Apr 2013 - The Golden Orange

APRIL 2013

R. I. President : Rtn. Sakuji Tanaka

HOLI FELLOWSHIP

SENIOR CITIZENS

District Governor : Rtn. Sanjay Meshram

RUBELLA VACCINATIONS

COMMUNITY WELFARE

Club President : Rtn. Atul Shah

BLOOD VOCATIONAL DONATION CAMPS TRAINING

SENIOR CITIZENS

HOLI AT MATOSHREE VRIDH ASHRAM

The Senior Citizens had a fun filled Holi…. In the company of PP Gulab Mahant, PP Arun and Kanak Bhargava, PP Rajan and Neeru Bhatia, Sharad and Pushpa Bhave, Prez Atul, Divya and Rachel Bhati and Anita Jain On Sunday 24th March, our club organised a visit to Matoshree Vridh Ashram, Adhasa. The residents of Vridh Ashram, along with our club members, played passing the parcel and took pleasure in singing and dancing. Some even sang Bollywood songs. The participants were given gifts.

Rotary Anns Kanak Bhargav, Divya Bhati, Dr Pushpa Bhave, Neeru Bhatia sang Holi

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Songs. A Water Cooler was donated to the Ashram by Rotarian Pramod Jain. Rtn Mohd Master donated 15 3”-pipes for irrigating the 3acre-land where they cultivate vegetables and grains for their own use. Chairperson Neeta Kale distributed the residents with Ayurvedic Soaps and Creams.

Our Members led by President Atul Shah and Director Manish Bhati served them delicious

snacks and sweets and put “Gulaal” on them to celebrate the upcoming festival of Holi. PP Gulab Mehant, PP Rajan Bhatia, PP Arvind Bhargav, Rtn Sharad Bhave and Rtn Yatin Malji were also present to share in their happiness.

-Chairpersons Neeta Kale & Anita Jain

Stop Prezz.....

Dear Rotary Families, One feels disgusted reading the newspapers, especially in the last few weeks. Only thing one gets to read about is Crime, Corruption and Complacency. I am confused – whether our society's morals been eroded drastically or reporting style by media has changed, just to grab attention since there are too many players(media) vying for a small space and hence.

But when I drop the paper and move out every day, I am convinced the world around us is not as bad as it is made out to be. The common man, the youth, the NGO's, the list is endless, I see everyone working to make this society a good place to live in.

During my recent visit to an old age home it was wonderful to see so many NGO's contributing to make it a comfortable place to

live in. Similarly, during the short film viewing session in one of our regular meetings, it was heartning to note the way our young generation thinks and their willingness to work towards betterment of the society, not to forget their creativity.

One of the Educational Institution I visited during the Rubella vaccination program, I was impressed the way it was being run without any grant or aid from the State and with complete transparency, with one of our members at the helm of its affairs.

Talking about good deed for the society, our partners in service involved with us in Vocational Training or MG projects or Surgical camps, each one is a shining example. Our GenNxt has also been involved in doing good for the society as we saw in their presentation “Annual Work Done”. The list goes on and on. I

hope our media shifts its focus, albeit a little.

Last Fellowship convinced me that if some day our club desires to make a movie, there is enough talent! No wonder it was a Super hit.

Kudos to the fellowship team!

Cheers!!

Atul Shah

Hear Me Out.....

Pardon me, did I hear you right???

Justice might have been delayed, but for once, it was not denied. The families who lost their near and dear ones in the 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai may feel vindicated after the sentences were pronounced to those guilty. All those found guilty had different roles in the unfortunate incident. Some were plain criminals while quite a few had been unassumingly drawn into the mess thanks to some indiscretion on their part. The bottom line being that each one played some role or the other. Knowingly or unknowingly……..wittingly or unwittingly, they played into the hands of anti nationals which resulted in arguably the saddest day in Indian terror history.

Then why this Kolaveri Di???? About Sanju Baba I mean!!!! A whole cross section of people including actors, politicians, legal luminaries and socialites have jumped into the 'pardon seeking' bandwagon. Various reasons are being cited as to why he deserves to be pardoned. Some on logical grounds, some on emotional grounds, some on 'ingenious' grounds.

His having depicted the role of Gandhi is my all time favourite. That he has suffered for the last few years fighting the case is also very good reason, notwithstanding the fact even those who get favourable judgments have suffered for no reason.

The only silver lining to this episode is that the debate on news channels has for the first time, in many years, steered clear of corruption and scams.

Arnab Goswami of Times Now has a brand new topic and is going ballistic on it. Coming to the topic of Arnab, even though he has done great service to the nation by constantly taking up critical issues, he needs to be sensitive to other people's views. Asking a question, not allowing the panelist to answer it, interrupting between every word, changing the question after it has been half answered and offensively launching into the next question with the same cycle being repeated may not be the best way to carry out a debate or a discussion, but it is extremely absorbing and good time pass.

Thanks to TV serials (for women) and news channel debates (for men), happily married couples have a new topic to fight over. The Remote!!!!

Shabbir Shakir

shabbir.shakir66@yahoo.in

Keep in touch......

We invite expert comments, suggestions, criticism and commendations. This will help us know the pulse of readers and improve the publication. Please write in to shabbir.shakir66@yahoo.in

CREDITS Director : IPP Tauby Bhagwagar Chairperson : PP Dr. Sanjiv Chugh Editor : Shabbir Shakir Processing : Eskay’s Scanner Designing : Gurushree Graphics Printing : Shabbir Shakir Paper : Courtesy BILT

COVER up....

Shibu Mathew and Meher Kanga giving expression to their creativity on canvas Poonam Sethi, who successfully organized the Holi fellowship and the multifaceted Veenita Pasari Rachel Bhati feeding a lady at Matoshree Vridh Ashram Rubella Vaccination has a young girl petrified

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GUEST EDITOR Parag Paranjpe

We shall have a Guest Editor every month at the GO. Here the GEs will give expression to their creativity by writing about what they will. Past Editors of the GO will be seen in this space one by one. The idea has come into being so that these two pages will have something refreshingly new to offer every month, steering clear of the year mould.

The GE of this month, Parag Paranjpe is the chosen GO Editor for 201314. Young, dynamic, intelligent and creative, he is sure to take the GO to newer heights.

The only certainty in life is death and no wonder many traditions actually celebrate death. There have been some images that pay respect to departed soul. Few moving images I could pick from the net‌..

Mel Blanc, the iconic American voice actor who gave his voice to Bugs Bunny,Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian, PepĂŠ Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, the Tasmanian Devil and many other characters from the Looney Tunes passed away, this poster was paid as a beautiful tribute to his legacy.

When the author Kurt Vonnegut passed away his website displayed a simple black-and-white drawing showing an empty birdcage with the door wide open.

A tribute to Steve Jobs by a Hong Kong student Jonathan Mak

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Tribute to Dara Singh

THE LOVE STORY (All characters in this piece are real) True to Swedish efficiency, I was handed over the program schedule for the entire month on the very first day of my arrival on GSE visit.

Experiencing immaculate planning and thoughtful programs through out the month, my curiosity was however on the program scheduled on the last leg at the city of Boras.

Why a day long visit was scheduled with a gentleman called PK Mahanandia?

On scheduled day we met Pradumna Kumar (PK, as most of the people know him in Sweden) at the school in Boras. He is an arts teacher and judging by the reactions of the students, the most popular one as well. We reached his home that was spread over 400 hectares & met his family.

We were all keen to know how he came to Sweden and married a girl there. Fact sometimes is stranger than a fiction. Story of PK is amazing and unbelievable. It came from the man himself so have to believe him.

It all started way back in early 70s in small village in Orissa. In his childhood, PK born to a poor family of postmaster indulged in everything but studies. Though an excellent painter, he was failure for his teacher and parents. Frustrated, he tried his luck with suicide but failed there as well.

Worried parents consulted an astrologer and were told that his son would marry a Taurus girl belonging to wealthy family from outside the state. PK, who was listening started to dream impossible.

Somehow he managed school and went to Delhi to study arts. There he lived on pavements and managed study by selling portraits. Police used to round him up for want of license to sell portraits at Connaught Place. He however was more than willing to get arrested as it means confirmed meal and a place to sleep!! His wit and painting skills made him friends with police and later even they did not arrest him. A constable suggested him to draw portraits at International airport as foreign tourist might pay him more.

A lady astronaut from former USSR was guest during the Republic Day parade. Children's were queuing up to greet her and were offering flowers to her. PK too drew her portrait from newspaper clippings, signed it and threw at her convey. As luck would have it she saw it and liked it very much. She asked for this gentleman and immediately search order was issued.

Parliament Police Station always had the information and PK was promptly dispatched to Russian embassy for few more sketches. And from Russian embassy to embassies of many European countries' to late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the wife of then President Zakir Hussain the journey was smooth and fast. He drew portraits of many famous figures during that

time and as a reward he asked for the license to sell portraits at CP!!

Some ten thousand km away in another corner of the globe, in a royal noble family of Sweden, a father was worried for his daughter. In her dreams she sees a prince coming on an elephant to marry her. All she wanted to do was to go to India as the place she knew had elephants and kings. When everyone laughed her dream and the impatience grew beyond limit, she took a car, couple of friends and drove all the way to India, landed up in Delhi and one evening in front of an artist named PK. They met and felt something for each other. She came back next day and again a day after. He drew her portraits, and on third day suddenly asked her if she is a Taurus? 'Yes' was the answer. 'Then you will be my wife' said PK. Guess what? She agreed immediately.

They married and went to his village in Orissa, spent couple of weeks and then as it happens in all love stories had to leave for Sweden. PK decided to stay back till his studies are over with a promise to meet again.

But things hardly changed even after studies. He was poor, had no income, or a place to live and the entire world making fun of his love story. A white girl marrying a poor non-white boy and the boy waiting endlessly for her to come back!!

Somebody jokingly gave him his old bicycle to go to Sweden. This man took him seriously and started for Sweden!! Visa requirement were not strict those days and if at all there were, he had contacts with embassies!! With a second hand bicycle, portfolio of sketches, newspaper clippings of their marriage and a dream to meet his love of life, he was ready for the amazing journey.

There was small problem though; he did not know where Sweden was!! All he knew was that he has to travel in the direction where sun sets. At Wagha border, he was captured by Pakistani army for unlawful entry and was handed over back to Indian army. The painting skills, few newspaper clippings of his marriage with Swedish girl helped him and an army officer arranged tickets to Kabul. He continued the torturous journey unmindful of menacing weather, rough terrain and natural obstacles. At

the city of Herat, the governor impressed with his paintings extended his visa and also arranged exhibition of his paintings. The ambassador of turkey in Kabul gave him transit visa. From Iran to Turkey to Bulgaria and Yugoslavia he continued. Love took him this far and changed an ordinary to an extra ordinary.

During his journey he faced difficulties of enormous magnitude but he prevailed. At Germany, he was detained suspecting him to be a drug dealer. They did not find anything in his bag except his portfolio and paper clipping of his exhibition and of marriage. The police chief got his portrait done and arranged his travel to Denmark. There a lady helped her and took him to Sweden. It took him four month to reach there.

The immigration officer their advised him to go back and warned him as the lady supposedly his wife belongs to famous 'Von' family and that her father will use him as target to practice his 'flawless' firing skills.

For the man who traveled thousands of miles through mountain terrains, deserts, jungles, bitter cold and many a times escaped from the jaws of death, these words failed to dampen spirit. A phone call to Charllote was enough for him to forget all sufferings. She came all the way to receive him at Malmo in south Sweden. But the joy was soon taken over by fear of facing her father. He was speechless with amazement when the tough gun-wielding father gave him decent reception. A loving handshake and affectionate hug drove away all his apprehensions. Thus began a new chapter in the life of PK. Toady apart from being a teacher, PK is a wellknown artist in Sweden and has exhibited his painting in major cities across the world and have found place in UNICEF greeting cards. PK and Charllote (Lata, for Indian relatives) have a son Karl (Siddhartha) and daughter Emile. Their son is the winner of the best DJ of Sweden and was also adjudged as hottest DJ in entire Scandinavia. Daughter Emile is excellent designer.

