March 2015 - The Golden Orange

March 2015

ROTARY CRICKET LEAGUE BLOOD DONATION UDAAN

TAKE ROTARY HOME

ROTARY CARNIVAL MENTORING NEW MEMBERS

R OTARY T W EETS - Vindhya Sanjana Dear All, This column is aimed at allowing our members a platform in which to air their thoughts, grievances, and to basically have a voice. We will present a new topic every month and publish your responses with your photo, subject to space availability.

Prizes will be awarded to three most pertinent responses. However, please let it be understood that we value ALL the tweets coming in. This is a democratic organization and we value every single sentiment or opinion that is sent to us. So

Special Mention "why do we need to kill an existing hen which is laying eggs in the hope of finding a goat who would give milk?"

Mayyank Jaain

interact with us, tell us what you think, and let others too hear your voice!

Every year we see some innovation and changes with respect to introduction of new projects, tweaking of old ones as also communication or other aspects of the Club's functioning.

In this background, the question for the coming month is:“As a member do you like the innovative changes and new ventures that have been taken up this year in Rotary?”

Please send in your tweets ASAP to vindhyasanjana@yahoo.com or SMS /

Whatsapp or even call me on 9423103916 / 9890715526. Do remember that the tweets should not be more than 140 CHARACTERS or LETTERS, & NOT 140 WORDS. That's far too long!! On the other hand, if you have a little More to say, then please don't hold back, just say it!

Awaiting your views! Remember - the idea is to be FREE, FRANK AND FEARLESS!!

Happy Tweeting!

Last month, we asked you “Is it time we enforced attendance and participation towards Rotary Objectives else retire the inactive members, simultaneously looking out for alternate options to fund the Club's activities?” st

nd

Winner 1 Prize

Winner 2 Prize

Vindhya, there is this 80-20 rule taught in business management schools, which applies to all aspects of life. In Rotary we can interpret it as - 20% of members will do 80% of the work and 80% of the members will only do 20% of work. This will always remain true at all points of time and so we should be prepared for it. The solution is not to eliminate the 80% non-working members and enforcing attendance will also not make them productive. What can however be done is to encourage fellowship and maybe identify each and every member and spouse's area of interest in Rotary activities through a multiple choice questionnaire and then tapping them for relevant activities. Those with absolutely zero involvement the whole year should definitely be retired.

Divya Sharma rd

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

Dear Vindhya, Winner 3 Prize Yes a club works not on the number of members but on the active participation by members. A committee should be made to approach all the inactive members and try our best to get them back on roll, Since they have been serving the club from years, they should be made to participate in the club activities. And if such

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"Har Dost Zaroori hai."

But make way gracefully for those who can contribute positively towards the Rotary objectives, in case you can't.

Dr. Manmohan Daga As much as one would like to "retire" the inactive members, Rotary advises to "retain" and "motivate" such members into taking on roles and responsibilities in any of the areas of service. Rotary needs more members, which would translate into quality work in the community. Vijay Naidu YES.....if you go by the book and NO if you go by the spirit of it !!

Vilas Kale Not at all. Members should participate in projects if they want to and not if they have to. If we are

A BIG NO NO! Why should we retire any member? Are they criminals for not attending and participating in Rotary? Whenever, these so called, inactive members, who are stalwarts in their respective fields are contacted for any guidance or help or whatsoever, they are always ready and rarely refuse. This is my personal experience. If this rule is imposed in our club, most of the PPs and former board members will be out, inspite of the yeomen service they put in.

Jehangir Doongaji

efforts fail the members should be discontinued.

Laws should be changed to get new members only if they will actively take part in the activities or come for meetings and the responsibility should go to the member whos introducing.

Rtn. Sandeep Vaid

admitting members to fund club's activities, its a blunder. They have to be admitted to expand our service projects. An existing member who proposes a new member should ensure that he does the handholding for at least 3 months by participating together in service projects or attending meetings.

Shivkumar Rao The emphasis on members attendance has been officially diluted by Rotary just to ensure membership retention.

In my opinion it should be strictly enforced & any member who has less than 60% attendance should be terminated .

In our club we have scores of members who have zero attendance & some haven't attended a single meeting in the

last three years!

Unfortunately no sitting President has the guts to enforce this rule as they all want to show that in their term they had the max number of members on the rolls.

