inspiredthey said, ‘you have alreadybeen to the main Bombay Club’. Andthen, people have sent us cheques inJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 18

the mail. It has been simply incredible!We didn’t have to do anything,just the fact that I was here 18 monthsago... People called us at the office andsaid they had put a cheque in the mail.”And the second point? She had receiveda lovely watch at her last visitand had worn it every single day –“but I didn’t wear it today in case youwanted to slip me another one!” shesmiled.In the aftermath of the Gujaratearthquake in 2001, Mr. Khanna hadset up and run a relief camp atGandhidham, living all alone for threemonths. His camp was hailed for providingoutstanding relief to the quakehit,making available everything froma toothbrush to an ambulance.Uma Jain Award for YoungWoman AchieverMs Prema Jayakumar, aged 24, receivedend of the meeting at which he receivedthe award which carried a cash componentof Rs. 40,000.On the spontaneous initiative ofwhat was popularly known as the“Bawa table”, immediately supportedby a cross-section of members, anothersum of Rs. 50,000 was collected onthe spot and given to Mr. Surti.Vocational Training &Night Study Centreswith no place to study. But they workhard and study even in such conditions.”There were seven centres, the averagenumber of students at each, 400.Boys and girls from different classessat together to study in the same classroom.Night Study Centres were inoperation at Agripada, Saibaba Nagar,the Yusuf Meherali School, Kamathipuraand Sewri (at the last two, thethe award, instituted by NareshBimal Mehtachildren had to sit on the floor).Rotary Club of Bombay PublicTService AwardKumar Jain in memory of his spouse hey were probably the oldest – As for Vocational Training Centres,Ms Aruna Roy, co-founder of the and consisting of a Citation and a cash and biggest – projects being undertakenBimal said this was another flagshipMazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghathanalong with Mr. Nikhil Dey and Mr.Shankar Singh, was conferred theaward this year.Nandan Maluste, who introducedthem, noted that the trio was in theforefront of the movement that culminatedin the adoption of the Right toInformation Act passed in 2005. TheRTI Act was one of the most importantpublic events to have occurred inthe country in the last decade or more,he said.Ms Roy was virtually unknown inBombay in 2005. But now she wasone of the best-known Indians. Shehad been awarded the MagsaysayAward and featured regularly on the“lists” of the most influential peoplein the word.Mr. Nikhil Dey, on the other hand,was a lawyer who had drafted the RTIAct and other Bills which were stillawaiting clearance by Parliament. Mr.Shankar Singh was a theatre personwho specialised in people’s theatre andstreet plays. He had done this quiteeffectively while pushing for the passageof the RTI Act.Ms Roy said she was receiving theaward on behalf of the Mazdoor KisanShakti Sanghathan.Shyam Munshi LifetimeAchievement Awardfor Performing ArtsVeteran actor Vinod Khanna waspresented the award at a glittering ceremonythat also saw another awardaward of Rs. 40,000, at the same meetingas that at which Mr. Khanna wasfelicitated with a Lifetime Award.The young woman had stood firstin the all-India Chartered Accountancyexamination in the very first attemptand topped the all-India merit list.Ms Jayakumar’s achievement wasan amazing story of success in challengingcircumstances. Her father drovean autorickshaw to earn a livelihoodbut her parents had never allowedmoney to come in the way of theirchildren’s education. She had only onedesire now – to see that her parentslived a life of comfort (the proud parentswere present at the meeting).Sohrab Godrej Award forScience and TechnologyThe soft-spoken Prof. SpentaWadia, the “Higgs” man who had addressedthe Club on the subject inAugust 2012, was conferred the awardby Mr. Adi Godrej, an Honorary memberof the Club and nephew of the lateSohrab Godrej, and Mr. Nadir Godrej,his brother.Prof. Spenta Rustom Wadia (to givehis full name) was Professor at theTata Institute of Fundamental Research,Bombay, and Director of theInternational Centre for TheoreticalSciences, Bangalore.Invited to introduce the award-winner,Mr. Nadir Godrej surprised membersby doing it in a poetic mannerbefore reading the citation.Taru Lalvani Award forby the Rotary Club ofBombay, but they were also the mostlow-profile of all. This was the onlyway to sum up the activities of theCommittee for Vocational Training andNight Study Centres.As part of the new practice introducedby President Nowroze to requestDirectors and Chairpersons tomake presentations on the activitiesbeing conducted by them, Bimal Mehtaspoke at a regular Club meeting atwhich he described the working of theCommittee.He highlighted salient aspects of theprojects being implemented jointlywith the Bombay YMCA through anassociation that was 60 years old.However, “in terms of beneficiaries,it’s probably one of our largest, butmost low-profile, projects”.Vocational Training Centres functionedat Andheri and Nagpada; and aboys’ orphanage and a Night StudyCentre were being conducted from thesame premises at Andheri.The first Night Study Centre wasset up in 1964 when the late SohrabGodrej was the Club’s President. Nextyear (2014), the project would complete50 years of non-stop operation.“Our children ask for air conditionedrooms at home, with desks and so on,so that they can study. Little do theyknow that most of the city’s populationlives in homes that are probablyhalf the size (of their rooms) with atleast 15 people crammed in them andproject in association with the YMCA.The first one was established in 1991when Arvind Jolly was President.At these centres children receivedtraining in fashion designing, embroidery,basic and advanced tailoring, typing,computer operations, applyingmehendi, providing a beautician’s services,jewellery-making and so on.“The idea is to teach these youngboys and girls a vocation so that theycan go out and get a job in these trades(professions). They are given a certificateby the government of Maharashtraat the end of the course.”Most of the courses were conductedat the Nagpada centre. Lastyear, a total of 1,905 students attendedand benefited from this particularcentre.The second Centre at Andheri wasstarted by YMCA in 1996. But theClub entered into a partnership in 2006during the tenure of Harry Singh Arora.The DSP Meryl Lynch Group supportedthe centre, thanks to large donationsby his (Bimal’s) friend, Mr.Amit Chandra; his contribution wasmatched by the Club.Four government and five diplomacourses were offered to the 207 studentsat Andheri – in wiring, fashiondesigning, beauty treatment, mehendiand computer operations. Besides, anentrepreneurship programme taughtthem how to set up and run their ownbusiness; they were also given educationalguidance and attended seminars.being presented to a shy, unassuminggirl from a diametrically opposite strataof society (more about that later).Mr. Khanna, who confessed that hisfather had held a gun to his head whenhe had expressed a desire to become afilm actor at the age of 18, had acted inover 125 films and was the only filmstar who had forsaken fame and fortuneat the height of his success tofollow his guru (Bhagwan Rajneesh)to live in his ashram in the USA formany years.He was far more versatile in real life,said Ram Gandhi. A student of Indianclassical music, he had represented hiscollege in almost every sport; he wasan active supporter of the World WildlifeEnvironment ProtectionArtiste, satirist, painter, illustrator.Mr. Aabid Surti was all this and more.But the reason why he received theaward was the fact that he was a crusader.He had been waging a lonelywar to save every drop of water bygoing to people’s houses and helpingfix their leaking taps.He had been doing this for over sevenyears in the sprawling suburb of MiraRoad where he knocked on residents’doors every Sunday morning. He wasaccompanied by a plumber who carrieda bag of O-rings (gaskets or washers)and repaired the leaks. No wonderan award for environmental protectionwent to a satirist-cartoonist.Fund and Beauty Without Cru-A sum of Rs. 50,000 was raised and The 'Bawa table'. As Mr. Aabid Surti received the Award for Environmentalelty and a founder member of CRY. presented to Mr. Aabid Surti at the Protection, they quickly collected Rs. 50,000 and handed it over to himJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 19

The Boys’ Orphanage, also at theAndheri campus of the YMCA, wasstarted in 1964 and the Club began itsassociation with it in 2006.“We provide a home to 65 boys andlook after all their requirements, suchas boarding, four meals a day, tuitions,sports, clothing and schooling. Someof us (members) went there in Octoberlast year when we distributed toysand games to the children.”The children were thrilled to receivethe gifts and many of them had alreadystarted playing chess, table tennisand other games. They had alsostarted using the trampoline that waspresented to them.An “Olympic Gold Quest Programme”had also been launched at theAndheri centre where there were manytalented children interested in sports.games was unloaded and distributedby the ever-smiling Bimal Mehta.One of the suggestions in the formalspeeches by Rotarians and YMCAoffice-bearers was that Rotarians visitthe Boys’ Home regularly to interactwith the children. They could alsosponsor a meal (costing a little lessthan Rs. 4,000 per meal); celebrate theirchildren’s birthdays with the boys ofthe Home; donate used clothes andtoys; or sponsor Holi, Diwali, Christmasand other festive celebrations.One significant suggestion was thatRotarians could mentor some of thechildren of the Boys’ Home.INTERNATIONAL SERVICEDirectorAshok MinawalaRotary Foundation & MatchingGrantsguest Rajendra Saboo who gave an inspirationaland motivating speech onthe programmes and projects of TheRotary Foundation.The Seminar was hosted by theRotary Club of Bombay and co-hostedby the Rotary Clubs of Bombay Central,Mumbai Queen’s Necklace andBombay Seaface. The host Clubs wererepresented by President-Elect NiravShah, President Apurva Shah, PresidentRadhika Mehta and Gool Ghadiali,respectively.It was ably conducted by ConvenerIPP Paul George. District Chairmanfor Foundation Support PP SandipAgarwalla had meticulously plannedand executed the programme whichwas attended by a large number of pastand serving District Officers, PDGs,Rotarians and Rotaryanns from R.I.If any corporate offered to give onethirdof the total cost of a project, hisCommittee would raise the remainingtwo-thirds.The first project was being plannedin a village called Palasgaon nearChandrapur in district Amravati. It hada population of 3,000 and the projectwould cost about Rs. 3 crores. A toiletblock would be provided in each andevery household in the village and provisionmade for safe drinking waterround the year.As Sandip completed his presentation,Nirav presented him with acheque for Rs. 55,000, the equivalentof $1,000, for Rotary’s polio eradicationcampaign.R.I. President-Elect Ron Burton andhis spouse Jetta attended The RotaryFoundation Seminar organised by District3140 in Thane. It was attendedSome of them had been identified forPP Arvind JollyDistrict 3140.Dboxing and were being trained to enter istrict Governor Dr. Bal Inamdar At a regular Club meeting, PP Sandip by 525 Rotarians and 200 of themthe State and National-level competitionspresented Paul Harris Fellow pins Agarwalla revealed that when he committed to become Paul Harris Fellows.– and perhaps go on to the 2024Olympics Games. They had the aptitudeand the interest but required structuredtraining.President Nowroze appealed tomembers to visit the Night Study Centresand the Vocational Training Centresto encourage the children takingthe courses.A few weeks before he made hisand certificates to several members inthe course of his Official Visit to theClub.Among them were Ashok Chinai,Devendra Bharma, Dr. RamnathNayak, Homi Katgara, Sam Katgara,Pallavi Jha, Purnima Sheth, SamirMogul, Rotaryann Sheila Paul, SuhailNathani, Tara Deshpande, VandanShah and Vineet Bhatnagar.agreed to serve as Avenue Chairman ofThe Rotary Foundation SupportCommittee, he was not aware of even10% of the activities undertaken byThe Foundation.What he learned subsequently waseye-opening. And if a seasoned Rotarianlike him knew so little about TheFoundation, he felt obliged to sharehis experiences and some of the knowledgeThey were recognised by RonBurton.Among those present on the occasionwere R.I. Director Yash Pal Das,District Governor Dr. Bal Inamdar, R.I.Director-Elect P.T. Prabhakar, PRIDAshok Mahajan, the Mayor of Thaneand several members of the DistrictCollege of Governors.R.I. Programmes & Slumber Kithe had acquired with his fellow PP Rajnikant Reshamwalapresentation, Bimal arranged a visit to Shailesh Haribhakti was honouredWthe YMCA Boys’ Home at Andheri. with a Benefactor Certificate and pin. members. This was imperative also hen Slumber Kits were distributedby President Nowroze andThe team from the Rotary Club of Special Paul Harris Pins with five sapphiresbecause most Rotarians had contributedBombay, led by President Nowroze,was joined by Mr. Amit Chandra, theCEO of Bain Capital, who was accompaniedby his mother, on a specialinvitation to unveil two plaques.One of these stated that the Boys’Home was now jointly sponsored bythe Rotary Club of Bombay inmemory of Mr. Amit Chandra’s father,the late Ranbir Chandra. The secondcarried a similar message in relationto the Vocational Training Centrebeing conducted there.Mr. Chandra, in his personal capacity,had committed a sum of Rs. 51were announced for PP VithalPalekar, PP Dr. Rumi Jehangir andPradeep Mafatlal. A Paul Harris Pinwith eight sapphires was presented toPP Nandan Damani.Four members who had contributedUS $25,000 or more were alsorecognised. They were Meera Alreja,Nirav Shah, Trilochan Singh Sahneyand Rajas Doshi. Manoj Israni receiveda Certificate and a Crystal.In December, 2012, the Club hostedthe Rotary Foundation Seminar ofDistrict 3140 along with three otherClubs. It was held at “The Roof Top”to The Foundation but did notknow too much about its activities.He made an audio-visual presentationabout The Foundation that wasprepared with