What next? A book New Delhi- Boras is just out but written in Swedish. Probably a file by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Lata though is reluctant and both Bhansali and PK are waiting for her approval.

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LETTERATI

- Letters To The Editor

BEST LETTER

Dear Rtn Atulbhai, Just received your eagerly awaited colourful magazine “The Golden Orange” No.7 of January 2013 through courier which I found to be most interesting and informative excellently compiled and edited with colourful cover with glimpses of club events by Rtn. PP Shabbir Shakir with excellent articles on Face Book by Guest Editor Sohrab Kanga with following highlights for which my heartiest compliments and congratulations for an excellent job!

Club-bulletin is an invaluable tool through which the Leader reaches out to his readers with information and inspiration. Let me tell you that you have utilized this tool most effectively through your Editor for which my heartiest compliments and congratulations!

Highlights (with beautiful colourful photographs) O Report of weekly club meetings in December.

O Report of Blood Donation Camp on 15th December by R&Y Associate employees – collected (111) units of blood.

O Installed 4-Way Test Board on (12) school buses.

O Workshop on 19th December at Seva Sadan MSS for (10) inmates for Mala-making and Rangoli Making (12th Dec.) O Computer Training for slums women on December 3rd and December 5th.

O Activities of Rotaract and Interact Clubs.

O Report of DG's OCV on 13th December on your club's 68th Charter

Day – DG visited club Projects and club Assembly.

O Glimpses of Felicitation to Past Presidents.

O Celebration of Charter Nite with DG as Chief Guest on 13th December.

O Report of Surgical Camp at Yograj Hospital , Ramtek with (19) surgeries.

O Inter-club Cricket Match with RC Ishanya on December 9 – participated by (3) teams.

O Family Picnic to Deogarh Fort by Adventure Group participated by (70) on December 2.

O Christmas Celebration at YMCA School by (30) Interactors Club on 20th December.

O Visit to Members homes of Rtn.Manju Sahani and Rtn.Tauby Bhagwagar O Interesting articles on 'Treasure Hunt', 'Xpress', 'Advance Booking', 'Bobby's Bubbles' and 'Kidzzzone' etc.

O Report of Dist.Conference “Jalsa” at Navetal Hotel, Hyderabad with RID Shekhar Mehta as Chief Guest.

O Awards to Best Chairpersons for November. (with photographs) Congratulating you once again for the above excellent Bulletin and with best wishes for (12-13) and with warm personal regards to you and Ann: Shefaliben and Rotary Greetings to all your members from myself and Indumati, we remain, Your Friends, JAGMOHAN KATAKIA

There will be a best letter prize every month.

So keep writing.

Also mail your photograph along with your letter.

must add that you also contributed to the success and grandeur of the conference. The speech you made at the opening ceremony was truly remarkable and was the icing on the cake. We are very happy that we got you as our RI Representative, your camaraderie and fellowship was truly appreciated by all.

We will also follow your advice of increasing our contribution to the TRF and also about enhancing the membership.

Vishwasji, we will definitely send the cd and some pictures of the conference. My daughters and wife have sent their regards to you.

They have also shared two pictures of theirs through shutterfly.

I also take this opportunity to extend a warm invitation to you to come and enjoy our hospitality in our home town in Cannanore whenever you have the time.

With warm regards, -T. Somasekharan

Dear PDG Vishwas, I was very happy to get your letter and more so to get appreciation from you for our conference. I am also happy to know that you had a safe return trip to Nagpur.

The conference committee had indeed put on a grand show but I also

RI TREASURER FOR 2013 - 14 IS ANDY SMALLWOOD RI President-elect Ron Burton has chosen Andy Smallwood as RI treasurer for the 2013-14 Rotary year.

Andy Smallwood is a member of the Rotary Club of Gulfway-Hobby Airport, Houston, Texas, USA, and has been a Rotarian since 1981. He has served RI as Council on Legislation representative, RI president's representative, task force zone and area coordinator, Permanent Fund national adviser, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, Polio Eradication Private Sector Campaign chair, committee member, RI

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training leader, leaders' seminar trainer, and district governor.

Smallwood is a recipient of RI's Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation's Citation for Meritorious Service and Distinguished Service Award. He and his wife, Anita, are Major Donors and charter members of the Bequest Society and Paul Harris Society of The Rotary Foundation.

Source : Rotary International -Vishwas Sahasrabhojanee

TH

7 MARCH th

Business Meeting was held on 7 Mar., 2013 at “Udyog Bhawan”. President Atul Shah called the meeting to order. He welcomed the members and requested for Half a minute silent prayer.

President announced the Birthday & Anniversary greetings to members and thanked members who sponsored the snacks for the meeting.

Awa r d s wer e Ann ou nc e d fo r be s t chairpersons for Walkathon Committee to Sunil Bhatia and Amitabha Sharma; for Udaan Committee to Rita Bhargava; for Fellowship during Meeting Committee to Sharmila Sutaria and Mamta Jaiswal; for Take Rotary Home to Manju Bhatia and Rakhi Bhatia.

Hon. Sec. Shabbar Shakir read the minutes of last Business Meeting held on 7th Feb. House confirmed the minutes. Treasurer's Announcements were made by Alok Goenka.

He also informed that 329 members have paid half yearly dues till date.

President Atul read out the letter received from the DG's office inviting nominations, if any, from the Club for RID Nominating Committee.

Information about Next week's Program was given by Joint Secretary Mahendra Kamath.

He also informed about the upcoming fellowship at Godrej Anandam. Director Dr. Shaunak Mokadam briefed the members about the upcoming ear surgeries camp.

Sachin Palewar informed the members about the community welfare program at Saoner physically challenged school. Director Shivkumar Rao updated the members about the successful Vocational Training for Office Assistants organized for children of Pachpaoli slums.

Four members of our club – Nimish Sutaria, Dr.Bharati Gidwani, Sushma Hedau and Shweta Singh spoke and made members aware about the nitty gritty's of their vocation.

Award for Best Letter went to Anita Chitaley, for Crossword to Neeru Bhatia and the winner

BUSINESS MEETING for lucky draw in ladies committee meeting was Anita Chitaley.

Release of Golden Orange was made at the hands of PP Shreeram Marawar and editor PP Shabbir Shakir. Announcement about attendance Report & Distribution of 100% attendance Awards for the month of Jan 2013 were made by Yatin Malji.

President Atul wished all the ladies of the club a happy Women's day for 8th of March.

In any other matter Rtn Sonia Khurana asked the President about the progress on pending refund of her cancelled Bangkok trip which was long overdue. President informed her that DG Sanjay as well as he himself was pursuing the matter. President Atul has already informed the DG to try and settle the long overdue matter.

The meeting was adjourned with singing of national anthem.

-Mahendra Kamath

Dr Bharti Gidwani, Nimish Sutaria, Sushma Hedao & Shweta Singh speaking on their respective vocations

HOLI HAI!!!!!

Ladies committee does it again!! An evening full of masti, fun n games based upon the holi theme was organized. The meeting started with Holi wishes n Womens day wishes by chairperson Sonal Singhvi. Then began the roller coaster of fun with games... Holi Colours, paints, brushes everything was used to give a complete holi feel!!!! Everyone sportingly participated in the games n applied colour on eachothers faces. Groups were formed for the next game and antakshari.

LADIES MEETING

Special antakshari including famous holi and colour songs was brilliantly compiled by chairperson Shreya Mokadam which was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. The conference hall was beautifully decorated by Chairperson Duriya Akolawala and Shantala Bhole!! Chairperson Veenita Pasari was also present.A great team work!!!! The hall was filled to its maximum capacity. Sapna Vastani won the lucky draw.

-Sonal Singhvi

7 Adv. Jaiswal

Our pretty ladies in a more colourful avatar….

REGULAR MEETING THE ONLY AUTHENTIC WAY OF 'LIVING AFTER DEATH' – DONATE YOUR ORGANS The regular meeting of Thursday the 14th March 2013 had PDG Prakash Shesh M.Sc.(I.I.T.), D.B.M. (I.I.M. Ahemadabad), a leading management trainer speaking on 'Life after death'.

Death occurs when the heart stops and brain is dead. In other words any kind of correlation of the body with energy comes to an end. In 1901, Duncan Mc Donald carried out a scientific study to measure the weight of the soul, by weighting several bodies before and after death and came to a conclusion that average weight of the soul is 21 grams. This study was completely invalidated by fellow scientists.

Hindu religion is the only religion to believe in “After Life” and “Before Life”, meaning thereby re-incarnation or rebirth. Garud Purana- the one that was narrated by Lord Vishnu to his carrier Garuda, exclusively deals with 'Life After Death' in sixteen chapters. One of the chapters includes in detail' who will become a Ghost?' There are sixteen reasons enumerated such as – one who ill-treats his wife, one who kills a cow, one who consumes liquor……………… and the list goes on and on. It is stated that if one dies with unfulfilled dreams, he becomes a ghost. How can 'atma' remember, what did the brain store before death? The speaker posted a question.

Other religions like Christianity mentions purgatory. Islam- 8 gates of Jannat and 7 layers in Jahannum. Buddhism talks about 'life after death' based on one's own karma, in this life. (Without mentioning the presence of God of course). Parsees- in their religion believe that the soul lingers for 3 days and when it

opens its eyes only to find an old hag around, that is the outcome of 'bad deeds' and if it finds a beautiful woman in the vicinity that is the result of 'good deeds'.

It is unbelievable, but true that even the scientists of ISRO, keep the model of a vehicle for almost Two Months before its launching at Tirupati Balaji for ensuring success.

The only conclusion that can be drawn is “all of us are sold on immortality”- said the speaker.

The religion identified this need and delivered the package. It knocks death off terror. Thirdly all the rebirth cases reported are primarily by Hindus.

M/s Penny Sarton- a nurse, who worked in an Intensive Care Unit in a British Hospital-, documented reports of the patients who died momentarily and regained life. These are near death experiences as the heart stops and brain is still working. All of them saw bright light. Ian Stevenson of University of Virginia School of Medicine presented twenty suggestive cases of reincarnation. But his exclusive research could not prove his theory.

Dr. Brian Wise, Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. has propounded his theory of 'Past life regression' and he is the

visual presentation.

Rtn. Nimish Sutaria showed short films made

by Interactors and Rotaractors under the aegis of the Youth Services Committee.

Working on the idea that youth should be taught beyond academics by using their creativity, these youngsters were encouraged to try their hands at designing and creating short films conveying social messages. Of the

Nimish Sutaria, Sapna Vastani and Naushad Bhagwagar

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PDG Prakash Shesh

A MIXED BAG

REGULAR MEETING The regular meeting of Thur. 21st March was a mini film festival, of sorts.

Being the World Rotaract Week, it was befitting that the Rotaract Committee Chairpersons, Rtns.Sapna Vastani and Jatin Sampath present before the members the wide spectrum of activities carried out by Rotaractors. This, they did with a crisp audio-

author of bestseller “Many Lives Many Masters”. His efforts are also unproved and not substantiated by concrete evidences. His recent theory is 'Future Life Progression'. It states that 'all the souls are recuperated before they are resurrected'.

In conclusion, the speaker stated his opinion as 1. Brain is Kaleidoscope; it makes you believe all the things that are temporary.

2. Most of the time we give importance to that factor of eventuality (one percent), out of fear and keep following it for ex-lest, I may become a ghost.

3. Please give importance to statistics. Go for facts and figures only.

4. Donate your organs for medical research, the only good, logical and authentic way of 'living after death'.

It was a well researched speech. Rtn. Bharat Goenka introduced the speaker and Rtn. Vindhya Sanjana offered vote of thanks.

- Sharad Bhave

15 short films received, two were screened during the meeting.

“Autobiography of a Dust Bin” was created by Interactors of Centre Point School, Wardhaman Nagar. “Eet” (Brick) was created

by Aly son of Rtn Rozina and Shamsuddin Rana. Both the short films were meaningful and spoke volumes about the sensitivity of our youth.