This is why we have a club of many members but few Rotarians!! Behram I personally feel, those who are inactive are the losers themselves.

Until & unless you are involved, you don't know, what Rotary truely is!

So what's the point in forcing them to leave?

We are inducting new members anyways so the funds are coming in as it is. More the merrier! We should try to involve them as much as we can, nahin aate to their loss!

Manju Shahani continued on page no.17

THURSDAY TH O U G HTS

Give me the strength never to disown the poor Or bend my knees before insolent might.

Give me the strength To raise my head high above daily trifles.

And give me the strength To surrender my strength to Thy will with love.

Wo r d s o f w i s d o m b y G u r u d e v Ravindranath Tagore and this year

through Rotary got an ample opportunity to live these thoughts. The last 30 days have been a state of turmoil for me and have probably experienced every kind of emotion, also saw extreme stress at close quarters. Somebody rightfully said that being a President of Rotary Club of Nagpur entitles you to get a MBA from one of the better institutions.

The month of February just swished by as one after another all our major activities got sandwiched in the shortest month of the year, and incidentally I had no role to play in the scheduling of the same, they just happened.

Starting with the business meeting, the mentoring program which was organised on a professional scale, the numerous press conferences for Udaan, Hemalkasa & Walkathon. Udaan on the 14th, Rotary Cricket League (Ladies) match on the 15th, Hemalkasa from 19th to 22nd , The Rotary Carnival on 23rd , Inauguration of the much awaited Rotary-OCHRI skin bank project on the 27th at the hands of Guardian minister Shri Chandrashekhar

Bawankule and finally the Walkathon on March 1st.

The morning of March 1st saw the heavens open up apparently confused that this is the monsoon season but putting on tenterhooks the entire Team Walkathon comprising of more than 150 of Rotarians, Rotary annes, spouses, Rotaractors and others. When I reached the venue it was still dark but when I saw the huge gathering of people – realised that ALL IS WELL. These energetic enthusiastic people had been planning for this mega PR event of the club since such a long time and then to see the rains being spoilsport was a real soul dampner - but some prayers were heard somewhere and we got a window to see the event through amidst a superb cool weather and fun. It was a wonderful sight to see about 5000 walkers on this wet cool windy morning.

Thank you Rotary & wonderful Rotarians for this awesome experience.

Bharat Goenka President

JUST SAYI N G ...

I recollected this decades old anecdote Once, in a history class, the teacher asked the children “Can someone tell me who demolished the Somnath temple?”

The squirming students prompted him to point his finger at one of the students – “Raju, you tell me …. Who was responsible for this?”

Raju, already in discomfort, was almost teary eyed and managed to blurt out “I don't know Sir. I promise I didn't do it….and actually, I was absent yesterday!!”

Back to the present, my daughter Priyanka's words were ringing in my ears……

What if the truth pours out one day, and we no longer remain as we were, despite the promises of remaining so?

What then?

Well, the truth is pouring out, quite literally so. And, maybe things and their relationships, inter se, will indeed, never be the same again. However, I dare say, the storm clouds will have passed. Out of the ashes the phoenix will rise, and the company will emerge stronger.

And yet again, her words remind us that We have seen the good, and we have seen the bad. It's time to find a place in the middle, where we can exist in peacefulness.

Some of the stakeholders tried to fix something which they believed was inappropriate, some may say with motive.

Motive it was, but intended to uncover excesses and inappropriate decisions which were costing the entity dearly, both in the short and long term.

The truth is we cannot always say the right thing, or do the right thing. We cannot always do everything correct, but we can always try. In the words of a famous columnist - The Naked Truth is always better than the best dressed lie.

- Nimish Sutaria Editor

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

It was a sense of déjà vu when a contentious matter yet again raised it's (at least for some) ugly head at a company where certain wrongdoings by its top executive had led to a lossmaking situation, of both, reputation and business. There was no implication of fraud, though at the same time the issue was being persisted on since the unaudited figures had been released, because some members (shareholders) felt it important enough to do so. It was equally undeniable that everyone was seeking closure.

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TAKE R OTARY H O ME And the Winner is .... !! Deriving inspiration from the Miss Universe pageant, I and Mamta Kahai ( The chairpersons) decided to have our TRH

29th January

with the theme of 'Mr. & Mrs. Rotary 2015'!