the help of RameshNarayan and Ali Merchant. Sandip alsoappealed to all Rotarians to supportthe two causes that the District-levelFoundation Committees were promoting,viz., polio; and safe drinking waterand sanitation. Projects under thesecond cause were being launched invillages in Maharashtra, but the planwas to make them replicable all overIndia.Hon. Secretary Sitaram to needy childrenat the Geeta Nagar slums atColaba on July 28, the smiles wereworth going miles to see. For a change,the kits carried the Four-Way Test inHindi. They consisted mainly of a tiffinbox, a compass box, water bottle,“satranji” or coarse sheet, a towel, abed sheet, four notebooks, a schoolbag, raincoat and school uniformThis year, the Slumber Kits werefinanced and distributed by R.I. District3140 with a substantial contributionfrom the Rotary Club of Bombay.Of course, the concept came originallylakhs spread over three years to assistin the functioning of both the Boys’Home as well as the Vocational TrainingCentre at Andheri. This amountwould be matched (to the extent of50% each) by the Rotary Club ofBombay and the YMCA authorities.The Centre offered courses in overhalf a dozen trades and professions to800 children from the neighbouringareas. Some of them travelled long distancesto attend the classes.A breath-taking display of gymnasticswas also put up by the children ofthe Boys’ Home. It was followed by acultural programme. After displayingtheir abilities, the children receivedsomething unexpected – just rewardsof the Trident Hotel and turned out tobe a grand affair. For the first time, theSeminar was converted into an exclusive,sit-down dinner event, with “TheRoof Top” providing the ideal ambienceand offering a panoramic view ofthe city’s skyline along the shimmeringwaterfront.Among those who made presentationson the occasion were Vice-PresidentShailesh Haribhakti; PP RajendraChhapwale who spoke on “What itfeels to be an Arch C. Klump SocietyMember”; District Governor Dr. BalkrishnaInamdar; and the guest ofhonour, Past R.I. Director and servingRotary Foundation Trustee AshokMahajan.for their endeavours. They whooped The icing on the cake was the presenceof Past R.I. President and chiefGeeta Nagar slum in Colaba, distributing Slumber KitsPresident Nowroze, Hon. Secretary Sitaram and Chairman Manish at thewith joy as a pile of toys and (board)June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 20

from Canada where one family hadtaken on the task of distributing kits.The total number given by that familyhad run into millions.Office-Bearers of both the GeetaNagar Rahivasi Sangh (residents’ association)and the local women’s associationhelped identify 50 needyboys and girls from the school-goingchildren of the area and also helpedmake arrangements for the programme.Manish Reshamwala stood in forhis father, PP Rajnikant Reshamwala,recognised as the “champion” in thefield of Slumber Kits, having overseenthe distribution of hundreds of thousandsof kits all over the District overBhavishya-Yaan project had helpedthem. The parent stated that now she,too, wanted to learn English becauseher son insisted that he would onlyspeak that language. As memberswould be aware, the academic partnerin the programme was the NGO Vidya.Several teachers of the Colaba MunicipalSchool were also felicitatedalong with the volunteers who hadworked hard all through the year toachieve 100% success at the SSC exam.Speaking at a weekly meeting of theClub, Chairman Manish said the Committeehad received approval for fournew Bhavishya-Yaan projects at differentmunicipal schools and that twothe last two decades.of these would start in the next year.With the 'Bigg Boss'. Colaba 'Bhavishya-Yaan' children went to LonavalaNEW GENERATIONS The cost to set up a centre was Rs.with Freyaz Shroff (left) to meet matinee idol Salman Khan– EDUCATION 10 lakhs and the running cost was Rs.DirectorMadhusudan DagaBhavishya-Yaan9 lakhs per year. Rotarians could beinvolved in these centres in their individualcapacities; while some couldallowed to get down to the task ofsketching, drawing or painting.They were asked to recollect theas India came alive with the sound andfury of firecrackers and was lit up withsparkling lights and radiant sparklersManish Reshamwala teach, others could volunteer health happiest moments of their lives and on Diwali, the boys and girls ofMr. V. Ranganathan, former MunicipalCommissioner and ex- tive services.moments on paper. What emerged at deep knowledge of different culturescheck-up camps or even administra-then make an attempt to transfer those Bhavishya-Yaan lit up their lives withChief Secretary of the Maharashtragovernment, said on record that he wasvery happy with the manner in whichthe Bhavishya-Yaan project had shapedup and lauded the Rotary Club ofBombay for the commendable initiativewhich had been replicated in sevenmunicipal schools.He was speaking at a simple butwell-attended programme on July 9when underprivileged students of theBhavishya-Yaan project being conductedat the Colaba Municipal Schoolwere felicitated for their performanceat the SSC examinations.The guest of honour was actressKajal Agarwal who played the femalelead in the film Singham. She wasgreeted with a roar when she made herappearance. Like a concerned eldermember of the family, she told the studentsthat “education is the most importantthing”. Every person, boy orgirl, had a right to follow their heartand their passion, but they wouldachieve very little if they did not buildtheir dreams on the foundation of agood education, she added.Mr. Ranganathan and Ms Agarwaltook turns along with Nowroze andothers in distributing awards to the topscorers. Interestingly, all 44 studentsof the Colaba Bhavishya-Yaan projecthad passed the SSC exam, thus givinga perfect score of 100%. Fourteen hadscored more than 75% marks and fiveover 80%. One of the students scored82% in English; truly an achievementfor the programme.Ms Anjan Malkani, the sponsorof the Colaba Bhavishya-Yaan project,was also present on the occasionto greet the children and presenteddictionaries to them.Two of the students and the parentof one spoke briefly about how theHe recalled that the project tookwing under the stewardship of RameshNarayan in 2009 and had grown tothree schools in a short period of threeyears.It was a skills-enhancement program-meand the aim was to teach computerskills, spoken English, life-skillsand so on free of cost to underprivilegedchildren in municipal schools toensure that they did not drop out andthat they completed their education.Students were chosen on the basisof interviews, monitored and mentoredthrough five years, with the emphasisduring the last year on passing theboard exams and pursuing higher education.Seventeen students had been sponsoredby Club members for their highereducation after they passed their SSCexaminations.“We have noted that the studentsknow very little apart from theirhomes and schools. They are notaware of their surroundings, the placesof interest in the city and so on. Todeal with this, we have decided to havepicnics and outings with them. Theyhave had ‘high tea’ at the office of theSheriff of Bombay, have seen theshooting of television reality showsand watched a live cricket match at theBrabourne Stadium,” Manish added.Rotaryann Aparna Venkat, coordinatorof the Bhavishya-Yaan projectat the N.M. Joshi Marg MunicipalSchool, organised a two-day workshopwhich involved sessions in lateralthinking, creative (essay) writing andthe fine arts of drawing, sketching,painting and so on.The eager participants were studentsof Std. VII and VIII. Interestingly,they were first imparted lessonsin creative writing before they werethe end of the exercise was a set ofbeautiful paintings, some of them inthe shape of greetings cards for Diwaliand the festive season.Many of these pretty works wereon display at the meeting of the RotaryClub of Bombay at the Taj MahalHotel on November 6. Members weresurprised by the artistic excellenceevident in some of the paintings andwondered how such young mindscould come up with such profoundworks. There were eager buyers forsome of the greeting cards on display.At the end of the meeting, PresidentNowroze complimented the youngartists and presented mementoes tothem. They were escorted by Aparna.The Art and Creative thinking workshopwas designed to introduce thechildren of municipal schools participatingin the Bhavishya-Yaan projectto various professions related to creativityand the fine arts, including theatre,journalism, creative writing, productdesigning, architecture and advertising.The programme for the workshopwas designed by Priyasri Patodia underthe guidance of the doyen of theart world, Mr. Akbar Padamsee.Later that month, the students ofsix municipal schools where theBhavishya-Yaan project was beingimplemented displayed their talent andabilities when they participated in atwelve-day-long “Diwali Dhamaka”camp. It culminated in a cracker of aprogramme on December 1 at whichstudents of each of the six schools werecalled upon to represent a country oftheir choice and to present various facetsof its culture, traditions, cuisine,dance forms and so on.In other words, the Bhavishya-Yaanstudents “travelled” far and wide. And,and styles of celebration.From festivals of light to harvestcelebrations, from divine births togrand street carnivals, the studentslearned about different festivals acrossthe globe. Each school having been assigneda country, that particular countrywas researched for its festivals andtheir significance. The students alsogot a peek into that country’s history,geography, prominent personalities,food, culture and traditions.The highlight of the camp was thateach school was trained by Nrityanjaliin an authentic folk dance of that country.The colourful costumes for thedance performance on the final daywere created by the students themselvesunder the guidance of Nrityanjaliteachers.The “Diwali Dhamaka” camp endedin a dance extravaganza at which allthe schools gave an outstanding performanceat the N.M. Joshi MargSchool auditorium, complete with costumes,makeup et al. They also exhibitedthe arts and crafts of those countries.The audience, which includedPresident Nowroze, was left spellboundand fascinated by the effortsand enthusiasm of the city’s youth.A visit to Nehru Planetarium andexperiencing the festival of GuruNanak Jayanti with a typical langarwere among the other activities thattook place. Vidya, the NGO associatedwith Bhavishya-Yaan from thebeginning, was involved in theorganisation of the camp.Here is the complete list of the participatingschools and the countrieschosen by them:Banganga: Sri Lanka; Byculla:Japan; Colaba: Greece; N.M. JoshiMarg: Africa; Vile Parle: Spain; andWorli: Brazil.June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 21

In December, Ms Pushpa, the VidyaCoordinator at the Colaba Bhavishya-Yaan School, and Freyaz Shroff, theRotary Club of Bombay’s Coordinatorfor the same school, took a groupof seven boys from Std. IX to visit the“Manoranjan Mela” at Charni Road,the annual event sponsored by theRotaract Club of H.R. College.This annual programme was arrangedfor the benefit of mentally andphysically challenged children from thelower income families. The childrenhad a rollicking time once they reachedthe venue where several games, rides,amusements and snacks and other facilitieswere available.ism which organised every aspect ofthe visit.The children were accompanied byFreyaz; Ms Tasneem, the Englishteacher from the NGO Vidya; MsYogeeta, a representative of BollywoodTourism; and Ms Pooja from the Colors’Marketing team.According to Freyaz, the childrenwere treated like celebrities all the way.Once they boarded the bus, they wereoffered breakfast, snacks, juices andpopular music for non-stop entertainment.They played “Antakshari” andother games which helped reduce thedistance between Bombay and Lonavalato what seemed a few minutes.Normally, about 700 to 800 people One of the games they played for'Bhavishya-Yaan' children from the G.K. Marg Municipal School had aturned up for the “Manoranjan Mela”, the first time was called “I Spy withgreat time at the Bombay Museum. Rajesh Shah escorted themwith almost all children accompanied my Little Eye” with the focus on keeneither by their parents, teachers orschool staff. The boys accompanyingFreyaz and Ms Pushpa were assignedvolunteer duties at some of the boothsat the venue.The lesson they took away fromthis assignment was that it didn’t matterwhether one was well off or not, itwas always possible to grab the opportunityto give back something tosociety and to others.Hesitant at first, the boys seemedto prefer to enjoy the games, rides andamusements on offer. But soon theygot into their respective roles at thebooths assigned to them and startedinteracting with less privileged andchallenged children.When it was time for them to leave,they were reluctant to go, requestingthat they be allowed to spend somemore time at the booths so that theycould interact with the children enjoyingthe “Manoranjan Mela”.Freyaz acquitted herself admirablywell, shepherding the boys of theBhavishya-Yaan and opening their eyesto some of the realities of life.But Freyaz was not done yet. Soonafter this programme, she escorted 18students of Std. VIII and IX from theColaba Municipal School to enjoy arare privilege – to get themselves photographedwith Salman Khan, one ofobservation, thinking, spelling andother skills. The children had great funplaying this game.At the studio in Lonavala they wereasked to occupy the first rows so thatthey could get a really close look at themanner in which the shooting tookplace. Salman Khan, the show’s host,was expected to arrive very shortly.But imagine the children’s surprisewhen they saw Kareena Kapoor walkinto the studio. As one of the organisersput it, it was indeed the children’slucky day that Kareena was shootingfor the same serial at Lonavala. Shewaved to the children and said hellobefore going backstage to prepare forthe shooting.Once the day’s schedule wasthrough, the children were taken on aguided tour of the production departments.They saw hundreds of camerasset up all over the Bigg Boss premisesto keep an eye on every actionand movement of the participants.They saw how the voice-overs werecaptured and how two hours’ shootingwas edited into a one-hour episodefit for broadcasting.After being treated to lunch, the childrengot an opportunity to sit in thehigh chair normally occupied by theBigg Boss and to have themselvesphotographed. The all-too-brief photopresentations in class in an effort “tomarry enjoyment with education”.If the children from Colaba werebusy at Lonavala, those from the G.K.Marg Municipal School had an equallydelightful time when they visitedBombay’s favourite tourist spot, theChhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj VastuSangrahalaya (CSMVS), earlier calledthe Prince of Wales Museum of WesternIndia.The children were delighted to notethat the museum provided an “audiotour” in six languages to its visitors. Aheadphone symbol at the foot of someimages indicated that the artefact waspart of the “audio tour”.Finally, thanks to the good officesof PP Gul Kripalani and PrafullaMogre, a Belgian gentleman who manufacturedfood products offered severaljars of chocolate spread to the RotaryClub of Bombay.President Nowroze felt that thesewere best distributed in the municipalschools where about 500 children wereenrolled under the Club’s Bhavishya-Yaan programme; and so the jars weregiven to over 200 children. Amongthose present at the distribution wereNowroze, Manish, Prafulla andRajesh Shah, the Club Coordinator atthe G.K. Marg Municipal School.Scholarships & LoansThe Committee for PolioPlus andfor the Differently Abled headed byShyyamniwas Somani had then contributedRs. 