The icing on the cake, literally, was provided

by Naushad Bhagwagar , who took us on a journey of faith with the screening of the film, Kumbh Karma. The discipline despite the dust and din; the devotion; the belief ;was all so evident in the short screening .The running commentary by 'Baba' Naushad gave insights into the Kumbh experience.

-Khushnoor S.Chugh

RANDONNEURING th

28 March Regular Meeting – Mrs Divya Tate.

The regular meeting of 28th March generated lot of excitement due to unusual topic (Randonneuring). The speaker was Mrs Divya Tate from Pune, the only lady Randonneurer from India. Randonneuring is basically a long distance cycling sports with its origin in France. Audex Club Parisien (ACP) is the international governing body for this endurance sports. Unlike a race where position matters, here each rider receive equal recognition regardless of their finishing order.

Divya Spoke about how she came to know about this. She had been into cycling for long time. A small initiative for healthy lifestyle soon turned into passion. An interior designer by profession, Divya soon got attracted to this fascinating event also called as Brevets. One of the famous brevets are Paris – Brest – Paris and London – Edinburgh – London.

Randonneuring being endurance event is also difficult for the fact that the riders are expected to be self sufficient between the control points.

She explained the different types of brevets.

The most popular is 200 km but there are other brevets also like 300, 400 and 600 km. Anyone completing all these four in a single season is called Super Randonneurer. Again Divya is

one of them and the only lady from India to achieve this honour. With a time limit of 13½ hour for 200 km, 20 hr., 27 Hr. and 40 hrs for 300, 400 and 600 km respectively, rider has to maintain an average speed of 15-20 kmph.

She shared the joy and the pain of undertaking this rigorous event. Climate, food and terrain are big challenges. But with more than 120 years of legacy behind the event, the people are very enthusiastic and offer food, drink to riders even at midnight. The brevet attracts many riders from across the world and the inspiration one gets from different riders is amazing. Riders come with different types of bike like recumbent, tandem bikes, triple.

There was a rider who is amputee and rides with only one leg. Then there is another rider who has completed brevet by backward paddling. The oldest person to complete the ride is 80 years. This and similar stories lift the spirit and make you do it once more.

On being asked why would somebody does it, she said the challenge itself is self-propelling.

The satisfaction, confidence and the resolve that comes with surviving pain is immense.

We have sporting heroes who have excelled but fallen from grace. The recent example of Lance Armstrong and Pistorius is case in

MAURITIUS

Jean Claude & Linda

Lata & Dev

Hiren & Renuka & family

REGULAR MEETING point. You may want to do it for various reason but for her the inspiration that she could give to others, share the stories, the legacy that would be build, and the opportunity that can be tapped by future generations are some of the reason why brevets still attracts her. Now she is preparing for 1200 km brevet 2015 and the mother of all RAAM (Race across America) She has already enrolled as crewmember for this year's RAAM. Earlier 3 new members were inducted to the club. Sheela Singhee introduced the speaker and Rtn Alok Goenka proposed vote of thanks.

-Parag Paranjpe

Mrs Divya Tate

INTERNATIONAL FAMILY EXCHANGE

Jeet & Sadhna Manbauhal

Gawtum & Sheela

Pres Esmael and Yasmin Patel

Suren & SheelaR

We have heard enough of a programme called International Family Exchange. The IFE is finally set to transform from a fantasy to reality. It might have taken 68 years, but it's happening!!!!! The person who can be credited for doing this is Vilas Kale.

A team of 15 (7 and a half couples) will be visiting The Rotary Club of Curepipe in Mauritius in the third week of April. The RCN team consists of Vilas & Neeta Kale, Behram & Archana Patel, Alok & Anula Goenka, Rajiv & Abha Choudhary, Nimish & Sharmila Sutaria, Naushad & Tauby Bhagwagar, Shabbir & Jumana Shakir and Vishwas Sahasrabhojanee.

Here are the families who will be hosting our team members.

-Team GO

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BLOOD DONATION ‘People believing in, worshipping and feeling closer to God are also closer to humanity'. This equation was proved right in the first half of March, when both the blood donation camps were held at two different temples and were participated by devotees visiting these temples. Offerings came in the form blood donation.

5th March, 2013: This camp was held at Khaparkheda Mandir and was organized by Mahajan Pariwar, which conducts religious and social programmes there. The camp

MARCH 2013 started at 10.00 AM and continued till 2.00 PM. Mr. Anand Mahajan worked hard for this camp.

He had already spread word and had appealed to people to come and donate blood on this occasion. Honouring his appeal, people came in large numbers and did their part. The collection at the end of the camp was an impressive 64 units.

10th March, 2013: The other camp was for devotees of Mahadev Tekdi Mandir, on the occasion of 'Maha-Shivratri'. This Mandir is situated on a small hillock at Khurmari, a few

kilometers ahead of Jamtha off Wardha Road.

The camp was conducted between 12.30 and 4.30 PM. The rising summer heat did not deter the Shiv Bhakts from participating in this camp, which generated 30 units of blood. Mr. Banait, Mr. Kale and other members of the Mandir Trust worked with full enthusiasm to make this camp a success.

Present at both the camps were President Atul Shah, Hon. Secretary Shabbar Shakir, Dr Sheela Mundhada and staff of Jeevan Jyoti Blood Bank.

25TH MARCH 2013 - VILASRAO DESHMUKH COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, MOUDA. Blood donation camp was held for the student and staff of college. The principle of the college Mr Burande took the initiative and

advanced the camp before the exam started.

The response was very good and 56 units were collected from this camp, which was

attended by Rtn Dr Sheela Mundhada.

-Parag Paranjpe

26TH MARCH 2013 – SPACEWOOD LTD, MIDC HINGNA. The annual blood donation camp for the staff and workers of Spacewood was held at their sprawling factory premises at MIDC Hingna.

The company is owned by our very own Rotarian Kirit Joshi and Vivek Deshpande

from Down Town Club. The camp began at 9.30 AM and gradually pace of blood donation increased till lunch time. Both Kirit and Vivek joined the donor list. The camp concluded at 3 PM by that time the count had reached to an

impressive 137 units. President Atul Shah, Hon Secretary Shabbar Shakir, Director Parag Paranjpe, Chairperson Rtn Dr Sheela Mundhada and Ravi Wankhede were present during the camp.

-Parag Paranjpe

Kirit Joshi looks on while Vivek Deshpande donates…..

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COMMUNITY WELFARE

DEAF AND DUMB SCHOOL, SAONER

The Community Welfare Committee was once again seen in action on 11th March'13 when the members visited the Deaf and Dumb Residential School, Saoner. The school had put forth a request for mattresses for the young inmates of the school sometime ago, for which the club made arrangements very promptly. After a quick tour of the school, a small function was held where 25 mattresses were handed over to the school authorities.

Examination material like compass boxes and examination boards were given to the school's first batch of ten students who were appearing for their board exams .Biscuits and chocolates were distributed amongst the children and old clothes were handed over to the authorities to

PP Tauby, Madhu, Vanital, Manish with the Special Kids

PP Gulab goes vocal

Shefali and Anita Jain join in

The children are watched from the sidelines

be distributed later on.Senior rotarian Mr.Gulab Mahant, Hon.Sec.Shabbar Shakir, ShefaliShah and Anita Singh were prominently present. Directer Manish Bhati

and chairpersons Vanita Shukul, Madhu Mrig and Smita Chaubey worked hard to make it a successful and satisfying day for all.

-Smita Chaubey

COMPUTER TRAINING Slum and Women upliftment committee in association with Prakasha Institute started one month computer training program at

WOMENS UPLIFTMENT

Manavseva Nagar near Seminary Hills. Dutta Meghe Foundation is the partner in service for this project. Majority of the students are

housewives from nearby locality. The kids too shall join soon after the school examinations are over. The program began at 3.30 pm on 20th March at the Durga Mandir premises. Mrs Asha Pawar, the patron of Prakasha institute was instrumental in spreading the word about the program. President Atul Shah, Director Parag Paranjpe and Chairperson Rtn Ragini Sahu and Kusum Pande were present for the inaugural session.

-Parag Paranjpe

The ladies in Computer Space

CENTRE POINT COLLEGE

FOUR WAY TEST The installation of 4 Way Test Board was held at Centre Point College, Nagpur on 1/3/2013. The programme started sharp at 5 pm. It was a very informal but sweet fellowship. Though examination time, Centre Point College organized the event meticulously.

President Atul Shah, Shivkumar Rao, Sheebu Mathew, Beena Mathew, Nimish Sutaria, Aparna Gandhe, Gaurav Jaipuria, Rajesh Yadav, Mamta Jaiswal and Sushma Hedaoo were present.

-Sushma Hedaoo

Nimish, Beena, Sushma, Shiv, Atul & Rajesh with the College Authorities

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FREE RUBELLA VACCINATION CAMP BY ROTARY CLUB OF NAGPUR & OCHRI Rubella is sometime called German measles or 3-day Measles. It is a generally mild disease caused by the rubella virus. The greatest danger from rubella is to unborn babies. If a woman gets rubella in the early months of her pregnancy, there is an 80% chance that her baby will be born deaf or blind, with a damaged heart or small brain, or mentally retarded. This is called Congenital Rubella Syndrome, or CRS. Miscarriages are also common among women who get rubella while they are pregnant. The virus may affect all organs and cause a variety of congenital defects. Infection may lead to fetal death, spontaneous abortion, or premature delivery.

As a social responsibility towards needy all Unmarried girls ; Rotary Cub of Nagpur and Orange City Hospital & Research Institute have joined hands to organize a free Rubella Vaccination camp on Thursday 28th March 2013 from 10am to 12noon at Jaivik

Auditorium, Orange City Hospital & Research Institute.

On this occasion Dr.Sameer Jahagirdar, Plastic Surgeon and Convener of this camp stated that Rubella vaccine is indicated for immunization against Rubella in persons from 12 months of age to puberty. Immunization of susceptible non pregnant adolescent and adult females of child bearing age with live attenuated Rubella virus vaccine is indicated if certain precautions are observed.

Dr.Bindu Menon, Consultant Gynecologist, OCHRI stated that vaccinating susceptible post pubertal females confers individual protection against subsequently acquiring rubella infection during pregnancy, which in turn prevents infections of fetus and consequent congenital rubella injury. Women of child bearing age should be advised not to become pregnant for 28 days after vaccination. It has

been found convenient in many instances to vaccinate rubella susceptible women in the immediate postpartum period. It is highlighted that females should neither conceive for 28 days period following vaccination nor it should be administered during pregnancy.

Smt.Shobha Bainalwar, Kalyani Nursing School, Dr.Sameer Jahagirdar, Plastic Surgeon and Convener and Dr.Bindu Menon, Consultant Gynecologist are the Organizers on behalf of OCHRI. Saramma Samuel, Dayaram Nimbarte, Priya Sashi, Dr.Preeti Waghmare, Dr.Noorul Amin, Ambika Nair, Sheela Patel, Sindhu Rao, Prakash Shende and Priti Joseph are members of the Organizing Committee. Shri.Ganesh Iyer, Shri. K.S.Shaji, Shri.Avinash Ganar and Shri.

Pankaj Wadaskar are assisting them in this noble undertaking.

Pres Atul Speaks while Drs Jerry and Sameer work and others listen

VOCATIONAL TRAINING

OFFICE ASSISSTANT

Director Parag hand over certificates, watched by others Getting the underprivileged youth into an trainers Amit Arya and Shreya Shukla. They Point College for allowing the students to use employable position is the need of the hour. have done a commendable job by taking out their computer lab. The slum development The office assistants program did just this by time out of their schedules and contributing to committee deserve kudos for identifying teaching, the youth from Indora slums, basic this project. Computer training to the students students as well as a hall for training. The office skills, personality development and was imparted at Centre Point College by trainers have listed about 10 students out of 22 -Shiv Kumar Rao English. The course was conducted by Meenal Lanjewar. Many thanks to Centre as readily employable.