Fortunately for us, on 29th January, Rotarians Manisha and Sanjay Agrawal , consented to play hosts for the mega event and opened up the gates of their heavenly terrace for us!

Couple of preparations & we were set for the D day! After the ramp walk and introduction rounds, came the Q & A Round. The quirky answers of the contestants let out a riot of laughter which could be heard for miles together!

Winners of the night were Rtn. Mahendra

BL O O D D O N ATI O N KITS, Ramtek, is one institute which contributes every year in hundreds of blood units. The camp this year was conducted on 30th of Jan., and was a huge success, as always. It started at 10.00 a.m. and concluded at around 2.00 p.m.

In the morning, the sight of long queues of students eager to register their names was remarkable. A culture promoting social responsibility was amply evident

An oral hygiene workshop, Paedopathshala, was held on 30th January at Mother's Pet Kindergarten, Sadar. 262 children were taught basics of

Kavikulguru Institute of Technology & Science, Ramtek 30th January

amongst the young students. The dynamic Principal of the college, Dr. Bhaskar Patil is the spirit behind this culture. The NCC incharge Mr. Randive worked hard for the same also.

There were two blood banks participating, with 'Jeevan Jyoti Blood Bank' being the front runner amongst them. By afternoon, the total collection of blood was 260 units.

PAED O PATHSHALA

Kamat as Mr. Rotary and Rt. Ann. Vandana palewar as Mrs. Rotary. The lovely evening ended with a sumptuous dinner and dessert with a heartfelt thanks to the hosts !

Dr. Shivani Bidaye ( Sule)

President Rtn Bharat Goenka, Hon. Secy Manjot kahai, Director Gogi bhasin, Chairpersons Raj Shah and Mohd. Master were present on the occasion and they encouraged all young students for blood donation and appreciated their zeal for doing such great social work. Kudos to KITS team of blood donors for their contribution. - Dr. Sheela Mundhada

Mother's Pet Kindergarten 30th January

maintaining oral health and hygiene, including 'how to brush teeth'.

Director – Non Medical, Gogi Bhasin attended the workshop, besides Dr. Pooja

Poddar, who conducted it. Tooth brushes MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

were also distributed to the participating

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kids along with leaflets on oral hygiene.

The kids were very participative.

Hislop Rotaract - Blood Donation Camp 4th February Scheme (NSS), Dr. Anjali Andrew, Convenor and Dr. Anjali Gaidhane, Coconvenor Women's Development Cell (WDC).

This event was successful under the able

5th February

The seventh business meeting was called to order, and after customary formalities, President Bharat wished Nooruddin Malak son of Rtn. Amiruddin Malak, leaving as an exchange student to USA on Feb12th, the very best. The minutes of the previous Business Meeting held on 1st January was read out by secretary Manjot Singh Kahai.

The Golden Orange for the month of February was released at the hands of PP D.K.Sahani. Editor Nimish Sutaria announced the prizes for the Tweets, sudoku and crosswords and also announced the question for the month.

B2B- Back to Basics 8th February B2B IT WAS ‌ Back To Basics, The mentoring Program held in a jam packed Udyog Bhavan Hall (Back To The Old Meeting Hall of Rotary) turned out to be fabulous refresher course for all participants‌ Everything they were curious about, related to Rotary and particularly Rotary Club of Nagpur, was very well presented by our very own Senior Rotarians! A brainchild of our Convenor PP Shiraz Gimi (who also conducted it) and very ably complemented

by Co Chair PP Sanjiv Chugh.

The Committee congratulated all proactive members who attended and

Guidance of Rotaract teacher-in-charge Jigisha Naidu. All the Rotaractors worked hard to make the students aware of the benefits of blood donation -Ajay Gajbhiye

BUSI N ESS MEETI N G

Rotary Information was read by Mahendra Kamath and project announcements made for Udaan by Pritesh Tank, Hemalkasa Surgical Camp by Dr Rajesh Singhania, Ladies League Match by Parag Paranjpe, Mentoring Program and 12th Feb weekly meeting program by Rina Sinha and Skin Bank Project by Dr Sameer Jahagirdar. Treasurer Kapil Bahri presented key figures for finances as well as details of dues from members.