50,000; thanks to this,the Club would be able to provide agrant to all the 95 blind applicants.The budget for loans, on the otherhand, was Rs. 11 lakhs for which theClub had tied up with the Union Bankof India to devise a scheme under whichthe Club could sanction a maximumloan amount of Rs. 50,000 per candidate.The loan would be for a period oftwo years at a concessional rate of interestof 4% per year. However, if theloan was guaranteed by a Rotarian, thenthe interest rate would come down toa paltry 2% per year.“We have already circulated thisscheme to a few Vocational Trainingcentres and an appeal has appeared inThe Gateway. You are requested toforward the applications that maycome your way,” Manojj added.The Committee had decided to offerfinancial assistance to needy studentsbased solely on their merit. Ithad set out a few simple requirementsfor the grant of scholarships.First, the Merit-cum-Means Scholarshipswould be available to juniorcollege and graduate degree studentsonly. Second, these would be grantedthe leading stars of Bollywood. Not session with Salman Khan would probablyremain etched in their minds for aking a brief presentation at a merit. Third, the minimum percentageManojj Kumar Patodia to needy students based entirely onMonly that, they also had the opportunityto see another leading star, Kareena the rest of their lives.Club meeting, Manojj explained required for eligibility at the SSC examinationKapoor, who waved and said hello tothem.No, it was not that these stars travelledto Colaba to interact with thechildren. It was the other way round.Thanks to the good offices of RameshNarayan, the children were taken ona guided trip to the sets of a populartelevision reality show called BiggBoss which had been erected atLonavala.Ramesh received unstinted supportfrom Mr. Raj Nayak, the CEO of Colorstelevision channel which hostedthe show, and from Bollywood Tour-As the day came to an end and itwas time to leave for Bombay, the representativesof Colors and BollywoodTourism presented every child withan individually framed photograph ofthem seated on the Bigg Boss chair.The ride back home was equallymemorable, what with music blaringand the more enterprising taking to the(bus) floor to display their dance movements.Once home, they could not hidetheir excitement at having enjoyed aunique experience.In the days since the trip, they wroteessays about their experience and madethe working of his Committee. He saidthe Committee was formed after mergingthe Committees for Merit-cum-Means Scholarships and Rotary SurakshaLoans.The new Committee was workingto disburse grants totalling Rs. 5 lakhsand loans up to Rs. 11 lakhs this year.As far as the grants were concerned,the Club had received 296 applicationswhich had been evaluated and grantstotalling Rs. 5.5 lakhs would be disbursedto 210 underprivileged and deservingchildren. Of the 210 chosen,95 were blind students.would be 75. Fourth, thefamily income of the student could notexceed Rs. 2 lakh per annum.It was clarified that the scholarshipwould be given only for college tuitionfees and/or examination fees and booksand not for extra coaching classes orother purposes. All applicants wouldhave to declare any scholarships thatthey had received from any othersource.It would be mandatory for the studentsto submit duly certified true copiesof certificates, testimonials and salaryproof of their family members.June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 22

Apart from the above, the Committeealso tied up with Union Bank ofIndia for “Rotary loans” to be disbursedby the Bank to needy students wishingto undertake a Vocational TrainingCourse to enhance their career prospects.Among the courses would bethose for operating computers orlearning trades such as electricians,plumbers, machine lathe operators andso on.Application forms were made availableat the Rotary office and memberswanting to help needy and deservingstudents were requested to contactAshok Jatia.The Rotary Club of Bombaychanged his lifeMr. Shanmugam completed his engineeringfrom one of the leadingcolleges of Bombay and was employedby a leading MNC, which hecalled “one of the finest organisationsin the world”, and earned a salary ofover Rs. 13 lakhs per annum.And all this was thanks to the RotaryClub of Bombay and its Scholarshipsand Loans programme.A decade back, when he passed hisH.S.C. exam with 95.33% marks inphysics, chemistry and maths (thebasic requirement for getting into apremier engineering college), he obtainedadmission in more than one engineeringcollege. But, he had no moneyto pay the fees.That was when the Rotary Club ofBombay’s Scholarships and Loansprogramme came to his rescue. Somebodyput him in touch with JosephKoshy who was a member of theCommittee at that time. Seeing the keenenthusiasm of the youngster, Josephinquired about his background. Thestory that emerged left him totally astounded.The young man hailed from a familyin which no one had ever receivedformal education. He never got anyacademic or career advice from any ofhis family members. His father hadpassed away when he was just five.The responsibility of supporting thefamily fell on his mother’s shoulders.The family had a small shop which itrented out to ensure a regular income.But the rent was paltry. So both hismother and his grandmother took tomaking idlis and selling them from outsidetheir home.The young Shanmugam managed toget a part-time job which helped himpay for his high school education.Then he passed his H.S.C. with 95.33%marks.A Rotary service camp near ShivajiNagar in the Chembur-Mankhurd area,where he lived, put him in touch withJoseph Koshy. The young man unburdenedhimself. Joseph immediatelygot into the act and motivated theyoungster to apply for a Rotary loan.To cut a long story short, Shanmugamreceived a scholarship in just afew days and went on to obtain hisengineering degree and land a well-payingjob with an MNC. One of the firstthings he did after he started earningwas to repay the loan that Rotary hadgiven him to complete his studies.Today, he was a very happy man,but not happier than Joseph Koshyand other members of the Rotary Clubof Bombay.Management StudiesPoonam KumarThe Narsee Monjee Institute ofManagement Studies, representedby Suprav Sarang, Prakash Nishtalaand Gurupdesh Singh, made an outstandingpresentation on “India’s SkillDevelopment Challenge: Devising aPPP Model” to win the fifth annualRotary Club of Bombay and MegaAce Consultancy Rolling TrophyCompetition for Management Studies.A cash award of Rs. 25,000, a certificateand the rolling trophy wereawarded at the competition held in theWalchand Hirachand Hall of the IndianMerchants’ Chamber.The programme was designed, organisedand managed by Mega AceConsultancy under Chairperson PoonamKumar. The members of the jurywere PP Pradeep Saxena, Roda Billimoria,Tarjani Vakil and Poonam herself.While the Sydenham Institute ofManagement Studies won the secondprize, the third went to the Institutefor Technology and Management.The annual programme, called “NextGeneration Business Leaders: AnnualRolling Trophy Competition”, waslaunched by Mega Ace Consultancyalong with the Rotary Club of Bombayin 2008. It had received overwhelmingresponse from various B-Schools inthe Bombay and Pune regions.The competition aimed at providingexposure and enhancing the skillsof management students, providingthem with practical and theoreticalknowledge and experience of businessthinking and processes. It intended toinstil confidence among students toface modern-day corporate realities andto imbibe decision-making processes.A formal awards presentation ceremonytook place at one of the regularmeetings of the Club, when PresidentNowroze and Poonam presented thetrophies.NEW GENERATIONS– YOUTHDirectorArjun JollyInteractMeera Alrejabeginning of the new RotarySchool was scheduled to hold its installationmeeting in the school premiseson July 20. Three days later, onJuly 23, not one but half a dozen InteractClubs were slated to see theirnew teams being installed.Stealing a march, the Rotaract Clubof Jai Hind College organised aprogramme styled “The Revival” atwhich the installation ceremony forsix different Interact Clubs was held atone go at Bharda New High School.Not only was the new Interact teamof that school installed, but those fromfive other schools were also given theirrespective charges. These were:Alexandra Girls’ High School, YoungLadies’ High School, H.P. ThackerseySchool, St. Mary’s School and St.Anne’s School, Dabul.The idea behind “The Revival” wasto get schools together to create a senseof bonding between them, to motivatethem to be active throughout the yearand to take up as many joint projectsas possible emphasising CommunityService.President Nowroze, accompaniedby Sitaram, Interact Chair Meera Alrejaand Rotaract Chair Ravi Fotedar attendedthe programme. Also presentwas a team from District 3140 consistingof the Chairpersons for Interactand Alumni Relations, viz., TvishaLuthria, Aditya Garg, Kinjal Sanchaniaand Farida Officewala.Earlier, on July 15 the Rotaractorshad arranged a training session“Udaan” to inspire and motivate studentsto become successful leaders.Here is a round-up of some of theactivities of the Interact Clubs sponsoredby the Rotary Club of Bombay.Gopi Birla Memorial SchoolTwo days. Two venues. Twentyfour events. Three thousand studentsfrom twenty three schools. Andthe prize? A much-coveted trophy –the We Are The World trophyawarded at the conclusion of the 12thannual inter-school international culturalextravaganza.Organised by the Rotaract Club ofH.R. College on October 6 and 7, thetrophy was bagged by a jubilant InteractClub of Gopi Birla MemorialSchool. The runners-up wereChristchurch School and the DhirubhaiAmbani International School.We Are The World has now becomea fiercely-contested annual contestwith an international theme andstudents from schools all over the cityshowcase their talent in the performingarts, the fine arts, literature andother events. They are allowed tochoose a country in advance and makepresentations after a thorough studyof that particular country. The themefor this year was the Olympic Games.The Rotaract Club of H.R. Collegehas been hosting the event for twelveyears as a “legacy” event. Althoughthe office-bearers change every year,the template has been so well-etchedthat successive Presidents and Chairpersonshave to only concentrate onfine-tuning things in keeping with thechanging times.(It would be interesting to see a studentfrom one of the participatingschools one day becoming an officebearerof the Rotaract Club of H.R.College and organising the event!)A total of 3,000 students took partin this year’s extravaganza; but theRotaractors insisted that the totalnumber of “footfalls” exceeded 4,000.The event reached over 39,000 peoplethrough Facebook in just one week.The investiture ceremony of theInteract Club of Gopi Birla MemorialSchool was attended by several membersof the Rotary Club of Bombay.The Interactors started by encouragingthe use of carpools, particularly onthe school’s open day when parentsand children drove up and caused hugetraffic jams. This was an environmentally-friendlyinitiative of the Club.The Rotaract Club of H.R. Collegearranged a symposium for Interactorsat which they described their aims andexplained their functioning.The year saw the Interactors immediatelygetting down to business. The They never shirk their responsibilities. The Interactors of Gopi Birla SchoolInteract Club of Gopi Birla Memorial line up outside their school, spreading the message of Road SafetyJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 23

