Gateway 120711.pmd - Rotary Club of Bombay

‘I am doubly blessed,’ says President Paul GeorgePresident Paul George, who assumedoffice at the stroke of mid-results. At present it covered three make”.do that the Club simply had tomunicipal schools), had shown great scope of the social impact that we can haps to occupy the top spot. But tonight on June 30, said he was deeplytouched by the fact that he had beenelected President of the Club by hisfellow members. He had no words todescribe the signal honour that hadcome his way by the fact that RotaryInternational had an illustrious Indianlike Kalyan Banerjee as President duringthe same year, 2011-12.“We would enjoy this uniquehonour and bask in your reflectedglory, Kalyanda!”The Rotary Club of Bombay hadundertaken several programmes andprojects in the fight against poverty,illiteracy, neglect and discrimination.While these were a humble attempt toimprove the quality of life of the disadvantaged,it was now time to reachfor new horizons, to realise newdreams and to gear up to meet freshchallengesTouching on the plans and the visionfor the year ahead, Paul said thatthe Club had over 45 Committees, allof them engaged in useful activities.These would continue their meaningfulwork as before. However, therewould be sharper focus on providingwider coverage in some thrust areas.At Talwada, where the health andenvironmental concerns of the residentswere being addressed throughthe signature project, the HasanaliTobaccowala Eye Centre, and by theAjit Deshpande Medical Centre, it wasplanned to offer complete or 360-degreecoverage. This would be donethrough the junior college, the first ofits kind in the area, for the adivasi andtribal students.This project had been made possibledue to the munificent contributionof Rs. 35 lakhs made by BharatTaparia. Completion and commissioningof this college would top the Club’ssocial agenda.The Bhavishya-Yaan project,which was “a mission to a brighterfuture” (offering skills-enhancement tounderprivileged children in Bombay’smunicipal schools; this year, it wasplanned to add one more school.In the area of non-structured educationalefforts, stress would be laidon the Vocational Training and NightStudy Centres which were a joint venturewith the Bombay YMCA. Thestudents from these centres had doneexceptionally well at the recent Boardexaminations (with the topper at themunicipal schools scoring a whopping92%).President Paul said that the thirdarea of focus would be the senior citizens.Indian society placed great stresson respecting the elders. Acutely awareof this fact, the Club was likely topartner the Kewal Dham Vriddhashramin North Bombay to provideassisted living to senior citizens.“We are committed to ensure thatthose who planted the seeds of growthrest in the shade during their sunsetyears.”Having touched on service projects,President Paul then turned to two issuesthat had been worrying him. Thefirst of these was his concern aboutmembers being unable to find the timefor Club projects.“You, my fellow Rotarians, arebusy men and women and I know thatyour profession takes precedence. Butif you look around the world, you willfind that somebody who was exceptionallybusy invariably found the timeto come up with something exceptional.It is even said, ‘Give a busyman a project and he will commit himselfin such a manner that he uses hisprecious time judiciously and achieveshis goal expeditiously’.”The second issue was what hecalled the “poverty of ambition”. Hedreaded this the most because “for aClub of our vintage, a Club of our size,membership profile and legacy thatwe have inherited, we must not shyaway from breaking new ground, expandingand scaling up our presentoperations, thereby increasing thePaul said that in a world where compassionand understanding appearedto be in short supply, service was aunique philosophy worthy of one’stime and talent and deserving of dedication.Since he had already spokenabout time, he would dwell on talentand treasures.(In an aside, he said, “I can sensemy friends and buddies muttering undertheir breath – here goes Pope Paulwith his homily and getting intopreaching mode. But it would be ratherpresumptuous on my part to preachto the converted. However, do indulgeme for a few moments. Besides, thishalo needs to be justified!”)Most Rotarians were gifted andextremely talented, whether in the fieldof arts, culture, music, professionalexpertise or leadership skills; thanksto this, they could play the role ofmentors, personal coaches and guidesto the underprivileged. This wouldalso have the additional benefit of helpingto multiply these talents withinthe community they served.Turning to the third ‘T’, he said itwas about treasure. Some of those whowere unable to give of their time ortheir talent were blessed with a greatdeal of treasure and wealth. He justwanted to remind them that all religionscarried a similar message, viz.,“To whom much is given, much is expected”.Even the Scriptures encouragedeveryone to give freely.While the Rig Veda stated that “Hewho gives liberally goes straight to thegods; on the high ridge of heaven hestands exalted”, the Bible said, “Giveand it will be given unto you... for themeasure you give will be the measureyou get back”. (As far as he was concerned,“I’d like to think you’d getback a lot more”.)President Paul recalled that Kalyanhad rated the Rotary Club of Bombayamong the top five Clubs of the worlda few years ago; but now it was timeto move up a few notches and per-strengthen and improve its track recordin International Service.Rotary offered innumerable Scholarships;it had even started a Peaceand Conflict Resolution Programmerecently. But the Club did not appearto have spotted these opportunities(which any other Club of similar sizewould have grabbed).“We need to show greater appreciationfor the service rendered by TheRotary Foundation. It is the duty ofour Club to support The Foundationmore rigorously and with renewedvigour than in the past. That is essentialif we are to act with the larger picturein mind.“I am reminded of Helen Keller whoonce said, ‘It is for us to pray not fortasks equal to our powers, but forpowers equal to our tasks’. There area great many tasks that lie ahead of us.“In closing, I would like to turn toShakespeare. I hope the Bard will notturn in his resting place as I take libertywith one of his popular quotationsand adapt it to our settings. Hewrote, ‘If music be the food of love,then, play on!’ But I would adapt itto, ‘If charity and service be the foodof love, then, play on!’“Let charity and service work inharmony and symphony, therebyleading to the creation of an unchainedmelody. Let’s make music together,music that sounds melodious and mellifluous,not just to our ears but tothose who we wish to serve unconditionally.We can. We must.”There was loud applause as PresidentPaul completed his talk. He thenrequested Sabira Merchant and (Dr.)Sonya Mehta to take on the responsibilityof introducing the Club’s Office-Bearers,Directors and CommitteeChairpersons for the year.Sabira and Sonya did an outstandingjob of requesting Office-Bearers,Directors, Chairpersons, Co-Chairsand others to rise and approach thestage as their names were called out sothat they could be introduced to members(and photographed, too).Finally, it was time to introduce the“Club XI” that would serve District3140 during the year. As the memberswalked to the stage, District GovernorVijay Jalan said he had decided toadd one more member from the Clubto his District team.IPP Pradeep Saxena was requestedto join the “Club XI” and DG Vijayfor a group photograph. He wouldlook after Public Relations at the Districtlevel.After a brief introduction by PresidentPaul, it was time for DistrictGiving them the traditional Parsi welcome. Arin Master waves a coconut and then an egg before the chief Governor Vijay Jalan, who was theguests, R.I. President Kalyan Banerjee and Binota. Next, ‘aarti’, ‘tilak’ and a thick, red garland – Rita guest of honour, to address the Club.Dalal and Devina Shah continue where Arin left off, welcoming the Banerjees in a traditional manner(Please see Page 5)July 12 to July 18, 2011 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 3