The president informed of 7 new membership proposals accepted by the board after preliminary discussions.

Resignations of two members, Rtn.Sachin Bafna, relocated to Raipur and Rtn. Sheela Singhee preoccupied with her personal commitments, were accepted by the board.

Issues related to the Nomination Committee Meeting, which were carried forward from previous Business Meetings, were discussed and resolution passed basis the findings and responses from the NC members. IPP Prashant Kale was requested to proceed with the formation of the Constitutional review committee to determine amendments to the bye laws.

Bharat clarified that minimum attendance criteria of 60% will be enforceable as resolved for participation in this committee. The attendance report for December was read out by Ashok Malani and 100% attendance awards announced and distributed.

The meeting was adjourned after the national anthem.

-Team GO

ME N TO RI N G C O M MITTEE actively participated in this presentation.

These future leaders of our Club came away empowered by the knowledge needed to run our club in the right manner!!

President Bharat Goenka welcomed the members with opening remarks. Co Chair PP Sanjiv Chugh shared the anatomy, history, geography of Rotary in a very interesting manner. He also presented PDG Vishwas Sahasrabhojanee's slides on RSAO/RI and District 3030.

PP Atul Shah talked at length about Community Service and the many pictures and anecdotes left everybody emotional

and proud to be a part of this Club.

Past Secretary Amitabh Sinha brought out the essence of Vocational Service and explained the ethics and morals of following our Vocations with a special emphasis on The Four Way Test.

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

A Blood Donation camp was organised by the Rotaract Club of Hislop College in collaboration with National Service S c h e m e ( N S S ) a n d Wo m e n ' s Development Cell (WDC).The Camp started at 10 a.m in the morning and continued till 2:30 p.m. 34 people donated blood and made an attempt to help the needy.

The organizers have acknowledged the help of Dr. Ravi Wankhede from Jeevan Jyoti Blood Bank in organizing the camp and also conveyed thanks to Mr. Prashant Shelke, Convenor National Service

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PP Sati Khanna gave an elaborate presentation of the International Service and TRF! PP Tauby Bhagwagar explained the nuances of the Youth service, Interact and Rotaract Service; a method of channelizing the energies of the Youth and laying the foundation of good Rotarians of the future!

PP Shabbir Shakir in his inimitable style then took the session to a newer height of interaction, an eye opener on “Engaging with Rotary Club of Nagpur”, freely using couplets to explain his points, sharing practical insights into every aspect of our

Club's activities ensuring the members' active participation.

President Elect Khushnoor Chugh took everyone “Back To School” with her Quizzing, testing their Cricketing skills by tossing chocolates for correct answers. All present participated in full strength, and these sessions interspersed between each presentation, got everyone excited!

Certificates of Participation were presented to all. Jt Secy. Rina Sinha proposed a Vote of Thanks, firstly and most importantly, to all the enthusiastic participants. She thanked all the speakers, PP Shiraz (Convenor), for his passionate

W EEKLY MEETI N G

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

The project announcements laid special emphasis on "Udaan 2015".

Marriages might be made in heaven but relationships have to be nurtured and cared for. This panel discussion with a twist started with introductions by Jumana. The panelists were in pairs : "Devrani - jethani" Jodi of Ritika and Sonal Singhvi, the "sala - bhabhi Jodi" with Shabbir and Sabiha, "devar - bhabhi" with Naushad and Monica Bhagwagar and the famous "Veeru - Jai Jodi" of Nilufer and Vinita.

This cross section of different relationships gave us an insight on dealing with people on a day to day basis.

The moderators were Nidhi Gandhi and Manju Shahani.

The Singhvi girls are very happy with their living arrangements. Division of labour at home is on mutual understanding basis and both are happy they had a sister in law to shares the

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persuasion for this mentoring program, PP Chugh for his support, Rtn. Sohrab Kanga for designs and creatives, Rtn Vikas Jain for arranging the venue, Director Sanjay Sethi for the support by his Greetings Committee Members and Prashant Rajurkar for communication as also Dinesh Vaidya our office support.

This first step has laid the foundation for mentoring of our youngsters which will go a long way in shaping our Club's future!!

-Team GO

Yeh Rishtey Kya Kehlaten Hain 12th February

chores with. Besides this, they both agreed that were now more of friends, sharing the same vision of a content and joint family.