Later in the year, the Interactors ofGopi Birla Memorial School were eagerparticipants in the “Road Safety”campaign organised by ChairmanDeepak Kapadia with the active supportof the city’s traffic police. TheInteractors stood on the road outsidetheir school holding aloft placards urgingsafe driving.Recognising the fact that negligibleuse of helmets and seatbelts was oneof the biggest causes of the high rate offatalities in road accidents in India(which had, unfortunately, overtakenChina in this respect), the Interactorsurged those on two-wheelers to usehelmets and those in cars to fastenseatbelts.The students, along with their Moderator,were extremely polite as theyurged their fellow citizens to followthe “Road Safety” rules.Scholar High SchoolFirst off, the Interactors arranged anewspaper drive. The old paperscollected were used for making paperbags and other utility items. Next, therewas a drive to collect used plasticbottles that went into making pen holdersand flower pots so that some greenerywas on display.The children also participated in anexhibition to highlight environmentalconcerns, the harmful effects of smokingand wastage of resources. In aninteresting departure, some charts andposters focused on the spreading corruptionall around.On Independence Day, the Interactorswent to the King George V infirmarywhere they spent qualitytime with the aged and forgotten residents,entertaining them with songsand dances. They also spent some timewith the children at a home for blindchildren.Sneh Kothari reported that the membersof the Interact Club of ScholarHigh School took part in “Vogue”, apopular programme of the RotaractClub of H.R. College. They also participatedin the “Word War” of theRotaract Club of Jai Hind College.Cathedral and John ConnonInteractors went out of the waythe mentally challenged. An umbrellapainting competition was organised forthe mentally challenged students ofSavera.The Moderator, Mrs. Balaji, andInteract President Roshan Unvalaearned laurels for their projects for theless privileged.Holy Name High SchoolAlthough Bombay had some greencover, it was a fact that the numberof plant species was fast declining.At a seminar on biodiversity organisedby the Interact Club of Holy NameHigh School, Fr. Savio drew attentionto this fact and shared informationabout wall gardens, terrace gardens andthe conversion of dumping groundsinto green, verdant spreads.The enthusiastic students formedgroups to take care of various greenspaces in and around the school, thusmaking a commitment to preservegreenery starting with their immediateenvironment.St. Anne’s Girls High School,DabulInteractors organised a greet-The ing card competition before Teachers’Day. They chose the best andpresented them to the teachers.On World Elders’ Day, they invitedthe grandparents of two students fromeach class from Standards V to X andfelicitated them, presenting them withflowers and gifts and arranging an entertainmentprogramme. In turn, thegrandparents shared some of their experiences.The enjoyable evening endedwith snacks.A total of 25 grandparents turnedup for the event and were felicitatedby Principal S.R. Romana and others.Anjuman-I-Islam Allana EnglishHigh SchoolThe Interact Club of this school, locatedat Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus,organised a debate competitionfor all school students. Two of thesubjects on which the students had tospeak were “Passing students up tothe Eighth Standard” and “Empoweringgoodness”. For the final round, thetopic was even weightier, viz., “Academicperformance is the best performancefor success in life”.According to the Interact Club’sModerator, Ms Tabassum FatmaRizvi, the idea behind the competitionwas to bring the students’ potential tothe fore and to provide them with aplatform to freely express their pointof view. Viewed from this perspective,the competition was a success asit brought out the students’ talent andabilities.A few weeks later, taking off fromthe discussion and debate on “Empoweringgoodness”, Interact PresidentAafaan Qureshi and his teamorganised a seminar, skit and quiz conteston the subject which also sawparticipation by a large number ofInteractors and other students of theschool.Young Ladies High SchoolSoon after the installation ceremonyorganised at Bharda High School,the Interactors, led by PresidentAyesha Fakkiahmeda and guided byModerator Ms Tazin Thakur, tookactive part in various Community Serviceactivities.First, they planted saplings in theschool compound and then took partin one of the campaigns of the RotaractClub of Jai Hind College.In September, they lent a helpinghand to the Rotaract Club of Jai HindCollege and its month-long initiative,“Silent Saturday”. They joined theRotaractors to form a human chain atMarine Drive to spread awarenessabout global warming. And then in thecleanliness drive at Marine Drive.In November, the Interactors did“shram daan” by taking up the task ofcleaning the school premises, includingthe classrooms, the corridors andthe library.And in February they went to Goregaonfor the World Wetland Day postercompetition organised by the BombayNatural History Society in collaborationwith the Environment Committeeof the Rotary Club of Bombay.Convent of Jesus and MaryInteract Club geared itself upThis long before the beginning of theRotary year to execute a series ofprojects. No wonder the very first reportfrom the Club (sent in the secondhalf of August), described nearly half adozen activities.Functioning under the expert guidanceof Principal Sister Arina Ghosal,the Club had the untiring Ms SamikshaMundhe as its Moderator and MsCymbeline Pereira overseeing it as Coordinator.While Naqia Mahimwala served asPresident for 2012-13, Ayushi Chotaiwas the Secretary, Yashvi Bothra Treasurerand Drashti Zaveri Director.One of the first activities was theinauguration of a Science Club for Std.VII. It was given the responsibility ofpreparing one or more projects thatwould explain some of the wonders ofnature, such as (a) how was the watercycle formed? (b) why was sea watersalty? (c) how much water did a humanbody require? (d) the “god” particle,and (e) the big bang theory.This was followed by the inaugurationof an Eco-Club for students ofStd. VIII. Principal Arina was presentand administered an oath to the membersto keep the environment clean.Beautifully designed badges were presentedto all the members.Ms Selzana and Ms Vanita werenamed the teachers to oversee the Eco-Club. Muskaan Maru was electedPresident and Aeiron and KassandraTreasurers.Next on the list of activities was thepopular newspaper drive conductedat the beginning of every year. Oldnewspapers, magazines, used plasticbottles and other articles were collectedby all the students and sold to the localscrap and newspaper merchants.The money collected was kept asideand used to celebrate “Helpers’ Day”.Naqia Mahimwala presented theschool’s annual report at the “AnnualDay” conducted under the guidance ofPrincipal Arina for the students ofStandards Sixth to Tenth. The chiefguests were Mr. and Mrs. Menezeswhose daughter used to be the HeadGirl of the school.Sister Arina and Mrs. Menezes presentedawards to the students who hadscored the highest marks, those withdistinction, the highest marks in valueeducation, good conduct and so on.A former President of the InteractClub scored 90% in the SSC exam.Another Interactor, Trusha Doshi, hada high 98.36% in the same exam.In another initiative, the students ofStd. X utilised their “Social service”period to teach children of StandardsFirst to Fourth who were weak in theirThe to raise money for various charitiesand individuals through differentactivities. They enthusiastically participatedin a bake sale, getting homebakeddelights and selling them to raisemoney, and collecting toys and donatingthem to the underprivileged.Apart from interacting with studentsof the Kamala Mehta School for theBlind in Dadar, they also presentedthem with a cheque. They raised Rs. 1lakh for Sonali Mukherjee, the victimof an acid attack.Their project with the mentally challengedincluded a stall by Om Creationsthat sold products and distributedliterature to raise awareness aboutAnjuman-I-Islam Allana English High School held a seminar, skit and quiz'Empowering goodness,' this was the theme on which the Interact Club ofJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 24

studies. This had proved to be a bigsuccess, apparently because the littlechildren loved it when “older girls”rather than “strict teachers” took uptheir studies!However, students of Std. IX usedtheir “Social service” period to go tothe “Garden school”. This was theplace where children whose parentscould not afford to send them to schoolwere taught by Interactors and others.The children learned arts, crafts, poemsand spoken English.Apart from the above, the Inter-actorsorganised many other activities,such as plays by the different houses.A presentation on the girl child was achildren. They commenced theirprogramme with a prayer service afterlighting some candles. The show thatfollowed consisted of three skits andtwo dance performances.The show-stopper was a specialskit with Ms Kakar, a police inspector,in the main role. The message thatit conveyed was that it was not goodto watch too many inane televisionprogrammes. And even if they did, itwouldn’t pay to emulate what wasshown on the “idiot box”. More oftenthan not, it was senseless and puerile.At a time when the police force wasin the dock all over the country, MsKakar put in an excellent performancespecial feature. All these activities in the leading role.The Interactors of Fort Convent organised a thoughtful programme athelped raised awareness about social Yet another interesting programmewhich they invited and felicitated grandparents of school childrenproblems.was a visit to Anza Special School; itMs Helen, the Headmistress of the brought home the truth behind the dictum“every child is special”. The in-oncerned with the increasing pol-community issues, cleanliness drives,Campion School mentaries to learn about social andCPrimary Section, and the Principal,Sister Arina, were the judges of a debatenocence on every child’s face made the lution at various historical monumentssaving electricity and so on.on capital punishment. The awardfor best speaker went to Zara Presswala,while Dana D’Souza was therunner-up.The Interactors also took part in the“Alexandra Fest” and the “We Are TheWorld” competition organised by theRotaract Club of H.R. College. At thelatter event, the Club won a few medalsin athletics.On October 1, the Interactors observed“Helpers’ Day”; they took theschool’s non-teaching staff on a daylongpicnic and presented them withgifts and saplings.A week later, they celebrated thebirthday of Principal Sister Arina withInteractors want to reach out to them.They spent some memorable momentswith them which would remain in theirhearts forever.Apart from offering the special childrensweets and other goodies, theInteractors joined them as they attemptedto add colour to a plain sketchof a princess. The joy on their faces asthey looked at the completed workwas worth going miles to see.Some of the Interactors confessedthat this visit had helped them to realisethe importance of values and showedthem the way to becoming good humanbeings.On January 30, some students ofin the country, the Interact Clubof Campion School organised a fieldvisit to Delhi and Agra. It was to thesetwo historical cities that large numbersof domestic and international touristsflocked to see some of the world’sbest architectural wonders. But theyalso left a lot of litter – and worse.By taking the students on an educationaltrip to these two cities, the InteractClub and the school authoritiessought to create awareness about theill-effects of unbridled pollution.Back home in Bombay, theInteractors launched a signature campaignagainst littering and asked theirfellow students to promise not to marAn outdoor trip to Lonavala for theannual camp afforded the children anopportunity to interact with one anotherand also to become more sociallyaware of the abilities and achievementsof the differently abled.They visited the National Institutefor the Blind and were taken on treksso that they could attempt to be onewith nature. The camp and the treksproved to be an enjoyable learning experiencefor the students.Summing up, the two teachers, MsFernandes and Ms Menezes, statedthat the year gone by was a fruitful,interesting and memorable one for thestudents and for them, too.a special assembly and a series of hugs Std. VII, most of them aged 12 or 13, their environs. They also set an exampleby picking up litter from com-embers of the Interact Club ofG.D. Somani Memorial SchoolMand kisses. And then they went for a visited the Shepherd’s Home at Byculla.This was a home for aged women mon areas during their break.G.D. Somani Memorial Schoolpicnic to “Royal Garden” where theyenjoyed the series of swings, rides andother equipment set up for amusement.On November 22, the Interactorsvisited INS Shikra, the Indian naval airstation at Colaba. They were accompaniedby two teachers.INS Shikra was earlier known as INSKunjali which was the only Indiannaval air station without a full-fledgedrunway to operate fixed-wing aircraft.It was primarily a heliport.Director Drashti Zaveri reportedthat the Interactors were keen to visitTalwada to see how the Rotary Clubof Bombay had involved itself withthe community there.On Children’s Day, November 9,the Interactors of Fort Convent attendedschool in colourful clothes andwere soon sporting brilliantly colouredwristbands. Once in class, their teachersgave them coupons (for games,snacks and soft drinks). In the normalcourse, that would have been the endof the programme.But there was a big surprise arrangedby the Principal, the Headmistressand the teachers in store for thewho had no one to look after them(some were abandoned women).Several smiling faces welcomed theInteractors as they reached the Home.They spent about an hour with them,trying to bring wider – and happier –smiles on their faces with the help ofjokes, songs, dances and music. Beforeleaving, the Interactors promisedto visit them again. The Interactorsthanked Principal Sister Arina for suggestingthis interesting visit.In the midst of all these activitiesthe Interactors did not forget their datewith the residents of the PallonjiShapoorji Home for the Aged at theB.D. Petit Parsi General Hospital.They sang Christmas carols andengaged in some vigorous singing anddancing to old and popular songs. Allof these were washed down, in a mannerof speaking, with sweets, snacksand soft drinks.Interact Club Director DrashtiZaveri took her mother along for thevisit. Later, she found it very difficultto say who was more touched – hermother or the residents of the homefor the aged.Another campaign was to spreadawareness about the harmful effectsof plastic, especially when it had servedits purpose. Charts were displayed inthe school premises to describe howplastic ruined the environment.The Interact Club had two Moderators,Ms Rosemary Misquitta andMs Jennifer Fernandes. Its Presidentwas Aman Kargaonkar and he was assistedby Shivam Jaggi.The students of Std. VII joined theInteract Club of Campion School inthe academic year 2012-13 and bolsteredthe movement. The students ofStd. VII A were led by their classteacher, Ms C. Menezes; those of Std.VII B were guided by their classteacher, Ms J. Fernandes.The teachers reported that everyweek was a fun-filled one, with severalprojects organised to develop aninterest in Interact activities among thechildren.These ranged from developing a sloganfor the class, chart-making, a signaturecampaign against the use of plastic,making cards for the traffic police,a tetrapack campaign, watching docu-organised or took part in three differentinter-school programmes in thefirst half of the Rotary year.First, they hosted an inter-schoolprogramme with an intriguing title.They called it “Melange Total 5” andexplained that it was an amalgam offive mega events.It attracted participation by 16schools, was held over two days andwas an unalloyed success. Interestingly,this was the second annual editionof the programme and the studentstook active part in organising it.Another interesting project was“Go Green Day”. All students wereasked to bring unique, exotic pottedplants to school and those judged themost exotic were given prizes. A largenumber of children took part in thisprogramme designed to increase awarenessabout the need to conserve theenvironment and to grow more trees.Finally, there was “Cascade 20”, aninter-school event organised by JamnabaiNarsee School; the Interactors ofG.D. Somani took active part in it.Interactor Adil Harianawala providedmost of the above information.June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 25