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AT CHANDAK SCHOOL

Nilofer and Atul are amused at Tauby's medical skills

RUBELLA VACCINATION

Jerry working, as usual

Dr Shaunak and Cyrus Join in

A Rubella Vaccination camp was held at Ramesh Chandak English school and 50 girl students were vaccinated that day. Dr Shaunak and Dr Jerestin alongwith Rtn Tauby, Rtn Nilufer and Cyrus efficiently adminstered the vaccines.

-Jerestin Watchmaker

AT GURU GOBIND SINGH SCHOOL

RUBELLA VACCINATION

Cyrus, Sarang, Dr Jerry, Rakhi, Dr Shaunak and Shabbar

On 13 th March, a Rubella Vaccination Camp was held at Guru Gobind High School, Kamptee where 80 girl students from Class 7 to 9 were immunised. Rtn Dr Shaunak Mokadam and Rtn Dr JerestÍn Watchmaker conducted the camp and were ably assisted by Rtn Rakhi Bhatia, Rtn Nilufer Rana, Rtn Sarang Upganlawar and staff from Nursing school of Suretech Hosp. Pres Atul, secr Shabbar and Cyrus were amongst those present.

-Jerestin Watchmaker

MSB INTERACTORS ORGANIZE DRAWING COMPETITION The Interact Club of MSB Educational Institute visited Dongargaon on 12th Jan, 2013 to give an opportunity to the tiny-tots of Prathmik Shada, Dongargaon to unveil their hidden talents in the Drawing Competition held by them.The MSB Interactors provided paper and crayons to the children. They also

distributed sweets and biscuits to them. First, second, third and consolation prizes were given.

After the competition the interactors went into the village and distributed woollen shawls and clothes to the villagers. This gesture gave the Interactors a new experience in their prime of

life – THE JOY OF GIVING. The teacherIncharge – Ms Rashida Dalal, Mrs Fatema Anis and Mrs Munira Jamali (Teacher of Arts) accompanied the interactors. The Principal, Mrs. Raziya Husain and Teacher-Incharge Ms. Rashida Dalal guided the interactors

Children seen drawing

Receiving Prizes

A MSB Interactor is seen giving shawl to a villager at Dongargaon

Smile. With MGP, you just got Genuine Peace of Mind, absolutely free!

Auth. Dist. : - Sudhanshu’s Sales & Marketing, G-2, Prathmesh Vihar, Near Unthkhana Squre, Great Nag Road, Nagpur-09., Ph. : 0712-2706587 / 88

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SURGICAL CAMPS

Couselling_to_relatives

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Rotary Club of Nagpur in association with Yogiraj Hospital, Ramtek run and managed

by Orange City Hospital & Research Institute have organized the CORRECTABLE DEAFNESS DETECTION & EAR SURGERY CAMP at Ramtek for the benefit of rural population from Ramtek and surrounding areas. Patients came from Ramtek, Deolapar, Parseoni, Mouda, Kalmeshwar, Mansar, and Chhindwara. Two day surgical camp was held on 16th & 17th March 2013 at Yogiraj Hospital, Ramtek. Out of 72 patients, 42 patients were selected for the free EAR Surgeries. In these two days 30 major and 12 minor surgeries were done. All the surgeries, medicines, diagnostic tests, hospital accommodation was provided to the patients “free of cost”. It is highlighted that Yogiraj Hospital is being run and managed by Orange City Hospital and Research Institute on “No Loss No Profit” basis.

Total 72 patients were screened for the period of one week by Noted ENT Surgeons Rtn. Dr. Nandu Kolwadkar from OCHRI, and Dr. Prakash Gupta, Consultant ENT Surgeon of Yogiraj Hospital, Ramtek. Free of Cost Audiometry tests were done by renowned Audiologist Dr. Ashish Disawal assisted by Shri. Narottam Awasthi.

Ear Surgeries were performed by Dr. Nandu Kolwadkar, Dr. P. C. Gupta, Dr. Akash Varhade and Dr.Kshitij Patil assisted by Dr. Santosh Dhole, Anaesthestist, Dr. Noorul Amin , and Dr. Pankaj Wahane, Dr. Roshan Jawadekar, Dr. Priyanka Chandekar, Dr. Yo g e s h Wa g h m a r e , D r. S o u r a b h Choudhary, Dr. Mohit Patel, Dr. Kavita Kamley and Dr. Rehan.

Team of doctors was assisted under the guidance of Smt. Sandhya Dhanwate, Nursing I/c OT, OCHRI by Ms. Vaishali Sakore, OT Nursing I/c, Ms. Saroj Meshram, Ms. Pinky Sakhare, Ms. Chandrlekha Bawane and Ms. Rupali Gajbhiye, Shri. Nitin Brother, Nursing I/c Wards. Team of OT Technicians led by Shri.

Raju Bhute, Shri. Shekhar Deshmukh, Shri. Umesh Bhoyar, Shri. Rakesh Thakre, and Shri. Umesh Rodkar. Electricity and Technical back up provided by Shri. Pankaj Wankhede. Br. Anurag, Ms. Sonam Sakhre, Houshila Kanoje, Pravita Ambatkar and

ENT SURGERIES

Pre-op_Prep Basanti Uikey also assisted the team in this camp.

Shri. Ashish Jaiswal, MLA, Ramtek visited the camp and appreciated the surgical team and the patients. He was accompanied by Shri. Andhare, Chief Officer of Ramtek Nagarparishad, Vice President of Ramtek Nagarparishad Shri. Ramesh Karamore, Chairman of Water Supply Committee Shri. Umesh Mahajan, Chairman of Education committee Smt. Kumbhalkar,

ENT_Surgery_under_Microscope

Officer I/c , Yogiraj Hospital briefed about the unique facilities available at hospital. He highlighted that Yogiraj Hospital is being run and managed by Orange City Hospital and Research Institute, Nagpur on “No Loss No Profit Basis” as a CSR endeavour to provide best medical healthcare services to the rural population at affordable costs. He further said that “Yogiraj Hospital” is nothing but a kind of healthcare movement. People from all the strata of the society should positively join this movement and serve the society.

Noted ENT Surgeon, philanthropist and Rotarian Dr. Nandu Kolwadkar opined that, most of the ENT problems are correctable, if treated on time. But people in India in general and rural population in particular, have less awareness and they tend to ignore these problems. He sadly pointed out that, even government agencies give less importance to ENT diseases and it has not yet launched any National programme dedicated to ENT as it has for eye diseases, malaria, filaria, HIV etc.

He told that, he is working hard on a mission with the help of Rotary to make central India “Ear Disease Free”. He thanked management of Shri. Laxminarayan Devasthan, Yogiraj Hospital, Rotary Club and OCHRI for extending their altruistic gesture.

Team led Shri.Rajesh Mastkar, Executive Coordination, YSSMHRC, Shri.

Moreshwar Khajure, Shri. Jitendra Kose, Smt. Varsha Samrit, Ms. Amruta Karamore, Shri. Prashant Urade, Shri.

Rajendra Mohankar Shri. Gyani, Shri.

Sanjay Tikre, Manish, Tathagat, Surendra Bhoyar, Ashok Gonnade, Pinky Gonnade, Pournuma Kamble, Dilip Selokar, Bhagwan Thavare, and Radheshyam worked hard for the success of this camp.

-Dr. Nandu Kolwadkar

Screening Corporators Shri. Anil Thakre, Smt. Mahajan and others. Shri. Subramanyam, DGM, Suryalaxmi Cotton Mills also visited the hospital and various departments of the hospital and took the information about functioning of this project. He hailed the efforts taken by Shri Laxminarayan Devasthan and Orange City hospital and Research Institute to develop such modern healthcare infrastructure at the remote place like Ramtek. They also appreciated the philanthropy behind this hospital. Shri.

Deepak Chhabra, Shri. Narayandas Agrawal, Shri. Sanjay Khandelwal from Shri. Laxminarayan Devsthan Trust, were prominently present on this occasion.

Shri. Deepak Chhabra expressed that such free surgery Camps in the rural areas by renowned doctors are very much essential as people are not much affordable to avail quality healthcare services. To get an expert opinion and surgeries, they have to travel to cities which take time and money. Because of this initiative taken by Yogiraj Hospital and Rotary Club Nagpur, rural people getting quality and ethical healthcare services at their doorsteps.

Team of Doctors with operated Patients Dr. Deepak Dongre, Nodal

SUR, SARGAM, AUR TAAL - FELLOWSHIP The March fellowship ........under the magical guidance of our very accomplished chairperson....Rt.Ann. Poonam Sethi...........who gave a concept of Sur, Sargam aur Taal,,,and won hundreds of hearts. It was a Fellowship brought to life by melodies rendered out by our members and their families, stage set on fire by dance sequences performed by our Anns in well though out costumes - shimmering western outfits to gorgeous, colourful folk dresses. Live colourful paintings happening to the tune, by Rtn.Shibu Mathew and little star Meher Kanga. The compereing was done by

charming and stylish Veenita Pasari in her 5 different "avatars"...from Meena Kumari to Tabbu.

The location and settings were perfect - the lush green lawns of Godrej Anandam. The rain God's were threatening all through the day but were gentle enough to just keep the weather pleasent. The decor at the venue, taken care of by Rtn.Shweta Singh was superb, especially the "baithak" system, was thoroughly enjoyed by our members. Songs based on various instruments - Saxophone, Keyboard, Guitar and Dhol were rendered by our extremely talented, senior and junior

members. The dance numbers put up by Rt.Anns were wonderful and the members could not resist but join them from time to time.

The energy levels of our members was worth watching.

The food served too was amazing, especially thought of by PP Bunty Rawal. All in all an evening which saw the involvement of all, an evening which will remain etched in the minds of our members for a long time to come, thanks to all the wonderful singers and performers who put in days of hardwork. An evening conceptualised by Rt.Ann Poonam Sethi, who proved it once again that she has not lost the touch, of putting up an amazing evening full of Fun-Frolic-Participation. She was ably supported by her better half "Sonuji" Rtn.Bali Sethi and First Lady Shefali Shah.

Towards the end members could not resist but say "Anand....Nirmal Anand".....until the next fellowship....3 cheers to the fellowship team...ciao!

-Mahendra Kamath

The audience and the revelers‌.

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H O L IFellowship Rajiv Behal

Anushka Kale and Sandeep Dhodapkar

The Setting for a great start!!!!

Ajay Sood

Swati Agarwal

Shibu Mathew

Nimish Sutaria

Anjali Thakur

Shreya , Sonal, Shilpa, Jerry, Smita

Shubha Gade

Ann Wilkinson, Ragini Sahu, Anita Chitaley,

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Anagha Jaiswal and Shivani Bidaye

Dr Nikunj Pawar

The Michaels‌..

Dr Rafat Khan

Shilpa Agrawal

Sanjay Mansukhani

Shivkumar Rao

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H O L IFellowship Rajiv Behal

Anushka Kale and Sandeep Dhodapkar

The Setting for a great start!!!!

Ajay Sood

Swati Agarwal

Shibu Mathew

Nimish Sutaria

Anjali Thakur

Shreya , Sonal, Shilpa, Jerry, Smita

Shubha Gade

Ann Wilkinson, Ragini Sahu, Anita Chitaley,

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Anagha Jaiswal and Shivani Bidaye

Dr Nikunj Pawar

The Michaels‌..

Dr Rafat Khan

Shilpa Agrawal

Sanjay Mansukhani

Shivkumar Rao

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A ROTARACT SPECIAL

On 21st march ,the rotaract committee celebrated 'rotaract week ' in line with the 'world rotaract day' at udyog bhavan at 5:30pm just before the regular thursday meeting. The celebrations were a retrospect of what the 6 clubs did throughout the year.the program started with welcoming all the rotarians,rotaractors and guests followed by all 6 rotaract clubs reading their yearly reports.the reports gave an insight of the various activities each club undertook, from various workshops on lifeskills for which excellent speakers were called in by the youth service committee, community service projects of each club to their participation in rotary club projects.the rotaractors also expressed their gratitude to the parent rotary club for giving them a platform through rotaract.

The program continued with the director rt.