Shabbir (initially Sabiha's brother) is now a co-brother. Both have tremendous respect for each other and on a lighter note Sabiha got a chance to show us the teasing yet casual style of Shabbir.

Moving on to bhabhi and devar, we were shown a relationship of mutual respect and family bonding. They got a chance to say five nice things and five not so nice things about each other although I think the former was more from the heart.

Rotary and their love for cricket bought these two together. Nilufer and Vinita, friends for many years have played together for RCN. This was an opportunity to talk about each other, their mutual comfort and interests especially on Rotary projects.

The cherry on the cake was the felicitation of Abnash uncle and his still beautiful bride as the Valentine couple. His wisdom - for a happy marriage, start accepting each other with strengths and flaws, only then will the inner you surface up. In a lovely expression on their relationship, he said they have merged into one entity after so many years together. The prize for matching Valentine couple went to none other than Manju and Chandru. kirti Jain proposed a vote of thanks for a fun evening.

-Anita Chitaley

S.B. JAIN INSTITUTE – BLOOD DONATION 13th February finally reached 89 units collected. The Rotaractors have thanked Rtn. Manish Agrawal and all the College faculty members for their support. Altogether the event was successful due to active

participation of the Rotaractors of S.B.Jain College and they look forward for more such events.

-Team Rotaract SB Jain

A Valentine's Day with a Difference

When the world celebrated the day of Love with Red Roses, Gifts and Cards, Rotary Club of Nagpur along with the Department of Social Welfare - Zilla Parishad, celebrated this day with a difference, by organizing the 5 t h consecutive 'UDAAN' -A Day Long Sports & Cultural Carnival for Specially Abled Children.

710 Differently Abled children from 44 schools competed in 60 different sports events from 9.00 am at SCZCC, Civil Lines, Nagpur. 'UDAAN 2015' was sponsored by Lata Mangeshkar Hospital, and also supported by Hotel Centre Point, High Land Park & SCZCC .

More than 1200 people participated in the event, which included 150 Teachers, 30 Technical Support Staff and more than 200 Rotary volunteers, but the biggest support was from the more than 300 college students from our Rotaract Clubs of Sadabai Raisoni College, Hislop

College, IGMC, Tuli College of Hotel Management, Tirpude College, Tulsiram Gaikwad College of Architecture and G.H Raisoni College.

Apart from sports, the children were also entertained by Tatoo Artists and Cartoon Characters, while they snacked on Pop Corn, Candy Floss as also Dinshaws Ice Cream. All the special children were given Gift Hampers comprising of a personalized Mug with UDAAN Logo and their own photograph printed on the other side, sponsored by Prashant Ugemuge of Highland Park.

The highlight of the day was the special Sit Down Lunch for all the 710 Children sponsored by a leading Rotarian Jasbir Singh Arora of Hotel Centre Point. The Rotarian and Rotaract volunteers served the children and made them feel special.

The technical assistance for the event was provided by Mr. Siddharth Gaikwad, Dist. Social Welfare Officer, Zilla Parishad along with sports instructors Umesh Warjurkar, Dhananjay Upasani and their team. SCZCC provided financial assistance under its SCZCCNGO Partnership Programme, as a result of Director Shri Piyush Kumar's intervention and support.

UDAA N

14th February A grand cultural presentation highlighting social issues was performed by these specially abled children during the concluding function between 3-5pm.

A unique exercise of adopting these special children for education was also conducted. A sum of Rs. 500/- per child was accepted as donation to take care of uniform, shoes, notebooks and other necessary items for 1 year. This also received a good response.

Team UDAAN has expressed their gratitude to President Bharat Goenka, Secretary Manjot Singh Kahai, Advisor Dinesh Naidu; Chairpersons Sarang Upganlawar, Mahendra Kamath, Umesh Agrawal, along with PP Vijay Naidu, Rita Bhargava, Sanjay Sethi, Ashish Mehadia, Cyrus Watchmaker, Namita Sharma , Raj Shah, Ashok Mrig , Parag Paranjpe, Sonal Singhvi, Priya Upganlawar, Rakhi Bhatia,Vandana and Manish Agarwal and Sohrab Kanga along with all other members of our club, walk-in visitors and the huge army of Rotaractors who worked very hard for the success of this event; and not the least to all the sponsors, known and anonymous donors who contributed to make 'UDAAN 2015' a huge success.