St. Mary’s ICSEof H.V.B. Academy, revealed that sinceNaayaab Nagree was president this was her first experience as a moderator,she had absolutely no idea aboutand Nabil Hariyanawala Vice-President of the Interact Club. It had34 members from Std. IX and 40 fromStd. VIII.At the beginning of the year, itorganised an inter-school event called“Immaculata” and the members tookthe sheer magnitude of such events.This experience had prepared her formore in the future. At the same time,she had also come to realise the importof what the Rotary Club ofBombay was trying to achieve.active part as volunteers.Bharda New High SchoolWThe boys of Std. VIII participated hen Chairman Deepak Kapadiain a clean-up drive in the suburbs in organised the “Road Safetyaddition to the regular clean-up drivesin the school and surrounding areas.Continuing the stress on civic issues,the Interactors made numerous chartson environment-related issues andFortnight” in January, he had hundredsof Interactors and Rotaractors takingpart in the drive to spread the messageof saving lives through safe and carefuldriving and by following the requiredcivic problems confronting society. traffic rules.Bharda New High School was the venue at which the Jai Hind RotaractorsThey also prepared charts to create Forty six Interactors of Bharda Neworganised the installation of seven Interact Clubs at one goawareness about upcoming festivals. High School took part in that portionThese were put up on the Interact boardand at other places in the school sothat they could be seen by the maximumnumber of students.St. Mary’s ICSE had been associatedwith the Gyanmata School atTalasiri village in Upplat for severalyears. Annual exchange visits were aregular feature of this association.This year, students of Std. X fromGyanmata School visited St. Mary’sin November and were given royaltreatment. They were taken on a tourof Bombay city and treated to gamesand other events organised by theInteractors.When last heard, the Interactorswere eagerly awaiting the new term,of the drive which spanned the areafrom C.S.T. Station to Godrej Bhavanon Hazarimal Somani Marg. Theystood on the roadside from 12.15 to2.30 pm, each holding up a banner andall of them forming a huge human chain,urging motorists and two-wheeler ridersto follow the rules and drive safely.A few days later, members of theRotaract Club of Hinduja College visitedthe school and conducted an essay-writingcompetition for the studentsof Std. VII and Std. VIII. Theyalso made a PowerPoint presentationon women’s empowerment.About 200 students took part inthe discussion which gave them an insightinto the problems of women notated their work and thanked theInteractors for travelling all the wayfrom Bombay to interact with ruralchildren.Apart from giving them some vocationaltips, the Interactors also madesome teaching aids and presented theseto the authorities at the rural schooland thanked them for allowing themto interact with the rural students.The visit did not end with this. TheInteractors next visited a remote villagenear Silvassa. They conducted asurvey to learn about the condition ofthe villagers. They found that the villageconsisted of about 35 houses andlacked modern amenities. It had nosanitation or electricity and most ofof spitting and the ill-effects of smokingand consuming paan, gutkha andother tobacco products. Another importantprogramme was a visit to theinstitute for the deaf and dumb atMazgaon.Apart from taking part in the RYLAcamp organised by the Rotaract Clubof H.R. College and at which theybagged many prizes, the Interactorsof Bharda New also helped collectfunds for young cancer patients. Thatinitiative bore fruit when they handedover the amount collected to the TataMemorial Centre at the annual “TerryFox Run” organised along MarineDrive. About 150 students took partin the “Run”.starting in January, for a few more visitsand field trips.the world. At the end of the programme, and leading a hand-to-mouth existence. he Interact Club of the Navyonly in India but also in other parts of the villagers were engaged in farming Navy Children’s SchoolT H.V.B. Academythe students vowed to protect and Paying special attention to the girl Children’s School, Colaba, had aMembers of the Interact Club of uphold the dignity of women. Some child this year, the Interactors distributednew clothes to girls aged between decided the activities on which it wouldclear vision for the year 2012-13. ItH.V.B. Academy organised an of them made banners on the subjectexciting programme “Aadhar” whichinvolved a get-together of children fromthe school and those from “Our Children”,an NGO initiative.It started with a dance performanceby H.V.B. students to welcome thevisiting children who were escorted bysome of their teachers. To make theguests feel comfortable, a simple interactivesession was organised inwhich each student had to introducehimself/herself. This quickly helpedbreak the ice (this activity was appropriatelynamed “Icebreaker”).Once the visiting students had beenserved with some nutritious snacks,another activity awaited them. Thiswas a “collage-making” sessionplanned in such a way that it couldnot be completed without teamwork.Each student from the visiting schoolwas paired with a moderator. And then,amidst laughter, cheers and giggles,some brilliant collage work was completed.Finally, the students from “OurChildren” were taken for a campus tourby the Moderators of the Interact Club.Ms Tahira Salim, a comparativelynew Moderator of the Interact Cluband displayed these in the school.Earlier, President Sarosh Usmani,guided by Moderators Ms TasneemGilitwala and Ms Judy Vaz, took theInteractors on the annual visit to aschool in a rural area. They went tothe primary school conducted by theZilla Parishad near Silvassa and conductedseveral activities for the children.The school had about 200 studentsfrom Std. I to Std. VII.The activities taken up were drawingand collage-making competitions,one-minute games and sports. Thewinners were given prizes. TheInteractors also distributed notebooksmade from recycled paper, stationeryitems such as pencils, erasers, sharpeners,colours pencils and crayons.Glazed paper, lunch boxes, waterbottles, pencil cases and so on werealso offered to the students, as werebiscuits, wafers and chocolates.As they participated enthusiasticallyin all the competitions arrangedfor them, the rural students displayedtheir own hidden skills which surprisedsome of the Interactors. Theteachers at the village school appreci-four and ten years in this village. Theydid this to promote a more positiveapproach towards the girl child in thevillage. But first they invited all seniorcitizens to bring their little girls to acentral point where new clothes andother items were to be distributed.Fifty three sets of new clothes werepresented to the girls in the village.The smiles on their faces worked as anelixir for the Interactors from Bombay.They also distributed grains, sugar,rice, lentils, lunch boxes and waterbottles; and presented clothes to thesenior residents of the village. A talk inMarathi on the importance of the girlchild was also delivered by theInteractors.Back in Bombay, an essay-writingcompetition was organised to mark“Education Day”, celebrated in honourof Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.With 59 members and two Moderators,the Interact Club of BhardaNew High School planned and executedits activities in a systematicmanner.The projects that it carried out includeda rigorous drive against the habitconcentrate and worked towards completingthose projects.It focused on three things, viz., learningabout various social evils thatplagued society, especially the femalepopulation; acquiring skills to helpthose in need; and finding solutions tothe various problems faced by the underprivileged.Starting with the “learning phase”,the Club arranged the screening of variousfilms and documentaries, followedby discussions on the subjects tackledby them. The political, sociological andpsychological impact of the problemswas also discussed.Topics like female infanticide/foeticide,domestic violence, gender bias/discrimination, child labour, dowryand illiteracy, along with problems relatedto mental and physical disabilities,were also discussed with the helpof experts in those fields.In the “acquiring skills phase”, thestudents were given sign language tutorials.They were also given the taskof looking for NGOs working in thisspecific area. That helped them in gainingsome basic counselling techniquesJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 26

that could come in handy while dealingwith such problems at a future date.The students performed a streetplay on “Little things that matter inlife” on the occasion of World MentalHealth Week. A “flash mob” was alsoorganised during the school assembly.The idea behind the street play was toremind people of the small but highlyeffective solutions that had been employedsince time immemorial to relievestress.As for the “finding solutions phase”,the students were prompted to thinkabout ways in which they could contribute.about the root causes of the social evilsbedevilling women and children. Theyprepared banners, posters and sloganson the issue.They also enacted a street play coveringissues such as gender discrimination,female infanticide and sexualabuse. This was a special event stagedfor the benefit of parents.While the Principal of the NavyChildren’s School was Ms Girija Singh,the Interact Moderators were JasmanPreet and Ashraf Dawoodani. All ofthem had done a very good job indeed.RotaractThe response of the participating childrenwas very rewarding.The Rotaractors invited theChildren’s Aid Society to exhibit thetalent of the children of the juvenileremand home in Dongri. The exhibitionafforded an opportunity to juvenilesto showcase their talent in a constructivemanner.Next, they teamed up with the GiftYour Organ Foundation to spreadawareness about the critical need fororgan donation. The campaign wasscheduled to be held simultaneouslyin three cities, Bombay, Pune and Ban-Amogh Ranadive and KaruneshTalwar from Vir Das’s Weirdass Company(and themselves leading standupcomedians) acted as judges at theevent. They had to endure one and ahalf hours of non-stop laughter triggeredby the participants.While short-listing eight boys andgirls for the final round was not aneasy task, even more daunting was thejob of choosing one winner from amongthem. At the end of all the madness, itwas Khadija Tambawala who won the“Comedy Madness” award and wasnamed the winner of ROFL 2012-13.Ravindra Fotedar galore; the GDC Rotaractors took part The Rotaract Club of Jai Hind Col-AThey decided to contribute in kind t the beginning of the year, Ravi in the drive organised at the Gateway lege had been very quick off the blocks.to Ashadaan, a shelter for those who requested all Committee Chairpersonsof India.It started the year with a flourish andhad been abandoned by their familiesdue to disabilities, women who hadrun away from domestic violence andsenior citizens from the lower socioeconomicstrata. They also plannedan awareness campaign on these andother social issues in the school.Among the other activities undertakenwere the following:Students with physical and mentaldisabilities from Sankalp School, ato direct their requests forRotaractors as volunteers to him andnot to the Rotaract Clubs directly. Thisapplied to all those who required theservices of Rotaractors as volunteersat Club projects.The Rotaractors continued to beever eager to help, but it would be moreappropriate for all such requests to berouted through the Rotaract Committee,he added.Other activities carried out duringthe year were a treasure hunt acrossSouth Bombay; dental camps at severallocations and under various institutionssuch as the Nargis Dutt MemorialDental Camp; IAS Officers’Wives’ Association; the Muslim AmbulanceSociety, Govandi; ColabaMunicipal School; and MachchimarNagar, Colaba. More than 500 peoplebenefited from these dental camps.had completed nearly half a dozenprojects in July itself. Here are briefsketches of some of its activities.