Gateway 120711.pmd - Rotary Club of Bombay

‘DOUBLE DELIGHT’ FOR IPP PRADEEP SAXENAOutgoing President PradeepSaxena was caught by surprisenot once but twice within a short spanof a week as his term was coming toan end on June 30.He was a relaxed man as he headedfor the Shukriya function arranged bythe outgoing District Governor, Dr.Jayant Kulkarni, on Wednesday, June29.Just a day earlier, on June 28, hehad presided over his last meeting asPresident of the Rotary Club ofBombay and had distributed the ClubAwards to his outstanding team members.But soon after he reached the venueof the Shukriya function, he wasasked to don the robes of a don (anacademic don, no pun intended),complete with a tasselled square blackcap.Jayant and his team had given thepodium a different look, with a pictureof Bombay University’s and thecity’s iconic Rajabhai Tower and thewords “University of Rotary”printed above it. Dr. Jayant Kulkarniwas cited as the “Vice-Chancellor”.Before he knew it, Pradeep’s namewas announced and he had to walkup to the stage to receive his degree.He was invited to receive the “GoldMedal Citation” for the Best PerformingClub in District 3140.Pradeep was quite overwhelmedas he accepted the Award on behalfof the Club.The second surprise came his wayon the following Tuesday, July 5,when the Rotary Club of Bombaywas privileged to have as its chiefguest the serving President of RotaryInternational, Kalyan Banerjee.As the Committee Chairpersonswere introduced and invited for groupphotographs along with PresidentPaul George and their respective Directors,Pradeep’s mind appeared tobe elsewhere.The surprise occurred when thosemembers who had been invited toserve the District by Governor VijayJalan were invited to pose for a photographalong with him. Eleven membersof the Club were named.But Governor Vijay whisperedsomething into President Paul’s earsand he, in turn, requested his predecessorPradeep to join the team selectedto serve the District.Seeing his surprised look, the Governorstated that he would be honouredif Pradeep joined his team andlooked after Public Relations.Pradeep stepped down from thepodium to loud applause and joinedthe rest of the Club members chosento serve the District.Good luck to Pradeep!Twelve members of the Rotary Club of Bombay will serve District 3140 underthe leadership of Governor Vijay Jalan. They are, from left to right, NiravShah, PP Ashish Vaid, PP Sandip Agarwalla, PP Arvind Jolly, PP KalpanaMunshi, PP Rajnikant Reshamwala, PP Gul Kripalani, Deepak Kapadia,Alok Sekhsaria and IPP Pradeep Saxena who was a surprise last-minuteaddition to the District team. Two members, Shailesh Haribhakti and BipinKapadia were not present at the last meetingAnd here is the gold medallist! Outgoing District Governor Dr. JayantKulkarni presents Pradeep Saxena with the ‘Gold Medal Citation’ for BestPerforming Club in District 3140 at the ‘Shukriya’ function organised on thelines of a convocation ceremony on June 29. The DG acted as ‘Vice-Chancellor’ of what he called the ‘University of Rotary’Suggestions invited for Rotary and Public AwardsThe Rotary and Public Awards heroic role in midst of the 26/11 attack Past recipients include Ms Chetana Ramakrishna Bajaj Award for GoodCommittee of the Club for 2011- on the city in 2008 have been recognised Sinha, Ms Achala Joshi and the Governance12 has invited suggestions from membersfor the Awards that the Club bestowseach year.While three of the Awards are sponsoredby the Club itself, eight are sponsoredby Club members.In a communication to The Gateway,Committee Chairman NelumGidwani has listed the basic criteria forentitlement of each of the Awards. Hehas also given the names of a few pastrecipients (as an indicative yardstick)of the Awards.CLUB AWARDSCitizen of MumbaiThe person selected should havecontributed to the development, administrationand stature of the city ofMumbai and its citizens. Past recipientsinclude Mr. J.R.D. Tata, Mr. JulioRibeiro, Mr. B.G. Deshmukh, (Dr.) InduShahani and the Tata Trusts.Bravery AwardA display of outstanding bravery inprotecting property and lives wouldentitle a person to receive this Award.Some of the policemen who played awith this Award.Social ServiceIn this case, the selected personshould have a record of outstandingsocial service for the citizens ofBombay, especially the less-privilegedsections. Ms Shielu Srinivasan of theDignity Foundation and Ms ShaheenMistri of the Akanksha Foundationhave received this Award in the past.SPONSORED AWARDSSomchand Parikh Award for BestTeacherSchool teachers as well as college lecturers/professorsare eligible. Theyshould have a record of more than justacademics. The Club sends out lettersto a number of schools and other RotaryClubs in the District to make suggestionsfor this Award and an interviewprocess is then undertaken.Anita Parikh Award for Empowermentof WomenAny person who has encouragedwomen to become independent andself-sufficient and to pierce the glassceiling would be eligible for this Award.Women’s India Trust (WIT).Shyam Munshi Award for LifetimeAchievement in the Performing ArtsAn outstanding personality from theworld of cinema, drama/theatre andmusic is eligible for this Award. Pastrecipients include Mr. Dev Anand, Mr.Amitabh Bachchan, Ms Shabana Azmi,Pandit Jasraj and (Dr.) Mallika Sarabhai.Sohrab Godrej Memorial Award forScience & TechnologyThis Award is presented to a personwho has made an outstanding contributionin the field of science and technologyin the country. Some past recipientsare Dr. Madhavan Nair, Dr.Anil Kakodkar and Dr. M.S. Swaminathan.Taru Lalvani Award for Protection ofthe EnvironmentThose who have contributed to theprotection of the environment, eitherthrough teaching, research, spreadingthe word and/or opposition to environmentallyunfriendly acts, are eligible.Past recipients include Dr. R.K.Pachauri and Ms Sumaira Abdul Ali.This Award is for persons who havedemonstrated good governance in corporateaffairs or other institutions/organisations and enhanced its cause.Among the past recipients are Mr. F.S.Kohli and Mr. Kiran Karnik.Shri Pravinchandra Gandhi Awardfor Excellence in Public LifeA newly-instituted Award, it will begiven for the first time. The recipientshould have excelled for several yearsin public life in the field of people’srepresentation, social work, civic activitiesand so on.Uma Jain Award for a Young WomanAchieverAnother newly-instituted award, tobe presented for the first time. The recipientshould be below the age of 40and should have excelled in her field ofactivity, whether business, professionor social work.Chairman Nelum has requestedmembers to send their suggestions forthe above Awards as early as possible,preferably before July 31, to him at theRotary Secretariat.July 12 to July 18, 2011 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 9