-Pritesh Tank

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

This Camp was conducted by Sainath Blood Bank. The Rotaractors enthusiastically participated in this event with the college faculty members. The Camp started 10:30 am onwards and

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MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

Aura Rotary Cricket League 15th February

What a weekend it was!! The Aura RCL (Ladies) 2015 aimed to promote pure fellowship amongst all the Rotary Clubs of Nagpur city...It succeeded and how!!!

The OC ably headed by the captain of the Ladies cricket team of RCN Vinita Bahri worked really hard for the event and the effort showed. Entries were invited from all the lady members and Annes of the 20 Rotary Clubs across the city, with lady members and Annes from 7 clubs participating. Practices were held at the Parsi Cemetery ground. The 36 ladies participating were then divided into pairs by lots. Like the IPL, an auction was held of the 18 pairs formed. Each member of the pair was from a different Club. An auction dinner was held on 14th February where each pair was bid for by 18 preinvited bidders.

The Bidders were Nidhi Gandhi, Meenu Verma, Shipra Sharma, Vaishali Jaiswal, AnaghaJaiswal, Hina Agrawal, Sejal Shah, Ratna Joshi, Rakhi Bhutani, Mrs Thutheja, Bapunas, Tauby Bhagwagar, Legaato, Adarsh Daga, Kusum Pande,

Main 6. Best fielder – Geetika Bhatia of Rotary Ishanya 7. Best Catch – Anagha Joshi of Rotary West 8. Best Allrounder – Krishna Sanwal of Rotary Ishanya 9. Most Enthusistic Players – Sudha Jeswani of Rotary North and Supriya Joshi of Tiger Capital 10. First Lady of Rotary Cricket – Deepa Jamwal of Nagpur Main All in all – A fantastically eventful weekend. Special thanks to the event sponsor AURA for their support, OC of the event for the superb energy and synergy while planning the event and last but not the least thanks to Amitabha Sharma, Parag Paranjape, Monal Malji ,Kapil Bahri, Jatin Sampat, Aryanka Rathod and Itisha Bahri for all their help and support.

- Team RCL

TAKE R OTARY H O ME

‘Love was in the air ' at Rtn. Harpreet and Ruchi Uppals home, the lovely hosts of for this TRH! All looked lovely, dressed in shades of red & black, which happened to be the theme for the night.

The evening became more romantic with the games which were designed with this sole purpose by the chairpersons Shivani & Mamta Kahai. The

winners were young Rtn. Sandeep & Priti Vaid and veteran Rtn. Rajan & Niru Bhatia.

The senior Uppals (Lions since 40 years) were the most sporting & lovable couple! The coveted prize of best dressed rotary anne and rotarian were won by Pinky Singh and Mehernosh Rana.

A sumptuous dinner after a fun filled evening, heartfelt thanks to the hosts and we were already l o o k i n g forward to the next TRH !! Dr. Shivani Bidaye ( Sule)

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

17th February

Jyoti Goenka, Aarti Kalode and the Pixies.

After the auction, this trendy set of Nagpur city alongwith the enthusiastic players mingled freely over wine and dinner.

The day of the match February 15, was a bright and sunny one at the Ambedkar Ground. President Bharat Goenka inaugurated the event. The weather didn't deter these ladies. 3 league matches were held in which the 18 pairs, divided into 3 teams of 6 pairs, played. The top 2 winners of each League match qualified for the final. The final match had a nail biting finish and the eventual winners were : 1. Winners – Jerestin Watchmaker of Nagpur Main and Padmashree Deshpande of Rotary Downtown named Taubys Awesome Twosome 2. 1st Runners Up – Nisreen Maimoon of Nagpur Main and Krishna Sanwal of Rotary Ishanya named Legaato Daredevils.

3. 2nd Runner Up – Vinita Bahri of Nagpur Main and Puja Khatri of Rotary North named Shipra Smashers 4. Best Batsman – Padmashree Deshpande of Rotary Downtown 5. Best Bowler – Divya Bhati of Nagpur

FELL O W SHIP

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SUR G IC AL C A MP

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

We have done it again! In our endeavor to serve the needy, poor, down trodden & tribals of the society, we undertook our annual pilgrimage to Hemalkasa – this time after a gap of one year. Our club once again proved its seriousness by performing 209 surgeries in two days.