“What’s your problem?” The firstphase of this project started on July4 when members spread out to variousparts of the city to interview citizensand record their complaints regardingshortage of water, lack ofcleanliness, erratic power supply andso on.special school run by the Naval community,were trained to perform an rom Colaba to Byculla, Govandi pulmonary resuscitation) programme went in small teams to record theGovernment Dental College They also organised a CPR (cardio-Armed with video cameras, theyF integrated act by the senior students and Talwada, the GDC Rotaractorsfor students, interns and post-graduates;people’s grievances and then passedof the NCS at the Annual Day Celebrations.On World Cancer Day the Interactorsvisited the cancer ward at Ashwiniwent places this year –drilling awayat their usual projects all through.For those unaware of the fact, theyregularly visit the Ajit Deshpandea blood donation drive; a trip toEssel World; and launched the secondvolume of the Rotaract bulletin,Odontspeak.these on to the authorities concerned.This was done with the help of mediatie-ups that the Rotaractors had developedin the previous year throughHospital. They presented all the patientswith red roses as a symbol of taluka of Thane district to offer free olling on the floor laughing! This (One of these had involved the me-Medical Centre at Talwada in Jawhar Jai Hind College some of their projects.R solidarity and wished them a speedy service to the less privileged residents was the crazy name for a crazy dia, the RTO, traffic constables andrecovery. They participated in thebeach cleaning drive taken up after theGanpati festivities.Before an audience of parents invitedfor the event, the Interactorsorganised a silent act on social issuesand the virtues of love, compassion,hope and faith that needed to be nurturedby every citizen to bring aboutchange in society.As part of their Community Serviceactivities, the Interactors installeda rainwater harvesting system, thusof Talwada and the nearby villages. Agroup of four Rotaractors, along witha senior dentist, visits the venue andrenders effective dental care to thepeople.Dr. Ajay Gupta and Dr. SrinivasKamath, both senior dentists, havebeen associated with the programmefor a very long time. The visits toTalwada normally take place on thesecond and third Sunday every month.Under the project called “Shiksha –empowering the future”, the Rotaractorsproject. Believe it or not, on July 18,the entire College was rolling on thefloor, laughing!The madness was initiated by 48students who took part in a competitionin which the winner would be thatperson who made the most peoplelaugh their lives out. And the prize atthe end of the laugh-riot was a oneyearinternship with Vir Das, one ofthe country’s leading stand-up comedians,and the opportunity of actingin a film with him.others; the Rotaractors stood at vantagepoints near Crawford Market tohelp shoppers find taxis that wouldply short distances. It was a hugelysuccessful project.)“What’s your problem?” theRotaractors asked residents of GrantRoad, Charni Road, Marine Lines,Churchgate, Colaba and Cuffe Paradein the course of their drive.Cotton bags, please Promotion ofcotton bags in place of plastic and polybags was taken up in a big way.saving water and contributing to protectionof the environment.Finally, having visited the popularKala Ghoda Arts festival, the Interactorswere ready with their plan togo to Ashadaan and to contribute theirmite for the benefit of its residents.Thanks to contributions from the33 members (from Std. VI to X), theInteractors offered items of everydayuse to help maintain cleanliness and toensure good health and hygiene there.Among the items distributed were anantiseptic liquid, washing powder,phenyl, pain-relieving ointment andsanitary napkins. All of these werebought in bulk at discounted rates.A few days later, the Interactorswere also helping in the uni-versal spread of elementary educationamong underprivileged children. Theweekly project was held on every Saturdayat the Aryan High School andthe Rotaractors took active part in it.They also participated in the Sanjeevanieye camp at the Aryan HighSchool which was part of the Zonal“Shiksha” intervention.Turning their attention to anotherinstitution, the “League of Mercy”orphanage for girls at Byculla thatlooked after 31 girls, the Rotaractorsorganised a two-stage donation drivefor them.As part of the same Zonal “Shiksha”intervention, the Rotaractors also tookorganised an awareness campaign part in “Zypen”, an endeavour to inculcateteam-building among children. meet people and make a list of their complaints about civic problemsSo what's your problem? The Rotaractors of Jai Hind College went out tocalled “Jagruti” to spread awarenessJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 27

According to the Rotaractors, theproject had been going on for the lastthree years. They bought a large numberof cotton bags and had thempainted attractively to catch thepeople’s attention.The Rotaractors planned to take thecotton bags to other Clubs. Now, itwas planned to sell these bags in areaslike Colaba Causeway, Fashion Street,Crawford Market and so on. The moniescollected would be spent on buyingmore bags and taking the movementeven further.Tune it This was a contest to selecta radio jockey from among the studentsof Jai Hind College. It was initiatedin collaboration with the radiostation RED FM and eventuallyworked as an “RJ Hunt”, the winnergetting an opportunity to audition atthe radio station.All Saints Home At the request ofthe Senior Citizens Committee of theRotary Club of Bombay, theRotaractors of Jai Hind College andH.R. College joined President Nowroze,Chairman Naresh and others tohelp spread the sound of music andlaughter in the All Saints Home atMazgaon in Central Bombay.This was said to be one of the oldestresidences for senior citizens, butwhen the boys and girls went there,its walls reverberated with the soundof music and laughter as the residentsshed their worries and inhibitions for afew hours. The Rotarians andRotaractors had brought some cheerinto their lives.Fifty residents of the All SaintsHome took part in the event whichwas conducted by the team of tenRotaractors. At the end, they offeredsnacks to everybody, including thosewho were bed-ridden and could notjoin in the merriment.President Aditya Shah of theRotaract Club of Jai Hind College proposedthe vote of thanks.‘Satyagraha’ on the streets The JaiHind Rotaractors also implemented anhim to stop smoking without saying aword?The “Satyagraha” was one of thepopular annual projects of the Cluband part of the month-long initiative,“Silent Saturdays”. Organised on everySaturday in month September, itinvolved a quiet march up and downthe city’s streets, holding aloft placardsand urging citizens to adopt themessages imprinted on them.The response that the opening ceremonyreceived was simply amazing.The Rotaractors went aboard an opentopbus and stood all the way as itslowly traversed the distance fromColaba to Worli and back. They heldup placards and charts exhortingpeople to follow traffic rules, to conservewater, stop smoking, empowerwomen and to be wary of the phenomenoncalled global warming.They descended on Marine Driveat 5pm and commenced their streetplay. Soon, a huge crowd of hundredshad collected and intently heard themessage that the Rotaractors were tryingto convey.‘RCJC MUN’ of 2012 Back in thecollege premises, the Rotaractorsorganised a Model United Nations(MUN) which attracted participationby about 175 delegates from all overIndia. This was an academic simulationof the United NationsOrganisations at an institution level.The “RCJC MUN” of 2012 was anambitious affair, graced by the presenceof some of the best MUNers inthe country.Spread over three days, it was associatedwith and listed on the UNwebsite as one of the top annual eventsin the calendar year 2012-13. The topicstaken up were diverse, with a lot ofscope for debate. The chairpersons ofthe committees were well-qualified,with each of them having a minimumexperience of ten MUNs.The Secretary-General, Mr. SanchitGulabani, was a qualified MUNer ofgreat repute. Having been associateda workshop on sunrise industries forthe youth at which basic knowledgeabout several different vocations wasprovided to members and other students.Eight out-of-the-box workshopswere conducted with some of the leadingtrainers invited to share theirknowledge and experience. The followingeight areas of interest were coveredas part of the programme (withthe names of those conducting themgiven in parenthesis):Aero-modelling (the MBS Groupfrom Delhi); Ethical Hacking (the MBSGroup from Delhi); Robotics (TechnoGravity Solutions); Web Designing(Techno Gravity Solutions); Zumba(Waves Gym); Sound Mixing (JaiKrishnan); Communications (Sir CraigTravaso); and Marketing and Branding(Saksham Mendiratta).The screams of women In the secondhalf of the year, the Rotaractorsset in motion a three-month-longproject to coincide with “InternationalWomen’s Day” (March 8). In this initiative,called CHEEKH, the Rotaractorssaid that reports about thousandsof women being trafficked illegallyinto the Indian sub-continent hadturned their attention towards the deafeningpleas or screams of such womenand to do something so that they wereheard by the powers-that-be.“International Women’s Day,” theyfelt, was no longer a day to celebratethe existence of a gender. Rather, it wasa day to take up their cause and tohelp protect and benefit them.Almost the entire world having beenshaken out of its slumber by the Delhigang rape case of December, 2012, itwas felt that it was the appropriatetime to launch the project.It started on February 6 with thescreening of a documentary on thehard-hitting reality of trafficking inwomen at a regular meeting of the RotaryClub of Bombay. And them, aflash mob suddenly collected at theOberoi Mall in Goregaon on March 2and gave a performance that focusedon the plight of the modern Indianwoman.The main event banner forCHEEKH 2013 was unveiled by thePresidential Advisory Council and wasfollowed by a hand-imprinting sessionthat enabled onlookers and others tosupport the movement. This was aninteractive session and the handprintsindirectly formed the logo of the projectitself.On March 6, a CHEEKH hoardingwent up at a site opposite the MafatlalBath at Chowpatty. And on March 8the event was launched with a performanceat the domestic airport at 10am. It was covered by 12 news channelsand was followed by another flashmob performance at the High StreetPhoenix shopping complex at 4 pm.The spectators loved the performanceso much that they requested an encore.The Rotaractors happily obliged.(Another performance by the flashmob team took place at Phoenix MarketCity at 6 and 7 pm on March 9.)The day was to culminate with anambitious flash mob performance atthe International Airport at 9 pm. Allpermits and permissions had beenobtained in advance, but a last-minuteintervention by the police authoritiesforced the Rotaractors to call it off.The documentary on trafficking inwomen, which had earlier been shownat a regular meeting of the Rotary Clubof Bombay, was screened all day longon the LCD TVs at Oberoi Mall andin the lobby and on promotionalscreens of Fame Adlabs, too.On March 10, PVR Cinemasscreened the documentary on traffickingin women on its screens all overthe city, especially during the intermissions.The management of PVRCinemas did an encore with anotherscreening on March 14.Rotaractor Charmi Mehta, Vice-President and Organising Chair for theCHEEKH project, said the membersof the Rotaract Club of Jai Hind Colunusualprogramme on the streets ofBombay. Adopting the Gandhian wayof “Satyagraha” even in this day andage, they did not indulge in sloganshouting,arguments, debates or discussions.Rather, they printed theirmessages on placards and quietly heldthem aloft so that they were clearlyseen by the “target” audience.They believed that standing at a cigarettevendor’s stall and holding aloft aplacard urging people to stop smokingwould be more effective than tellingthem that smoking could cause cancer.Normally, most smokers had heard(and ignored) such messages severaltimes.But how often had a middle-agedwith several MUNs in Delhi,Chandigarh and other parts of the country,he was recognised as one of thebest in India. Organising ChairpersonsRotaractors Tarang Gupta and JalajMalhotra were a perfect combinationof experience and enthusiasm.The build-up to the three-day waswhat helped make it a path-breakingsuccess as compared to the eventswitnessed before.Rotaractor Karishma Vaswaniclaimed that Jai Hind was the onlyRotaract Club to come up with suchan interesting concept and to possessthe ability to host a project on such alarge scale.Sunrise industries When the Jaiman smoking his fifteenth cigarette of Hind Rotaractors organised A total of 175 delegates took part in the Model United Nations (MUN)the day seen a young college girl urging “Aashayein 2012”, it turned out to beorganised by the Rotaractors of Jai Hind CollegeJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 28