Sandeep pathak addressing the gathering.he mentioned in his speech about the amazing efforts each club put in this year and also congratulated each club for their hardwork.he acknowledged the team work of his team lead

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by chairpersons rtn. Jatin and rtn. Sapna which led to a successful rotaract year. Our president rtn. Atul shah in his speech laid great emphasis on the personal development of each rotaractor which was possible because of the various life skill workshops and also because of their choice to be actively involved in various activities through rotaract.the president also mentioned about the bitter and sweet memories that the rotaractors will carry with them all their lives of these rotaract years.

The presidents speech was followed by the most awaited moments...the awards ceremony . Keeping in mind, the contribution made by various rotaractors and clubs, this year the rotaract committee decided to float 6 awards. The awards and their winners are as under: 1. The best president award.

Rtr. Isha khurana of r.c. Of sadabai raisoni womens' college 2. The best secretary award Rtr. Shalakha gambhir of r.c. Of srw college 3. The best club award Rotaract club of hislop college

4. The best community service club project Rotaract club of sadabai raisoni womens' college 5. The best club participation in a rotary project Rotaract club of sadabai raisoni womens' college 6. Recognition for outstanding and wholehearted participation in hemalkasa surgical camp.

Rotaract club of tuli college of hotel management After the awards, presidents and teachers in charge of each rotaract club were felicitated with a certificate by our president.

The award announcements brought with it happiness for some but disappointment for others. After the customary congratulations, the new rotaract committee team for the year 2013-14 was announced by rtn. Jatin sampat. Then the pres. Elect. Rtn. Prashant kale informed everyone about his plans for the next year followed by a vote of thanks by rtn. Litesh thakkar. Hon.sec. Shabbar shakir, rtn. Nina parekh, rtn. Namita sharma, rtann. Shalini naidu , rtann amruta thakur were present during the program. The program was compered by rtn. Sapna kaswa-vastani.the program ended at 6:45pm followed by fellowship where all rotaractors and guest were invited. A power-point presentation of 10 min about the activities of rotaract clubs through the year 2012-13 was shown by rtn.

Sapna during the regular thursday rotary meeting.

-Sapna vastani

A ROTARACT SPECIAL

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SAVE EVERY DROP OR DROP DEAD Aabid Surti is an odd character. A few years ago, the angular, bearded author was invited to meet the President of India to receive a national award for literature at a ceremony in the capital, New Delhi. He politely declined.

Absorbed in writing the first draft of his new novel, he cited the reason that he did not have time. But what he has made time for every Sunday for seven years now, is going door-todoor in Mira Road, a non-descript suburb of Mumbai, with a plumber in tow, asking residents if they need their tap fixed for free!

As a distinguished Indian painter and author, Aabid has written around 80 books but no story so moved him as the truth about water scarcity on the planet. “I read an interview of the former UN chief Boutros Boutros Ghali,” he recalls, “who said that by 2025 more than 40 countries are expected to experience water crisis. I remembered my childhood in a ghetto fighting for each bucket of water. I knew that shortage of water is the end of civilized life.”

Around the same time, in 2007, he was sitting in a friend's house and noticed a leaky tap. It bothered him.

When he pointed it out, his friend, like others, dismissed it casually: it was too expensive and inconvenient to call a plumber for such a minor job – even plumbers resisted coming to only replace old gaskets.

A few days later, he came across a statistic in the newspaper: a tap that drips once every second wastes a thousand litres of water in a month. That triggered an idea. He would take a plumber from door to door and fix taps for free – one apartment complex every weekend.

As a creative artist, he had earned more goodwill than money and the first challenge

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was funding. “But,” he says, “if you have a noble thought, nature takes care of it.” Within a few days, he got a message that he was unexpectedly being awarded Rs.1,00,000 ($2,000) by the Hindi Sahitya Sansthan (UP) for his contribution to Hindi literature. And one Sunday morning in 2007, the International Year of Water, he set out with a plumber to fix the problem for his neighbors.

He began by simply replacing old O-ring rubber gaskets with new ones, buying new fixtures from the wholesale market. He named his one-man NGO 'Drop Dead' and created a tagline: save every drop… or drop dead.

Every Sunday, the Drop Dead team – which consisted of Aabid himself, Riyaaz the plumber and a female volunteer Tejal – picked the apartment blocks, got permission from the housing societies, and got to work. A day before, Tejal would hand out pamphlets explaining their mission and paste posters in elevators and apartment lobbies spreading awareness on the looming water crisis. And by Sunday afternoon, they would ensure the buildings were drip-dry.

By the end of the first year, they had visited 1533 homes and fixed around 400 taps.

Slowly, the news began to spread.

In March 2008, director Shekhar Kapur, who was working on his own water conservation film, heard about Aabid's efforts and wrote on his website: 'Aabid Surti, thank you so much for who you are. I wish there were more people like you in this world. Keep in touch with us and keep inspiring us. Shekhar.'

Local newspapers began to write about Drop Dead, which prompted a further flood of grateful emails and spontaneous messages.

One of the most heartfelt messages was from superstar actor-producer Shah Rukh Khan, a longtime fan of Aabid's work as a comic book

creator. After reading the newspaper report titled 'City of Angels', he wrote to Aabid: “…It sounds like one of the little big things my dad would have done.Strange that I have enjoyed [your comic] Bahadur in my childhood and enjoyed reading your tap story so many years down the line… when I am a father myself.

God bless you and yes, I believe in angels after reading the newspaper.”

In 2010, Aabid Surti was nominated for the CNN-IBN CJ 'Be The Change' Award. In the same year, a television crew from Berlin flew down to follow him on his Sunday rounds which continued come monsoon or shine.

It's hard to say how much water he has saved with his mission, given that the faucets he fixed could have continued leaking for months, and maybe years, had he not rung the doorbell one Sunday morning. But conservatively, it could be estimated that he has singlehandedly saved at least 5.5m litres of water till date.

In the summer of 2013, the state where Aabid lives is expecting its worst drought in 40 years.

Months in advance, the Chief Minister Prithviraj Chauhan has warned citizens to begin conserving water. While ministers lobby for drought-relief packages worth millions of dollars, Aabid sees his own approach as simple and inexpensive.

As he rings another door-bell on yet another Sunday in Mira Road, seven years into his one-man mission, he says: “Anyone can launch a water conservation project in his or her area. That's the beauty of this concept. It doesn't require much funding or even an office. And most importantly, it puts the power back in our own hands."

Courtesy Rotary News line -PDG Vishwas Sahasrabhojanee

WORKSHOP ON GROOMING/ IMAGE CONSULTANT “Grooming/Image consultant” workshop held at G.H. Raisoni School of Management Studies on March 16, 2013 by Rotary Club of Nagpur. Ms. Rishita Agrawal founder and Director of “Grace Communications” was speaker for the workshop. Rtn. Beena Mathew, Our campus Director, Mr. R.Y. Mahore campus coordinator Mrs. Sophia Ansari and college faculty were also present at the session. Workshop started with the welcome ceremony. After the ceremony session was continued by Rishita ma'am and Rtn. Beena ma'am.

ROTARACT PROJECT

The workshop was based on corporate grooming. Ms. Rishita told us how personal appearance creates positive impressions with your clients and prospects. The workshop covered personal presentation skills, Corporate Etiquette, Significance of body language etc.

All Students enjoyed a lot during the workshop. Miss Rishita has effectively defined the aspects of corporate grooming. Student has definitely learnt a lot from the workshop and will surly apply tactics of grooming to make their appearance impressive in corporate environment. The session adjourned with the vote of thanks given by President elect Rtr. Pooja Joshi.

-Pooja Joshi, President Elect

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ROTARY & YOU(TH) W H AT A R E R O TA RY GRANTS? The new system focuses primarily on three grant types—district, global, and packaged. It is both more efficient and sustainable, and will help us make a greater impact around the globe.

EXPLORE GRANTS The Rotary Foundation offers multiple types of grants to serve the wide variety of projects Rotarians are doing around the world. Explore the different grant types to find which one is right for your activity.

District grants ·Global grants ·Packaged grant ·s District grants WHAT ARE DISTRICT GRANTS? District grants fund smaller, short-term activities that address needs in both your local community and communities worldwide. Each district gets to choose which activities it will fund with these grants.

You can use district grants to fund a variety of activities, including: ·Humanitarian projects, including service travel and disaster recovery efforts ·Scholarships for any level, length of time, location, or area of study ·Vocational training of any team size or timespan HOW DO I APPLY FOR A DISTRICT GRANT? To apply for a district grant, please submit your funding request directly to your district (and not The Rotary Foundation), which administers and distributes the grant funds.

HOW ARE DISTRICT GRANTS FUNDED? Districts may use up to 50 percent of their District Designated Fund to receive one District Grant annually. Districts receive this funding as a lump sum, which they can then distribute to their clubs.

Global grants WHAT ARE GLOBAL GRANTS? Global grants support large international activities with sustainable, measurable outcomes in one or more of the six areas of focus.

Global grants must: ·Be an international partnership between a Rotary club or district in the country where the activity takes place and a Rotary club or district outside of that country ·Be sustainable and include plans for long-

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NEW STRUCTURE FOR PROJECT FUNDING BY TRF term success after the global grant funds have been spent · Include measurable goals that are demonstrated through progress reports ·Align with one of our six areas of focus ·Respond to real community needs ·Include active participation from both Rotarians and community members ·Have a minimum budget of US$30,000 ·Meet the eligibility requirements in the grants terms and conditions You can use global grants to fund: ·Humanitarian projects that support the goals of one or more of the areas of focus ·Scholarships for graduate-level academic studies that relate to one or more of the areas of focus ·Vocational training teams, which are groups of professionals traveling abroad either to learn more about their profession or teach local professionals about a particular field HOW DO I APPLY FOR A GLOBAL GRANT? The Rotary Foundation accepts global grant applications on a rolling basis throughout the year. Before a district or club can apply for a grant, it has to complete the qualification process. Once your club or district is qualified, you can apply for a global grant through the online tool.

HOW ARE GLOBAL GRANTS FUNDED? Global grants are funded with a combination of District Designated Funds or cash contributions and matching funds from The Rotary Foundation's World Fund. The World Fund will match 100 percent of District Designated Funds and/or 50 percent of cash contributions. The minimum award amount from the World Fund is US$15,000, which means that the minimum project budget is $30,000.

Packaged grants WHAT ARE PACKAGED GRANTS? Packaged grants have been predesigned by Rotary and our strategic partners. The activities they fund are similar to those funded by global grants in many ways—they support our areas of focusand can include scholarships, humanitarian projects, and vocational training—but the work of designing the activity's general framework has already been done.

This allows Rotarians to focus their talents and energies on bringing the project to life. With a packaged grant, your role could include: ·Assessing community needs and identifying those who could benefit from a project

·Selecting and mentoring scholars ·Assembling teams of professionals for peerbased training ·Providing technical expertise or direct service ·Promoting and publicizing activities ·Monitoring and evaluating the project HOW DO I APPLY FOR A PACKAGED GRANT? The Rotary Foundation accepts packaged grant applications on a rolling basis throughout the year. Before a district or club can apply, it must complete the qualification process.

W H AT PA C K A G E D G R A N T S A R E AVAILABLE? Five types of packaged grants, described below, are currently available. As we transition into our new grant system, we'll be steadily increasing these opportunities to include a wide range of projects and activities, locations, and levels of Rotarian involvement.

Health educators training & nursing scholarships Aga Khan University and The Rotary Foundation offer two packaged grants in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda: the first provides training to health educators and the second offers scholarships to nursing and midwifery students at the university's East Africa campuses.

Developing local entrepreneurs In this packaged grant with strategic partner Oikocredit, Rotarians collaborate with microfinance institutions in their own communities to develop programs that help increase the impact of microcredit lending.

Vocational training and medical service This packaged grant with Mercy Ships helps assemble vocational training teams of medical professionals to work aboard the state-of-theart hospital ship Africa Mercy, to deliver free, world-class health care, capacity building, and sustainable development to those without access in the developing world.

Water and sanitation scholarships This packaged grant provides scholarships for graduate students at UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in Delft, The Netherlands.

The institution is the largest postgraduate water education institution in the world and aims to tackle the world's water and sanitation crisis.

HOW ARE PACKAGED GRANTS FUNDED? Packaged grants are funded by the World Fund and the strategic partner for the grant.

-PP Viju Naidu

NEWS YOU CAN USE 1. The total area occupied by Indian railways across the country covering tracks yards workshops etc is about 11 lac acres out of this about 1.13 lac acres is vacant which is mostly land in narrow strips alongside existing tracks.

2. Many layers of atmosphere coat our planet including the mesosphere, ionosphere, exosphere, and the thermosphere, but it's the troposphere, closest to the planet itself, that supports our lives and is, in fact, the thinnest at only about 10 miles high.

3. A dabbawala in Mumbai carries freshly packed lunch in a box (dabba) from a person's homes to his office. Nearly 5000 dabbawalas carry 200,000 lunch boxes every day (400,000 transactions: pick-up + drop-off), growing from a service that originated in 1890 with 100 dabbawalas.

Their error rate is an amazing 1 in 16 million transactions for which they have been recognized with Six Sigma performance (99.999999% error-free).

Their modes of transportation during their work day includes bicycles, push carts, and public trains. Their use of modern technology is almost non-existent although lately they have been using SMS for convenience.

4. The human lungs contain approximately 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) of airways and 300 to 500 million hollow cavities, having a total surface area of about 70 square metres, roughly the same area as one side of a tennis court. Furthermore, if all of the capillaries that surround the lung cavities were unwound and laid end to end, they would extend for about 992 kilometres.

Also, your left lung is smaller than your

ASHOK MALANI

Ashok Malani We interact within extremely small groups: Ashok Malani He's a perfect gentleman - soft-spoken, chivalrous and forever ready to lend a helping hand to those around him. But then, it's his upbringing that lends Rotarian Ashok Malani that inimitable aura of a perfectly groomed

man. So, it is rather surprising that he has not been too active in the Rotary administration, despite his 15 years' association with the institution.

Been there, done that!

Ask him why he has stayed away from different Boards, despite being the chairperson of Polio eradication committee, Four-way test committee and Attendance committee, and Ashok says philosophically: “Earlier, I have served as the Maharashtra State Secretary of the Jaycees. In fact, I was also the president of Nagpur Jaycees. So, I have been there and done that! Moreover, it's fun to allow youngsters to take the lead. I'm really happy that our younger Rotarians are so energetic, full of zest and joi de vivre!”

A suggestion Ask him what is that one thing about our club that needs to be revamped, and Ashok replies

right lung to make room for your heart.

5. By recycling 1 ton of paper: you reduce water pollution by 35% and air pollution by 74%; you save 4,800 kWh of energy, the equivalent of the average power consumption of one household over a seven-month period; you save 16,330 gallons of water; you can make 11,324 simple rolls of bathroom tissue or 3,569 rolls of paper towels.

6. The facebook madness has been so viral across the world, that had it been a country, with over 800 million users, facebook would have been the 3rd most populated country in the world.

- Girish Deodhar

UNSUNG HEROES after a pregnant pause: “I feel our members interact only within small groups and that should be changed! The need of the hour is - broader interactions among all the Rotarians. Although we are doing all the right things, including Take Rotary Home, to usher in a change, we still have a long way to go. Maybe we have to break through our psychological barriers to connect with the rest of the members too.”

Warmth galore Ashok makes it clear that despite this drawback, he is immensely happy to be a part of the club. “The bonds that we have made here - are long-lasting. And whenever I meet my fellow Rotarians off the Rotary turf, I get so much of respect and love, that I feel overwhelmed! It's a blessed feeling!”

-Vinita Chaturvedi

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X PRESS

There has been a huge transformation in the style, content, tone and tenor of The Golden Orange from being a staid, black and white 4 page bulletin in the early nineties to acquiring color in the late nineties and then a quantum leap to a magazine format in 2004 to now an all color glossy format this year. The month of April being the magazine month in Rotary's calendar, the question this time is: The GO has received lots of praise and awards from all quarters. So please don't tell us how good it is!! Tell us where it's NOT good!! What's wrong with it and what can be added/altered/deleted to make it more attractive in style and readable in content? As you know anything that stands still, does not innovate and improve or is content to rest on its laurels, slowly withers away. We have to constantly go on re-inventing ourselves if we wish to remain contemporary and relevant!! So.......Pull no punches and don't try to be polite and correct. Just let go......

Mamta Kanga: Honestly speaking when the question arises " What is not good about the GO...what needs improvement?"…..my mind draws a blank!. . .because I have seen our GO improve and improve…..get better and better in all these years! And I have seen the enormous effort that goes into readying the GO too! Our projects are well covered, photographs aimed at making max people happy!....As for the articles...I wouldn't mind a few additions...as in maybe we could ask our newly inducted members to write in a few words as to their initial reaction on meeting with our Rotary members. Maybe we could have more articles on home improvement tips….gardening etc...'cause I'm sure just like we are constantly aiming at cosmetic changes in our GO....our members would appreciate a few reasonable. easy to fix cosmetic changes for their homes too :-) Habeeb Khan: Boss…let us all understand one thing….GO is still a glamorized bulletin…to be flipped through….sometimes read and essentially thrown after that in the trash can…..or if you are conservative enough, to be sold off to the Raddiwala at the end of the month!

I also feel it essentially restricts itself to a select set of people….bore ho gaye bhai unko dekhte dekhte, sunte sunte….Let us expand our horizons…!!......Us dayare ke bahar jahan aur bhi hain, nazar ghuma kar to dekho, khade peeche hum bhi hain!!

But seriously, GO needs to become a collector's item. It can happen only if we have more shelf value contents….serious articles on social issues, community problems, urban affairs, technological growth, scientific matters and so on…we all know how good rotary is..and how great a work we are doing..glorifying it in print is a waste…!! So I suggest the GO should have two sections…1.

Bulletin, which briefly reports events and activities of the club with snaps if u wish, and 2. Shelf-value section which shall have the contents I just spoke about above….!!

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Khushnoor Chugh: Frank, fearless and constructive!!

That's just what I will try to be!! I will say (nay, write) it as it is without seeming to be nit picking.

Indeed, the GO has grown by leaps and bounds! Indeed, the GO covers all our activities as best as is possible! Indeed, our GO is not only glossed up but is high on content value as well! But then why not adhere to the belief that a picture speaks a thousand words? Why can we not have photographs where we can make out who the surgeons are; who the children are; who the ladies are?? With such teeny-weeny pics and no captions it's impossible to know the when, where and who of each pic!! Can we not have crisp reports and larger pics? That would provide optical relief to the reader!!

Also, we seriously need to go into the proofreading as many a time, one finds that typing errors have found their way on to the printed page. The Committee members could help out the Editor in this or any other GO tasks.

Right?

Madhav Kinkhede: Change is the Law of Nature. During last 4 decades, our club has been witnessing huge change in every community project. So also the Golden Orange has undergone a revolutionary change in its contents and outlook. I would like to point out that we regularly find the names & photos of only a few senior Rotarians in the Golden orange every month. We must not forget that new Rotarians and not so new Rotarians are also equally contributing in the social, charity & community projects as well. More stress should be to recognize their contributions through the columns of GO. The GO will become more interesting if the focus is more on these Rotarians participation. The Senior Rotarians can share their knowledge and experience with the new Rotarians through the columns of the GO.

Madhavi Naidu: I am totally biased towards our GO... It is one of my favorite magazines.... And when Sanjiv asked me to be critical about it, it felt like an impossible task and took me ages to come up with these suggestions to make it 'so called' better or different. Ø Rotary calendar - events of the month to be highlighted. It can be club events, district or even international events. Ø Rotary District News - our club is huge I agree and we do many projects but at the same time we behave like frogs in a well...

Not interested in what is happening around us. Ø A fine balance between Rotary information & articles of general interest is what every editor strives for... But sometimes I feel where Rotary information is concerned it is relegated to 'reporting' and less about 'information'. Ø A column for "future leaders" can be started, where such candidates can talk about their ideas. This gives them a platform and at the same time makes the club aware of their ideas. Ø Since the Board has 12 members other than President, each one can be given a column each month to coincide with the theme for the month. Ø Seek new and more people from whom we can get articles. This is important to retain the 'freshness' of the magazine. Also know that it's easier said than done. Ø Report of Business meetings should be in a different format. A "closed meeting" need not be discussed by the writer in detail, as it defeats the purpose of the meeting Ø The quality of photographs is more important than the quantity. It's no point putting like 50 pictures and can't see who is in it because of the size of the picture!!

As a past editor, I do feel that each editor strives at making the product as good as it can be... Although constructive criticism is good, it's not easy to please everyone.

Sharmila Sutaria: One aspect which needs attention is the proof-reading and editing. I also feel that the magazine has settled into a comfort zone. We need to look for fresh ideas and new contributors so that some of the not so interesting articles can be replaced.

This would ensure that one reads the magazine instead of simply skimming through it.

Contd. on page 25

Parheez Gimi: My earliest recollections of The GO are over 25 years ago, when dad used to bring it home from office to read in his leisure time. GO has really come a long way since those days when it was just a 2 page black and white supplement with only the masthead in color.The magazine is really good - but since you want me to I'll put down some stuff that could improve. Ø Sometimes the pictures are blurry (please hand the camera at projects to someone who knows photography) Ø Same contributors - new members should also be encouraged to contribute more often. Ø Though the GO covers all topics - know your members, Food, cyber stuff, projects, book reviews, travel etc......I feel more content should be Rotary- centric.

I can't really think of anything else - But truth be told I read my copy online on our rotary web site & re-read the stuff I like when I receive the actual copy.

Geeta Rao: your call made me review our magazine twice, thrice and four times. I would straight away put my views. Ø Sponsorship though an important aspect, the ads should be designed in such a manner that the purpose of the magazine should not be defeated. Let it not appear like a commercial mag. Ø The paper quality is a class one, let the pictures (photographs) be also clear. Ø Please cover more of the event with pictures of responsible directors, chairpersons and others involved in a box, rather than having them all over with only text on what has been done.

The contents, editorial and the work put in by all concerned with the magazine is remarkable. I would like to convey my best wishes to the team for the marvelous job and sincerely wish they continue the same in future.

X PRESS Rajeev Javery: I have been put in a situation where one is being asked for an advice to improve the G.O (which is a plush Rotary magazine in itself). I suggest that for members to know other member's classification, if the classification / members family description of member No. 1 (senior most member) and member No. 335 (newest member) is carried in one issue of GO and subsequently 2 and 334 and so on, it would be a good blend of seniors with the youth. Secondly we can have more photographs of Rotarians / Ann's featuring in fellowships.

So, friends the Editor next year now has a fair idea of what people want! Though all have been forthcoming in what they would like to see, most have been very diplomatic in NOT mentioning what columns they don't want to see anymore!! THAT is a decision for next year's team to make.

(Readers may Xpress their view on this topic at jivsan17@yahoo.co.in)

TREASURE HUNT April born Rotarians & Anns, Fall in Line Thanks for the enthusiastic response to the earlier puzzles. All correct entries were received from Prema Srinivas, Manju Bhatia, Bhavana Kalra, Manju Shahani , Jerestine Watchmaker, Nakul Malani and Neeru Bhatia.

Now this treasure hunt is the Sixth in '......... month born Rotarians and Anns' series!

We take pride in the fact that our club has membership drawn from all age groups, communities, sects and representing different states, speaking different languages etc.

Indeed, RCN is a true reflection of India, a picture of Unity in diversity'! No wonder, all these young and old talented, knowledgeable and enthusiastic member families, who are leaders in their vocation dish out more than 300 projects year after year and serve Rotary objectives. In our club, we work hard and play hard!