lege believed it had made a small contributionto the cause of building anempowered society and an India whichtreated women as equal to men.course, the Rotaractors stepped in.Also on the bus were five ExchangeStudents from France.The trip was flagged off by PrincipalIndu Shahani who hopped alongH.R. CollegeOn the very first day of the Rotary to enjoy the ride (and the view) foryear, July 1, 2012, the Rotaract some time and held an interactive sessionClub of H.R. College achieved yet anotherunique distinction – it won, forthe seventh time in a row, the RotaractDistrict 3140 award for the BestRotaract Club in the District.Outgoing President Junaid Khan andhis team emerged victorious at theRotaract District 3140 Annual Assemblyand AARA Night (Academy forAwarding Rotaract Achievements) atwith the children.A project hits a century The project“Chirag”, which was launched fouryears ago by some students (includingRotaractors) of H.R. College to takeelectricity to many dark villages locatedat a mere two or three-hour drivefrom Bombay, was set to go very, veryfar – all the way to Washington, DC,USA.Lala Lajpatrai College, thus winning Undertaken by the H.R. unit of SIFEH.R. Rotaractors blindfolded themselves and walked around Shivaji Park inthe most coveted award for their Club (Students in Free Enterprise), theorder to promote the message of eye donationonce again.project had been showcased at an SIFEWhoops of joy, screams of delightand high-decibel yells accompanied theannouncement as confetti droppeddown on the stage and the Best ClubTrophy was once again bagged by theRotaract Club of H.R. College.So what did the H.R. Rotaractorsdo after that? They got down to workand completed at least two majorprojects long before the month cameto an end.The first of these was a collaborativeventure along with the Students’Council of H.R. College and involveda blood donation drive to helpthalassaemia patients. It was organisedin the concourse of Churchgate, one ofthe busiest suburban stations, in affiliationwith the Rotary Club of NarimanPoint.Student volunteers devised ingeniousways to attract morning commutersto spare five minutes to donatea few precious millilitres of bloodthat would save the life of an innocentcompetition at the national level andhad bagged the top honour. This meantthat the project would represent Indiaat the world SIFE competition to beheld in Washington, DC.At a regular meeting of the Club,President Prateek Mathai of the SIFEof H.R. College explained with the helpof a few slides that they had alreadytaken electricity to 99 villages and werepoised to take light into the lives oftheir brethren in a 100th village borderingthe city of Bombay.As the members applauded the performanceof the SIFE of H.R. College,Nowroze requested Indu Shahani tojoin him; the two then felicitated thedriving force behind the project, Mr.Jyotirmoy Chatterji. He also called outand honoured his colleagues, PrateekMathai, Rahul Sanghi, Vivek Kotak,Vandini Bhandari, Bhavi Doshi, KetkiPrabhat and Santhosh Kumar.Out of the blue, one of the studentsof H.R. College stepped forward tofor the intellectually impaired, thedeaf-mute and other underprivilegedstudents.The visually impaired children ofthe Victoria Memorial School weretreated to an “Utsav” (festival) whenthose with sight joined them in playing“dandia”. One Rotaractor stoodbehind each child in a ring and, to thebeats of pulsating music, helped thechild to play “dandia” with other childrenin an inner ring.Then came “Indradhanush”, the annualinter-school art festival for theintellectually impaired, the deaf-muteand other underprivileged students.This was the 15th year of the festivaland 2,500 special students participatedin it. They were required to bringout their creative skills and to giveshape to their imagination as best asthey could.While for the intellectually impairedthe task was to colour a printed image,the visually impaired were asked toworld blind”, the Rotaractors steppedforward to state that “An eye for aneye makes the whole world shine”.They performed street plays tospread the message at the Gateway ofIndia, Dadar railway station and ShivajiPark. At the last venue, when a peacerally with 80 to 100 Rotaractors wasorganised, many of them blindfoldedthemselves and walked around ShivajiPark to promote the donation of eyes.Pledge cards were distributed to thepeople at all three places to urgepeople to donate their eyes after deathand to bring colour into sightless eyes.Over 650 pledge cards were handedout and about 300 returned by peoplewho pledged to donate their eyes.For rural youth Ever eager to dosomething different, the Rotaractorsorganised an entrepreneur developmentprogramme in distant Pachal villagein the Rajapur taluka of Ratnagiridistrict in Maharashtra State.Volunteers from South Bombay andand unfortunate victim of offer a memento to his Principal, Indu make abstract paintings on topics of Singapore descended on the village tothalassaemia. Posters, banners, publicannouncements and the like were employedto get more people to donateblood.No less than 220 bottles of bloodwere collected in one single day, a figurefar beyond expectations. A “Donorcard”, a certificate and an umbrellawere presented to the donors. TheState Blood Transfusion Council washighly impressed by the students’dedication, enthusiasm and achievementand heartily praised H.R. Collegefor inculcating such noble valuesin them.In another project on July 20, theH.R. Rotaractors arranged a road tripatop an open-air double-decker bus forchildren from the India Association.This annual project offered underprivilegedchildren the opportunity totake another look at their city and toknow something about its heritage andhistory. A journey atop an open-airbus was a dream that was unlikely tocome true for most of them; unless, ofShahani, who was celebrating her birthdayduring the week (July 17).Home for the aged As already reported,the Rotaractors of H.R. Collegehelped the Senior Citizens Committeeand Naresh Kumar Jain inorganising a gala Parsi New Year celebrationfor the residents of the F.S.Parukh Dharamshalla at Old KhareghatColony, Hughes Road.As part of the afternoon’sprogramme, the Rotaractors renderedsome old songs that reminded the residentsof their youth. They also arrangeda medley of games, music anddance in which some of the senior citizensdanced to their hearts’ content.All for the handicapped Not one butthree projects for the handicappedwere organised in quick succession.The first was a campaign to requestthe public to pledge to donate theireyes after their demise; the second wasa musical event to enable the blind toenjoy the popular “dandia” event; andthe third an inter-school art festivaltheir choice. The deaf-mutes took partin a card-making competition and theunderprivileged went in for toothbrush-painting.The art festival was a contest betweendifferent schools. Prizes weregiven to the winners and participationcertificates to the rest. The childrenwere fascinated with the opportunityto do something different and to puttheir imagination on paper.According to Taskforce DirectorsRushab Shah and Trividha Mehra, thechildren turned in an amazing collectionof paintings and other forms ofcreativity – a veritable rainbow(Indradhanush”) of colours.The Rotaractors, in association withthe Aditya Jyot Foundation for TwinklingLittle Eyes, organised a campaignto promote the cause of eye donationon the occasion of the InternationalFortnight for Awareness of Eye Donations.Tweaking the popular dictum that“An eye for an eye makes the wholeteach English and subjects like marketing,economics, accounts and negotiationskills to a group of 100 highschool and secondary students.This was no fly-by-night operation.The volunteers stayed in the villagefor ten days and offered five groups ofyoung students seed capital of Rs.30,000 to launch their own business.They called the project “GazaabMaharashtra 2012” and worked in associationwith a group of young volunteersfrom the Singapore ManagementUniversity.Rushab Shah and Trividha Mehra,Taskforce Directors for 2012-13,pointed out that although India boastedsome of the biggest businessmen andindustrialists, their number was smalland it was necessary to have morepeople involved in business.Told repeatedly that “the real Indialives in the villages”, the Rotaractorsdecided to take up the project to developthe spirit of entrepreneurshipto the rural areas of Ratnagiri.June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 29

The village of Pachal was selected, acollaboration with the Singapore ManagementUniversity firmed up and,after making the required arrangements,the team took off for Pachalwhere it stayed from December 9 to18.Students from Standards X and XIwere selected for the project. Whilethe former were given English lessons,those from Std. XI were divided intothree sections and taught marketing,economics, finance, accounts, presentationand negotiation skills, businessideas and so on.The Club also collaborated with theRotaract Club of the Caduceus, thewinner of this year’s InternationalOutstanding Project Award, to raisefunds for the treatment of eye disorders.(The Rotaract Club of the Caduceuswas sponsored by the RotaryClub of Bombay Central.)‘Prerna’ or encouragement One ofthe most outstanding Rotaractprojects in the city was the annual athleticmeet for intellectually impairedstudents called “Prerna”, now in its17th year. The brainchild of the enterprisingRotaract Club of H.R. College,Involving a lot of physical activity,the tasks also taught basic personalmanagement and division of work toget optimum results.Day Two was devoted to groomingof the mind. A special session was conductedby Ms Nidhi, psychologist andcounsellor, of the BMM Departmentof H.R. College.The programme ended with a valedictoryfunction at which talentedInteractors were acknowledged fortheir contributions. Awards such as“Best Interactor Male/Female”, “BestTeam”, “Highest Contingent” and soThe two Rotaractors who comperedthe programme, Pritesh Jaisinghand Rinku Gajaria, took turns to highlightthe projects and activities undertakenduring the term of outgoing PresidentIshita Vora. They also gave thecommentary to a slideshow that focusedon new President Kushal Bhuva.With an additional Avenue of Servicebeing added to its activities, theRotaract Club of Bombay now had atotal of 14 Directors, announcedKushal as he introduced his team tothe gathering.Road SafetyNext, groups of six students each it was held at Priyadarshini Park in on were presented.Deepak KapadiaHwere formed and each one given the South Bombay.The coming together of members of undreds of Interactors andtask of developing business plans suitableIn a mission statement, Taskforce the Interact Clubs of Sir J.J. Girls’ Rotaractors took part in theto the area in which they lived.The visiting students also played therole of mentors as they tossed up variousbusiness ideas.The students were asked to submitproposals in a definite format, coveringtopics such as Market Trends andOpportunities, Market Analysis, DemandAnalysis, Competitor Analysisand SWOT Analysis.All 20 groups managed to submittheir project proposals within the deadline.Following rigorous discussions,checking of feasibility and correlationof facts, five proposals were awardedseed capital of Rs. 30,000 each to starttheir own business.The capital-winning proposalswere in the following fields of work:(1) Sugarcane plantation; (2) bananaplantation; (3) mango, spinach andcashew nut nursery; (4) incense sticks;and (5) a flower decoration agency.The Rotaractors said that all thegroups were instructed to open theirbank accounts. When it was time tospend monies for their projects to startoff, the required amount would be transferredto their accounts. Constant follow-upwould be done to ensure efficientexecution.The “Gazaab Maharashtra 2012”initiative was taken up in collaborationwith the Singapore ManagementUniversity and was another step towardsmaking a difference in society.As this was the first year of theDirectors Rushab Shah and TrividhaMehra said that “Perseverance is nota long race. It is many short races oneafter another”. And so they attemptedto make life worthwhile – even if for asingle day – for intellectually impairedstudents to display their abilities andtalent on an athletic track.Treating them as “part of our family”,the Rotaractors noted that althoughthey were well cared for, theydid need the occasional stimulus providedby an outdoor environment.Luxury buses for students from variousspecial schools, even those locatedin distant suburbs, were arranged bythe organisers.Although it was the spirit of participationthat was encouraged, therewas keen competition in the events;these included various obstacle racesalong with 50-metre, 100-metre and200-metre sprints. The winners receivedattractive trophies and medals.All the participants were presentedwith a gift in appreciation of the spiritof participation.“Prerna” had been sponsored overthe years by a humble philanthropistwho wished to remain anonymous.To promote leadership In an attemptto impart leadership skills to youngInteractors who would grow up tobecome Rotaractors (and thenRotarians), the Rotaractors organisedthe fourth edition of “Fusion 4.0”which they described as “An AdventureSchool, Bharda New High School,Anjuman-I-Islam English High Schooland the Anjuman-e-Islam Urdu HighSchool was in itself a novel experience.Over 100 keen Interactors participated,with some of them standing out in everythingthat they did. The purposefor which the project had beenorganised was fulfilled.According to the event coordinators,the words of the philosopherAndre Gide guided them as they startedworking on the project. The greatthinker had said: “Man cannot discovernew oceans unless he has the courageto lose sight of the shore.”Water, health and hygiene RotaractPresident Shashank Jogani told a Rotarymeeting that his Club was launching“Boond”, a project to provide cleanwater for drinking and domestic purposesto drought-affected villages inMaharashtra.His Club had tied up with the WatershedOrganisation Trust for a jointproject under which wells and waterbodies all over the State would be builtand repaired. It would also help in theconstruction of toilets and the provisionof other health and hygiene facilities.A modest donation of Rs. 3,500would enable the project to ensurewater and basic health and hygiene facilitiesto one individual for a lifetime.He appealed to members to make generousdonations to this worthy cause.“Road Safety Fortnight” organised byChairman Deepak from January 2.It started with 150 Interactors fromGopi Birla Memorial School at WalkeshwarRoad coming out on the busystreet outside their school to spreadthe message of “Road Safety”. Theywere accompanied by their Principal,Mrs. Shetty, Coordinator Ms KhyatiDwarkadas and other teachers.The Chief Minister of Maharashtra,the Deputy Chief Minister, the HomeMinister and the Police Commissionerin charge of Traffic lauded the displayof placards carrying the message to“Cross Only at Zebra Crossings”.A little later, about 60 Rotaractorsfrom H.R. College stood in a line fromthe signal at Wilson College right up toChowpatty from 8.30 to 9.30 am displayingplacards urging motorists to“Never Drink and Drive”.Around the same time, 50Rotaractors from Jai Hind Collegestood carrying placards on NarimanPoint, reminding everyone that “SpeedThrills But it Kills”.Not to be left behind were theRotaractors of Hinduja College. About60 of them positioned themselves nearSaifee Hospital on the busy QueensRoad, carrying placards that said, “NoHelmet No Driving”.Passersby, members of the publicand motorists noted the Road Safetymessages carried by the youngInteractors and Rotaractors; some ofRYLA” (Rotary Youth Leader-Rotaract Club of Bombay them even slowed down to read theproject, the Rotaract Club of H.R.KCollege would monitor it closely and ship Awards).ushal Bhuva was installed as messages.perhaps make it bigger and better in It started off in the sylvan surroundingsPresident of the Rotaract Club Following the outdoor part of thethe years to come.The best again The Rotaract Clubof H.R. College, which had emerged asthe best in the world in the last Rotaryyear, was once again nominated to receivean international award. At theWorld Rotaract Week, the Club wasselected from the South Asia Regionfor its project called “I for an Eye”.The Rotaractors had held numerousschool and community events tospread awareness about eye donationand to encourage people to sign eyedonationpledge cards.of the Borivli National Park andthen moved to the college premises.Styled “Fusion 4.0”, it was a two-day,fun-filled interactive event for InteractClubs sponsored by the Rotary Clubof Bombay.Day One was crammed with outdooradventure activities and managementtasks designed to be performedby teams of nine or ten. This was toteach Interactors the importance of cooperatingwith others to complete atask that was not possible to completeon one’s own.of Bombay, the only communitybasedRotaract Club sponsored by theRotary Club of Bombay, at a simplefunction in the Conference Hall of H.R.College on June 10, 2012.Posters and charts were put up atthe venue to familiarise guests and visitorswith the activities of the Club.Nowroze Vazifdar (he was President-Elect at that time) attended the meetingin the company of Ravindra Fotedar(now Rotaract Chairman), VisitingRotarian Naseem Kachwalla and others.project, a special mini-pledge card wasreleased by Mr. Brijesh Singh, AdditionalJoint Commissioner of Police(Traffic). It listed what were called the“Ten Commandments” to ensure RoadSafety.These cards were also launched bythe District Governor, Dr. Bal Inamdar,in the course of his Official Visit to theClub on January 8 and distributed tomembers at the meeting; the DG saidhe would distribute the cards to alldelegates at the District Conference.Well done, Deepak.June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 30