In the puzzle above, you have to search for surnames of at least 21Rotarians / Rotary Anns who were born in Rotary's Magazine month of

L A W M A J A R E M J A

A P R L H A N A C L I I

H W A A E N I G H A J R

G W A I W T M A H W A A

April. No Rocket Science this..... All that you have to do is to pick up the Club Roster, turn to Page 187, get surnames of April born and start locating them in the puzzle. You will find the surnames falling in a single straight line, in any possible direction....left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top, slanting left to right, slanting right to left, slanting top to bottom or bottom to top. Simple!

Isn't it? After spotting these April born Rotarians/Anns, you will be left with 7 unused letters spread here and there! Using all these, in proper order and adding letter T, build up the first name of our Club President in 2013-14.

Solve the puzzle, photocopy /email the all correct response to me at

N B I T T A A D A A G H

I H E L C A L P B R N D

S A R R K H M N R G O U

- PP Dr Sanjiv Chugh

B T A S A I M H A A O A

A I E L A K N A C G D H

T A R Z A H R S K N P C

R A W A R A M A O E A U

A I N A Y R O M H N R P

<vishwasdg3030@yahoo.com> and call on my cell no.94221 06570 before 25th April, 2013.

Lucky winner will be decided through draw of lots from all correct entries at the business meeting scheduled in May 2013. Everyone in the Rotary family of our club and District is eligible to contest.

Come on! We look forward to new participants.

Enjoy ....Good Luck!!!

-PDG Vishwas Sahasrabhojanee

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ADVANCE BOOKing Vindhya's Wishlist IS AMERICA BECOMING MORE HINDU? This month I have chosen not to write, but to bring to you all, part of an article sent to me by Bobby Uncle, as I think it needs to find a wider audience in our club .Not because I'm promoting Hinduism, rather-- I find THAT the promotion of inclusiveness and plurality IS THE INHERENT MESSAGE HERE AND CAN APPLY TO EVERYONE, REGARDLESS OF THEIR FAITH. IT is written by MIHIR MEGHANI, M. D., an emergency physician living in Fremont, California. This is what he has to say:-......

America IS BECOMING MORE HINDU, THERE IS NO DOUBT about it. Phil Goldberg's book, American Veda, traces the history of the influence of Hinduism on American life over the past two and a half centuries. Similarly, Lisa Miller, in her News weekarticle “We Are All Hindus Now,” shows how American thought and practice is moving in a direction that can best be described as Hindu. For the most part, however, this influence has occurred without an outright acknowledgement of or public association with anything identified as Hinduism.

Last November, Tulsi Gabbard became the first Hindu elected to the United States Congress when she handily won her first election to a federal office. The election in Hawaii not only reflects the character and charisma of Tulsi, but also an acceptance, at least in her Congressional district, of Hinduism.

As Americans without familial connections to India have adopted Hindu beliefs and practices, so too have Hindus in America embraced American life and simultaneously adapted Hinduism, with its ancient mooring in India, to the American landscape. Tulsi was born to a Hindu mother of American Samoan ancestry and a non-Indian, Christian father who had adopted some Hindu practices.

Raised a Hindu, she, like most Hindu, Jain and Sikh Indian Americans, questioned her beliefs, studied them, read scripture and made a conscious decision to maintain her religion and practices. She explained, “Hari nama, the holy names of God, and the transcendental wisdom of the Bhagavad Gitahave always provided me with wisdom, spiritual strength, direction and purpose in life, as well as solace and comfort when faced with the possibility of death at any moment.

Recall that Mahatma Gandhi was inspired by this same tradition to take ancient Hindu and Jain principles of ahimsa to a political level.

Tulsi takes inspiration from that same tradition when she acknowledges, “I learned early on

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DURBAR--BY TAVLEEN SINGH that I was happiest when I was using my life in the service of others.… The spirit of karma yoga has been the motivating factor for everything I do in my life. The more I engaged in activities that weren't just for myself, the happier I became, and the more I wanted to do.” That inspiration led her to found the Healthy Hawaii Coalition, teaching schoolchildren about caring for the environment and maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle. That inspired her to run successfully for the Hawaii State Legislature, give up her “safe seat” to join her Army National Guard team for a year-long deployment in Iraq, run successfully for the Honolulu City Council and win a challenging Congressional election.

When Tulsi took the oath of office, she did so on a Bhagavad Gita, cementing this ancient guide to action in American and Hindu history. Her

Congresswoman: Ms. Gabbard and Speaker John Boehner hold the Bhagavad Gita at her oath-taking ceremony, January 4, 2013

oath has added meaning because the Bhagavad Gita has deep meaning for Tulsi [see sidebar], guiding her and continuously inspiring her to do seva, or selfless service.

This is another defining moment for modern Hinduism, because it should serve to remove any doubts about the ability of a proud, public, practicing Hindu to reach a prominent post or position in this country. Unfortunately, despite inheriting such a rich heritage, many Indian Americans have tried to minimize their tradition and hide their Hindu identity from anyone who could potentially think ill of them or misunderstand their beliefs, while others have maintained everything Hindu but decided to call it something else. And worse yet, some have chosen to abandon their heritage altogether.

Governors Bobby Jindal and Nikki Haley are

prominent examples of the latter. Instead of seeking inspiration from their Hindu and Sikh backgrounds, respectively, they sought shelter and support in the faith of the majority of their neighbors. They, in some sense, are the opposite of what America is—their contribution to America's melting pot or salad bowl was thereby negated for the most part. Their decision was in fact bad for America, as America is, at its core, becoming more and more pluralistic. Lisa Miller wrote that Americans are more accepting of multiple paths to God and the belief that “many religions can lead to eternal life.”

Tulsi Talks About Taking the Oath on The Bhagavad Gita IWAS RAISED IN A MULTI-RACIAL, MULTICULTURAL, MULTI-FAITH FAMILY. My mother is Hindu; my father is a Catholic lector in his church who also practices mantra meditation. I began to grapple with questions of spirituality as a teenager. Over time, I came to believe that, at its essence, religion gives us a deeper purpose in life than just living for ourselves. Since I was a teenager, I have embraced this spiritual journey through the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.

I chose to take the oath of office with my personal copy of the Bhagavad Gita because its teachings have inspired me to strive to be a servant-leader, dedicating my time and energy on a daily basis in the service to others, karma yoga. My Gita has been a tremendous source of inner peace and strength through many tough challenges in life, including being in the midst of death and turmoil while serving our country in the Middle East. When I was deployed to Iraq, the only real shelter for me was my bhakti yoga practice and the Bhagavad Gita's message of the eternality of the soul and God's unconditional love.

Like Mahatma Gandhi, I believe that we cannot overcome the divisive challenges facing our communities, countries and world if we do not recognize and respect all others as children of God, despite our differences of nationality, race, ethnicity, religion and so forth. These principles of karma yoga and bhakti yoga, therefore, can be a uniting principle for all people, regardless of their religion.

I look forward to working with my fellow Congressmen and women to improve the economy, stop wasting our limited resources, protect the environment and ensure that our children will have a bright future. Of course, since I'm a practicing Hindu, the unique concerns of Hindu and Indian Americans are very near and dear to my heart. My door will always be open to them.

-Vindhya Sanjana

THE LARGEST EVER ROTARY DISTRICT CHANGES Rotary District 5010 is currently the largest Rotary District in the world, extending from the Russian Ural Mountains, encompassing all of Siberia, USA's Alaska and Canada's Yukon Territory it spans 11 time zones. Effective July 1, 2012 the Siberian portion of D5010 will become it's own District, and while smaller than the current District the new Russian District will become the new Largest Rotary District. The remaining D5010, all of Alaska and the Canadian Yukon is still huge, but much more manageable! Such is the growth of Rotary and the dynamics of change.

Historically, due to size and logistics, D5010 has always had two conferences, one on each side of the Bering Sea. This is the last year that we will be doing that under one common district.

(Incidentally, our own district 3030 in its original D315 stretched from Bombay to Visakhapatnam and from Nellore in the South to Saugor in M.P. to the North. In subsequent redistricting by RI to make districts more manageable and easier for DGs for their official visits, our geographical size also diminished.)

“BYE ! BYE ! C.H.” Its finally happened! My favourite “joint” was unceremoniously closed down for ever! No more piping hot filter coffee, no more crisp Dosas, no more freshly made Idlis & Vadas, no more hanging out with friends every morning after Cricket. No more looking at the faded poster of film star Raghini adorning the wall since 1959. No more “Annas” in their white uniforms and resplendent turbans and cummerbunds rushing around to cope with the 'demands' of the regulars. No more kidding around with the Badminton Boys on the next

table or exchanging greetings with the Laughter Club guys, who would eat only the whites of the hard boiled eggs leaving the yokes, being afraid of cholesterol and rightly so! Some have paunches which have to be seen to be believed! No more hushed silence when a pretty girl would enter or ogling the one zipping by on her scooter on the road.

More than 50 years have passed since I bunked school and had my first Dosa and filter coffee. Its been a long love affair of sorts ever since that has now ended so abruptly – Wish I

POTATOES WITH ALMOND SAUCE Spain has many potato dishes which are served in the main course. Here is a recipe which has a classic Spanish combination –potatoes and almonds.

YOU WILL NEED : 1 kg potatoes 5 Tblsps or 75 ml olive oil Dice and cook the potatoes in boiling water for about 5 minutes and drain. Reserve the cooking liquid.

To make the Almond Sauce you will need the following ingredients : 3 garlic cloves

Freshly ground black pepper Salt Pinch of chilly powder ½ cup olive oil 1 cup milk 1 slice bread –crusts removed Parsley /coriander chopped ½ cup blanched toasted almonds Mash the garlic and garlic together. Heat the oil and fry the bread in it. Drain. Saute the garlic for less than a minute and remove it from the oil. Grind the almonds to a paste in the food processor. Add the garlic, salt, bread , black

BOBBY'S BUBBLES Courtesy: Jon Deisher, PP Anchorage Rotary/D5010 Anchorage, Alaska (Received from Rtn. Subhash Saraf) P.S. --Incidentally, contrary to popular notion, Alaska is not always an "ice counry!"

Alaska has warm summers too. Our Chandru and Manju Shahani's son Ashish used to be in Alaska before he moved to the East coast. He told me he thoroughly enjoyed his stint in Anchorage in Alaska. -- Bobby -Bobby Srinivas

GIMI MORE could have given it the proper “send off”, it so richly deserved.

Bye ole friend !

-Shiraz Gimi.

MASTER CHEF pepper .Grind until smooth , gradually adding the milk. Heat in the saucepan with some of the reserved oil until there is a smooth, thick sauce.

Now place the potatoes in a pan. Mix the reserved liquid from the potatoes with the almond sauce and pour over the potatoes.

Simmer gently for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are completely tender .If the sauce is too thick, add a bit of water.

-Khushnoor S.Chugh

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KIDZZZONE Hey young friends…

This year we have decided to give you youngsters an opportunity to contribute to the Golden Orange through one whole page by you, for you, with lots of experiences, facts, trivia and entertainment sent by your friends. Since this is a monthly feature, I request more of you to contribute. Feel free to participate in this page. Share your talent, views, fun experience etc. I am just a call away.

Do contact me on 9923022299 or on mamtakanga @gmail.com or on facebook ;-)

passion is photography. I have not taken any formal lessons in the art but am entranced by the beauty surrounding us. When I find something that touches my heart or impresses me visually I just take out my camera and shoot it. It is really difficult to put feelings into words and I do believe that a picture is worth a thousand of them!

-Yohann Doongaji

Creative works in Focus – Yohann Doongaji Son of Anahita and Shiraz Doongaji.

I am Yohann Doongaji, son of Shiraz and Anahita Doongaji. I like to think of myself as a carefree spirit, which shows in my attitude towards life. I love adventure of all kinds and find that life is one big adventure in itself! My

Little Hearts – Prachi Thakkar Daughter of Rtn.Litesh and Jigna Thakkar My name is Prachi Thakkar . I am 9 years old & study in class IV in Centre Point School katol road . I love dancing & making friends..In my lesuire time I do creative work like making cards,jewellery for my dolls & messing the room which makes my mom scream at me. It's fun to teach my grandmother as a student & do "masti" with my twin cousins. I am crazy for chocolate, mouth watering pani puri & pastry's of yummy flavour with creamy topping. My favourite cartoon is Doremon & I wish to have some of his gadgets to do my homework & some exciting fun with my mom & dad as they mean a lot to me. They never let me down. Dance is my passion & I wanna become a dancer.

As I am the youngest & only daughter in the family everyone pamper & adore me lot . I love my family.

Holi Hai!!! – Rhea Sutaria Daughter of Rtn Kapil and Anita Sutaria The most boisterous of Hindu festivals, Holi waves goodbye to winter and welcomes in spring in a rainbow of colours and now, Holi is no longer restricted only to Hindus we find everybody celebrating this festival irrespective of religion.

Holi is not only a festival of colours but is also the festival of the triumph of good over evil, festival of romance and festival of fun and pranks.

The best part is that all the offences and anger gets dissolved with one boisterous shout of 'Bura na mano, holi hai!'

I'm always eagerly waiting to celebrate this festival…but the most disappointing part is the…EXAMS!! Somehow always around to spoil my fun during holi!!

And waaooww….my exams are over and I can celebrate a tension free holi this year!

And now the challenge is to convince my parents to buy me all those dirty colours and the pichkaari! Obviously, only herbal colours. Waking up in the morning and oiling myself is something I hate among other things that I love doing on this day.

And now am ready to go down and play holi with my friends – in my old clothes,

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oiled skin with a pichkaari, a bucket of water and ofcourse the DIFFERENT COLOURS!! Oh my,isn't this difficult with an annoying sister refusing to help?! Finally my sister and I manage to climb down and greet our friends. What a sight we make!! Whew! Busy colouring one another throwing coloured water and water balloons is the most exiting part in holi! It is also fun to have hot samosas with soft drinks with our dirty hands.

Its not only fun colouring friends but With pichkaaris and water balloons we go on the streets and throw colours on anyone we see!

Eve-teasing, child molestation, female molestation, all of these things can be just done in a blink of the eyes during Holi. No intention is always good – but bad intentions are BAD, real bad! SO BEWARE!!

AND WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY AND A SAFE HOLI! J -Mamta Kanga

JINGLE BALLS

DIMAAG KHARAB

Quick! Which brand uses the song “Aao Na Gale Lagao Na” in its ads? Hint : It's not a commercial for honeymoon packages. Neither is it an advertisement for jewellery. Quick! Which brand jingle is “You and I...in this Beautiful World” ..... exactly! No hints required.

We are witnessing an unprecedented amount of advertising which has old Hindi songs in place of what should be brand-specific jingles. Every time there is a blast of an old favourite from the TV and you look up expecting to see Helen seduce Rajesh Khanna, it turns out to be mediocre animation of love birds singing about Kit Kat! Or if you are jolted out of your stupor with a yell from RD Burman's “Duniya Mein Logon Ko” it turns out to be an impostor in the form of a Happy Dent Commercial. What this is actually doing is slowly killing the brand as the viewer remembers the song not the product. Also, if one brand does it, why do others fall in line too like mice following the Pied Piper?

And we know how that story ends.

Statistics show that the average man spends 9 years of his life in front of the TV. (There are no statistics to show how many years a woman does that because after the man goes to office God alone knows what happens at home!) These same statistics also help the market researcher tell the ad agency what the target audience is looking for in a brand. So we have a double dose of a retro feel ad in which Ranbir Kapoor tries very hard to ape the mannerisms of his elderly relatives to the tune of “Chala Jaata Hoon” peddling Nissan Micra in a market saturated with 30 similar models. How will it stand out and speak for itself when the pan-India appeal of “Ghar aa Gaya Hindustan” where India Comes Home in a Maruti Suzuki pulls at heart strings and drives home the point that Maruti Suzuki is India's Car? Everyone, it seems, is in a death race to dig up a dead number, remix it with modern beats, throw in nubile models or over-exposed celebrities and make a mash-up of visuals where the brand is hidden like the proverbial needle in the haystack. Gone are the days of “Washing Powder Nirma” or “Vicco Turmeric Nahi Cosmetic” where the brand was the hero and worked wonders for the company's bottomline. The ad jingle seems to have been hit out of the park like a Dhoni Sixer!

And now, you must be wondering what the point to this whole article is. It's just that I watch TV in the course of lunch or dinner and when I am relishing my wife's cooking (saved!) I do not want a commercial of Whisper Wings with Extra Absorbency popping up telling women around the world to “Have a Happy Period”. I have yet to come across a woman who has a “happy period”.

I also do not want to see extra-peppy guys prancing around chawls cleaning stained toilets to a shine while the appropriately picked racial cross-section of housewives stand around breathlessly batting their false eyelashes at the sparkle “Harpic Power” gives them. I want to see things like the old barbershop ad where the dorky looking guy wants a particular hairstyle and the ancient barber just pops a Centre Shock into his mouth to achieve the effect. Or the one legged man standing up to salute the national anthem while others around him keep sitting and are shamed into doing the same by the invalid's actions.

Meaningful advertising does not necessarily mean exotic locales, expensive models or slick computer animation. It means giving value for money to both, the brand as well as the buyer.

“Have a Happy Summer Period”!!

-Sohrab Kanga

LET’S GET PERSONAL Hello Friends, The Mercury is on the rise and so were the spirits at the Doongaji house, when a baby girl was born to Shehzad and Vahbiz. A girl in the Doongaji house after 48 years!!!!!

Congratulations to Anu and Shiraz and the rest of the family!

The spirits were high at the Dasture residence too as Dr Mrunalini Dasture was adjudged the “Bhaskar Woman of the year” for her contribution to education in Maharashtra.

Congratulations Mrunalini and Deodutt. You have done the Rotary family proud!

We would not be able to appreciate the good that happens to us in life, if we were not faced with the sad facts of life.

Friends, it is with grief that I share with you the news about the loss that the Shukul, Sharma, Cassad, Rathi and Chitaley families had to bear.

Both Navneet and Neerja Shukul lost their respective mothers within a span of 10 days.

Chhotu Sharma lost his father.

Wijay Chitaley lost his mother.

Shahrukh Cassad and Khushnoor Chugh lost their mother.

Prashant Rathi lost his mother.

May the Lord give the families strength to bear the loss.

Till next month, -Manju Shahani

*New Pope is a Honorary Rotarian from Argentina!*/ /Jorge Mario Bergoglio born on December 17, 1936, is now Pope Francis (Latin: Franciscus;).

He is a honorary member of RC of Buenos Aires from 1999.

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MONEY MONEY

BIRTHDAYS 15 APR. to 14 MAY. Rahul Sharma Neelesh Agrawal Shamsuddin Rana Atul Gupta Prashant Rathi (Bunty) Dr.Shobha Daga Dr. Iqbal Khan Behram Patel Cyrus Watchmaker Dr. Raju Wilkinson Rana Tuli Dr. Smita Harkare Mohabat Singh Tuli Aarti Kalode Dr. Vandana Hazra Umesh Agrawal Sonal Ajmera Sapna Vastani Manish Agrawal Akhtar Parvez Maimoon Vandana Daga Durriya Akolawala Dinesh Chhabra Dilshad Doongaji Romal Panchmatia

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Sarang Upganlawar Varsha Jaiswal Dr. Subhadha Gade Dr. Nandini Babhulkar Parul Garodia Vipul Gupta Shashank Bidaye Ruchi Chaudhary Sheela K. Singhee Shantanu Khedkar Pallavi Joshi Inderjit Singh Ajay Sharma Meena Malji Abdul Husain Atul Pande Dr. Bharti Gidwani Jasbir Singh Arora Kapil Bahri Sangeeta Grover Nitin Deveshwar Manu Seth Mrinalini Marawar Arvinder Vij

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15 APR. to 14 MAY. ANNIVERSARIES

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Alok & Anula G o e nk a Sa njay & Rich a Sethi Dr. Kishore & Bh arti Ta ori N ikhil & Anju Ba nsal Vivek & Sh e etal G upta Prash a nt & Smita Kale N a mita & Ajay Sh arm a Sh ailendra & Me e n a Verm a Jaya nt & U m a Pe ndh ark ar Inderjit & H arbh aja n Singh Ra gini & Rajiv Sa hu Sh ashi & Bela Th a p ar Balje et & Poon a m Sethi Sa njay & Sa ndhya Agra w al D eve ndra & Sa ngita Parekh Sushm a & D h a njay H ed a oo Jug alkishor & Sarita Agra w al Yashp al & Parve en Seth N a kul & N ilim a M ala ni Ra n a & Ritu Khura n a Kira n & N a mrata Rathod Se e m a & Raju Jain Sunil & Re nu Th a p ar U m esh & Sushm a Sh arm a Yatin & Me e n a M alji Raje ndra Kum ar & Vin e eta Jaisw al Dr. Anil & Anjali C h a udh ari Sushil & D a ksh a M a ndh a niya Dr. Pushp a & Sh ara d Bh ave Dr. Satish & Sun a nd a Sule

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The importance of being specific India in general and Maharashtra in particular, the saint tradition is deeply rooted. Maharashtra is often called the land of saints. Bhajan, Kirtan and Pravachan are all part of this rich tradition. Come the 'holy' four months also known as 'Chaturmas' (around July-Oct every year) or festive season, all the temples, cultural halls will be booked for any of these activities. Most of Pravachan (Discourse) are on Bhagvad Gita, Gynaneshwari or Dasbodh.

Once I had the opportunity to listen to one of the Pravanchankar. He was talking about the futility of asking from God. People often run a current account with God. They offer some dakshina and ask for varied things from God. It could be a nice house or a beautiful wife or girlfriend, (or both??) A baby boy or loads of money. The range is enormous. What is interesting is that most of them are time specific!! While we agree that if there is God or any supreme power, it will have enough capacity to fulfill these 'petty' tangible issues. If at all one has to ask, it has to be intangibles like 'Sukh (Happiness), Shanti (peace), Samadhan (contentment) and Swastha (Health)' (Partly agree with him but obviously these are just the outcome of small tangible things. But isn't those tangibles are very much in our hand rather than burdening God for all these?

As I was sitting there listening, I realized that while we ask for all and sundry things with very specific details the same is missing when we are trying to set the financial goals. When it comes to setting financial goals we are generally vague. Most of the time objective is to invest surplus money without proper thinking or setting up time frame. A financial goal can be achieved only when they are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timesensitive) Unfortunately most of the time either there are no financial goals or if at all there are, it comes with lot of ambiguity.

Setting financial goals is the fundamental of financial planning process, after all if you do not have a financial goal what is the point of financial planning?

Setting financial goals does not have to be complicated, tedious or long, but it is a great gauging tool to ensure you are on the right track.

Typical example of financial goal is corpus for child's marriage. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I want to have a decent amount at the time of marriage of my son/daughter' will take us nowhere. â&#x20AC;&#x153; 'I want to have a sum of Rs 25 Lakhs at present value terms in 2023 for marriage for my son/daughter' is much better. In fact the correct estimate and time frame of financial goal helps in reaching the goal effortlessly. Instead of wandering aimlessly, we have something to strive for and a clear path for getting there.

Setting a financial goal is just like setting a personal goal. Financial goals are no different. If you want to buy a car, you must first decide the model and a plan for paying for it. This might mean having to make some trade-offs.

Increase budget or go a notch down a different variants of cars. You decide where you can cut back expenses, how much money you are able to save each month, and set a goal for how long it will take you to save up for a down payment. You picture yourself driving your new wheels to motivate you to stick to your plan.

So as the God bless us with 4 'S' let us be SMART in our financial goal setting.

-Parag Paranjpe

BEST CHAIRPERSONS AWARDS FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY

Rakhi Bhatia and Manju Bhatia for Take Rotary Home, Mamta Jaiswal for Fellowship During Meetings, Rita Bhargava for Udaan Committee and Sunil Bhatia for Walkathon Committee

NEW MEMBER INDUCTIONS

D.K.Sahni

Swati Singhee

PP Sriram Marawar, Releasing Go Of March

Akansha Singhania

Dr Abhijeet Hazra

Shamsa Raiyyani

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