Peace march on 26/11, the day of infamy‘Group of 1929Over 4,500 people took part in thepeace programme held to mark26/11, the day of infamy.It was an unfortunate anniversary,one that marked four years since thedastardly attack on the city ofBombay by ten infiltrators from Pakistanwho caused untold mayhem in apeace-loving country.But like all things sad and unpleasant,this anniversary, too, had to beobserved, if only to remind citizensthat eternal vigilance was the price ofliberty and to spread the message ofpeace.On Sunday, November 25, the eveof the darkest day (November 26),three groups of youngsters congregatedat three of the main sites where theworst mayhem was unleashed – V.T.station, the Taj Mahal Hotel and theTrident Hotel.As proof of the fact that the woundsinflicted by the marauders had not becomea thing of the past, there wereroughly 4,500 youth and others whotook part in the marches and in thepeace programme that was held at theGateway of India.While one group gathered at theTrident and marched under the leadershipof Ms Kia Scherr, who had losther husband and her daughter in themassacre, another one, led by Sheriffand Principal Indu Shahani, startedfrom Churchgate station; the third, fromV.T. station, was led by Dr. UdaySalunkhe, Group Director ofWelingkar’s Institute of Management.All three sets of marchers convergedat the special enclosure created at theGateway of India where they werewelcomed by various religious heads,government officials, Consuls- General,Ambassadors, Bollywood actorssuch as Vivek Oberoi and Raageshwariand other dignitaries.Dr. Shashi Tharoor, the country’sMinister of State for Human ResourcesDevelopment, was one of the principalspeakers at the programme.The Rotary Club of Bombay andother Clubs from District 3140 werein the forefront; the Club was led byFour MOUs signed by the ClubThe Rotary Club of Bombay signedfour MOUs (Memoranda of Understanding)with organisations workingfor the betterment of the less-privilegedsections of society.First, it signed an MOU with theCentral Society for the Education ofthe Deaf (CSED). The finance offeredto the CSED would be utilised for theimport of sophisticated testing equipmentto set up an ambitious BERA(Brainstem-Evoked Response Audiometry)project.The second one was signed with theSalvation Army which would utilisethe funds it would receive for the renovationand restoration of the old agehome that it had been conducting forseveral years.A third MOU was with the ChildReach Society, the 25-year-old organisationthat ran a school for learningdisabledchildren and slow-learners.One of its objectives was to see thatthe children joined the mainstreamalong with normal children.Instead of agreeing to an appeal bythe Society to sponsor a series of SilverJubilee seminars (at a budgetedoutlay of Rs. 2 lakhs), the Club madeit an offer it could not refuse.It offered not only to be the solesponsor of the seminars (at a cost tothe Club of Rs. 1 lakh), but also toassociate with the Society by partfundingits activities through a onetimedonation of Rs. 1 lakh and providingRs. 10,000 every month, initiallyfor three years.The fourth MOU was signed withthe N.K. Dhabhar Cancer Foundation,an NGO which provided financial andmedical assistance to cancer patientsfor treatment and also spread awarenessabout prevention and early detectionof cancer. The Club would donateRs. 3 lakhs per annum for an initialperiod of three years to enable it tocarry out its activities.For its part, the Foundation wouldconduct an awareness camp once a yearfor the members of the Rotary Club ofBombay. Besides, the Club would beentitled to refer five patients for examinationand treatment and for whichthe Foundation would bear the cost(not exceeding Rs. 1,50,000 a year).President Nowroze Vazifdar and wasably represented by PP Gul Kripalani,its man for all seasons.PP Gul, who also represented theGlobal Peace Initiative, gave an inspiringaddress in the course of which he“renamed” the Gateway of India asthe “Gateway of Peace”.Delivering an impassioned speech,Dr. Shashi Tharoor said it was a “savageirony” that the horror in Bombayon November 26, 2008, began withterrorists docking not too far from theGateway of India.He also paid tribute to Bombay’sindomitable spirit by stating that it“combined all the four elements of itsprecursors”; by attacking it, the terroristshad attempted to hit India’seconomy, its tourism, its internationalismand its openness. “That waswhat they tried to destroy. Theyfailed.”Several children from the NationalAssociation of the Blind, accompaniedby the popular singer and actressRaageshwari, rendered some soulfulmusic that moved and touched thehearts of all those present.When the Shillong Choir was calledupon to perform, its exuberant energy,glorious interpretation of familiarsongs and spectacular tonal variationsshowed why they continued to be theNo. 1 choir in India.Finally, an oath of peace was takenand doves were released into the airby Ms Scherr and PP Gul to signifythe message of peace.The programme was sponsored bythe Taj Welfare Group, the AdityaBirla Group, the Oberoi Group ofHotels and the Global Peace Initiative.In his vote of thanks, Gul Kripalaniacknowledged the presence of PresidentNowroze and thanked the RotaryClub of Bombay for its supportin the planning of the event.Clubs’ meetsin MadrasMembers are aware that Rotaryis 108 years old and the RotaryClub of Bombay, Chartered in 1929,is 84 years old. But few know thatthere are not one or two but another180 Rotary Clubs that were Charteredin the same year, 1929! All those Clubs,spread all over the world, are now 84years old.One of them, the Rotary Club ofMadras (District 3230), took the leadto organise a unique Fellowship ofRotary Clubs Chartered in 1929 andstyled it the “Group of 1929 Clubs”.It suggested that this group should meetannually, with one Club taking up theresponsibility of hosting the eventevery year.A week-long celebration was heldin Madras at the end of February,2013, and attracted participation bythe Rotary Clubs of Bombay, CanonCity and Seremban. (Members of theRotary Club of Colombo could notmake it.)Host Club President Rajendra Sabanayagamand his team, including Hon.Secretary Sathiaram Ram, left no stoneunturned to ensure that the programmewas an unforgettable one and that everythingwent without a hitch.Hon. Secretary Sitaram Shah, Dr.Rohini Chowgule, Vinod Juneja andAshok Chinai, accompanied by hisspouse Nayna, represented the RotaryClub of Bombay.There were no heavy-duty speechesand the itinerary was filled with Fellowshipevents, visits to project sites,the famed beaches of Madras and a lotof banquets, breakfasts and dinners.Management of healthwith YogaAs part of the Rotary Service Weekorganised at the District level inthe Phoenix Mills compound fromAccounts for year ended March 31, 2013 January 25 to 27, a free, multi-purposemedical camp was arranged byPresident Nowroze Vazifdar announcedat the meeting of June “a very, very healthy financial situa-experts from the KaivalyadhamHe stated that both entities were in the Rotary Club of Bombay along with11 that normally the accounts for the tion... our current corpus exceeds Rs. Ashram at Lonavala.Rotary year (from July to June) were 7 crores and it keeps on increasing”. The focus was on Yoga as a meanspresented at the Annual General Meetingin December. But this year, the after year. On account of some rules, a tors to the camp on various preven-The Club had run a surplus year of healing. (Yogic) doctors guided visi-Club had decided to make a departure certain amount was transferred (as part tive and curative aspects of Yogicfrom the practice.of tax saving/planning) to the corpus. therapy.The accounts for the financial year There was hardly any year when there Yoga enthusiast and Hon. Secretaryending March 31, 2013, had been preparedand hence it was decided to “We are in a very healthy financial participation with the management ofhad been a deficit.Sitaram Shah coordinated the Club’spresent excerpts from the same in orderto give members a fair idea of the money should there be a good project.” the camp were able to leaf through asituation and we are never short of the Kaivalyadham Ashram. Visitors tostate of affairs.Nowroze chipped in to say that a large number of books on treatment ofTrustee PP Arun Sanghi shared significantfigures through a presentation, mean that there would be a surplus in Among the visitors to the campsurplus in one year did not necessarily various diseases through Yoga.first of the Club’s Charity Trust and the next.So also with a deficit in any were President Nowroze, IPP Paulthen of the Rotary Club of Bombay. given year.George and Rotaryann Radhika MehtaJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 31

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 4509rotaryclubbombay1@gmail.comOFFICE-BEARERS 2012/13PRESIDENT NOWROZE VAZIFDARImmediatePast President Paul GeorgePresident-Elect Nirav ShahVice-President Shailesh HaribhaktiHonorary Secretary Sitaram ShahJoint Hon. Secretary Hiren KaraHon. Treasurer Ishraq ContractorCLUB SERVICE: New MembersDirector in charge Nirav ShahMembership PP Sandip AgarwallaClassifications PP Dr. Adi DasturInformation PP Dr. Kekoo KavaranaMembershipDevelopment &District Conference Shailesh HaribhaktiCLUB SERVICE: Programmes/MeetingsDirector in charge Framroze MehtaAttendance Arvind AgarwalProgramme PP Haresh JagtianiFellowship PP Ashish VaidBulletin, Website& Public Relations PP Arun SanghiSergeant-at-Arms Roda BillimoriaCOMMUNITY SERVICE: Medical – IDirector in charge Dr. Percy ChibberChairman Emeritus,Talwada PP Dr. Rahim MuljianiHTEC, Talwada PP Dr. Rumi JehangirADMC, Talwada Dr. Sorab JaveriOral Health Dr. Rajeev NarvekarCOMMUNITY SERVICE: Medical – IIDirector in charge Dr. Vandana BulchandaniControl of TB Dr. Rohini ChowguleCancer Aid Zinia LawyerHeart Care and Health Dr. Aashish ContractorPolioPlus &Differently Abled Shyyamniwas SomaniCOMMUNITY SERVICE: Non-MedicalDirector in charge Sunny PariyaramOld Age Homes/Senior Citizens Naresh Kumar JainRural Development Dilnavaz VariavaEnvironment Jagdish MalkaniVOCATIONAL SERVICEDirector in charge Shernaz VakilRotary & Public Awards Ram GandhiVocational Training &Night Study Centres Bimal MehtaINTERNATIONAL SERVICEDirector in charge Ashok MinawalaRotary Foundation &Matching Grants PP Arvind JollyR.I. Programmes &Slumber Kit PP Rajnikant ReshamwalaNEW GENERATIONS: EducationDirector in charge Madhusudan DagaBhavishya Yaan Manish ReshamwalaScholarships & Loans Manojj Kumar PatodiaManagement Studies Poonam KumarNEW GENERATIONS: YouthDirector in charge Arjun JollyInteractMeera AlrejaRotaractRavindra FotedarRoad Safety Deepak KapadiaPublished on Tuesday, June 25, 2013. Regd. No. MH/MR/South-109/2012-14; R.N.I. No. 14015/60Posted at Mumbai Patrika Channel Sorting Office, Mumbai 400 001, on Wednesday, June 26, 2013ROTARY CLUB BOMBAYCHARITIES TRUST No. 3Collection (01.07.2012 to 19.06.2013)CollectionsCommittee General Capit./Corp. TotalCommunity Service- MedicalHasanali TobaccowalaEye Centre 818,905 78,401 897,306Ajit Deshpande Med. Cen. 425,001 425,001Cancer Aid 90,001 841,000 931,001Medical (General) 500,000 500,000Community Service- Non-MedicalSenior Citizens(Old Age Homes) 573,200 573,200Community Service- EducationEducation (General) 500,000 500,000Bhavishya-Yaan(Incl. Scholarships) 1,671,163 30,000 1,701,163Merit-cum-Means(Incl. Hasho/JaiHira) 10,000 20,000 30,000Education (MakiTaraporevala) 50,000 50,000Management Education 50,000 50,000New Generation- YouthInteract 5,000 5,000District Thrust ProjectsSlumber Kits(pass through) 3,918,015 3,918,015International ServiceRotary Foundation(Pass through) 7,659,400 7,659,400OthersYoga Science(Baldeodas B.Shah trust) 150,000 150,000Gen.donation/Gen.corpus 1,725,001 32,501 1,757,502Sports Committee 40,000 40,000Sneha Project 100,000 100,000Oberoi Melting Pot(Pass through) 3,808,193 3,808,193Global Peace(Pass through) 520,000 520,000Terry Fox Run(Pass through) 722,500 722,500Female Project(Pass through) 176,000 176,000Birthday 1,245,651 1,245,651Service Box 172,340 172,340TOTAL 24,730,370 1,201,902 25,932,272Happy BirthdayKarl DivechaJune 26Ashok ChinaiJune 28Dinshaw PandoleJune 30Dr. Mukesh BatraJuly 1SpousesShirin KatgaraJune 25Manek GuzderJune 26Brinda SomayaJune 28Sudha MahindraJune 29Indu BrahmbhattJune 30Bernd SchneiderJune 26PP Arjun BulchandaniJune 30Jairaj PurandareJune 30Naresh Kumar JainJuly 1Editorial 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-109/2012-14, R.N.I. No. 14015/60Posted on Wednesday, June26, 2013; Published on Tuesday,June 25, 2013Printed, 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 BulchandaniJune 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 32