The team of expert surgeons / doctors from the club included Dr Rajesh Singhania, Dr Rajesh Singhvi, Dr Raju Wilkinson and senior surgeon Dr Surajit Hazra. The various surgeries which were done included thyroid, breast cancer, abdominal lumps, hernia & hydrocele.

About 100 cases of cataract surgeries were also done. The team of ophthalmic surgeons included Dr Prashant Choudary, Dr Shaunak Mokadam, Dr Rafat Khan, Dr Abhijeet Deshpande, Dr Yeshpal Lamba and Dr Talavia.

This camp was unique, as for the first time laparoscopic surgery was done by Dr Rajesh Singhania. Till now patients in urban areas had access to the comfort of

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Hemalkasa 19th – 22nd February

laparoscopy also called as minimal invasive surgery. Now the tribals at Hemalkasa will also enjoy the advancement & benefit of the most advanced technique in surgery, due to which the patients have minimal pain and no scars, and they can be discharged within a day. This has been made possible due to the construction of the modern OT, inaugurated in December '14. This will be more relevant to tribals and poor who cannot miss work and their livelihood. Apart from the surgical camp many nonmedical activities like cricket match between school children and Rotarians, distribution of sweets, ice-cream, sports equipment and air show were also arranged. During the camp, a langar was organized in which about 450 relatives were served healthy food. The nonmedical team included Ashish

Mehadia, Gogi Basin, Cyrus Watchmaker along with several other Rotarians.

Mahindra & Mahindra was the major sponsor for this project. The volunteers from M & M also helped in managing the logistics. President Bharat and Secretary Manjot have thanked the team and Dr Prakash Amte for giving the opportunity to our club to fulfill the commitment made to serve the poorest of society.

-Team GO

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MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

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MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

N ID PULSE P O LI O IM MU N IZATI O N

The second Polio immunization programme was held on Sunday as a follow up to the earlier camp held in January. Although India is declared a polio free nation, the challenge of ensuring that it remains so is phenomenal.

Hence, the NID polio programme needs the same seriousness as the previous

years.

The activity started at 7.00 and the number of immunization booths allotted to RCN was 93. The NMC team of Zone no.7 under Dr. Ramteke, the Medical Officer in-charge, was geared up for the task and charged for the day. NMC staff members picked up their respective 23rd February

February 23rd is celebrated worldwide as Rotary Day by everyone connected with the Rotary movement. It is Paul Harris's birthday, the visionary who founded Rotary in 1905, and the 110th anniversary

medicine supplies and also the food packets arranged by our club and departed to their allocated booths. By 8.00 AM the entire stock of medicines had moved out of the zonal office. Logistic support was provided by our members to help NMC in speedy distribution.

A Total of 18,627 children below five years of age and 164 children above five years of age were immunized this day in this zone. Members present on the occasion were Secretary Manjot, IPP Prashant, PPs Gulab Mahant, Chandru Shahani and Akhtar Parvez apart from Rotarians Shabbar Shakir, Jehangir Doongaji, Yatin Malji, Madan Pande, Prashant Rajurkar and Rakhi Bhatia.

- Team Pulse Polio

R OTARY DAY C AR N IVAL

of the founding of ROTARY. 2014-15 is the silver jubilee year of our district and DG Dada Deshmukh encouraged the Rotarians of this district to bond with each other well, so that the ideals of ROTARY could be carried forward on a common platform. In tune with his vision, all 21 Rotary Clubs of Nagpur agreed to celebrate ROTARY DAY by organising a first of its kind Rotary Carnival where members and families of all the clubs got together to have a good time. The lead was taken up

by the big four clubs of Nagpur including Rotary Club of Nagpur under the leadership of Chairman President Enclave Rtn Jagdish Khatri.

About 1100 Rotarians and family members attended and enjoyed the games and cuisine from the 20 odd stalls serving Indian and International cuisine. DG Dada Deshmukh especially came to Nagpur to inaugurate the event and was happy to see members of all the 21 Rotary clubs enjoying themselves. The carnival was a fellowship activity for our club.

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

22nd February

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ROTARY CLUB OF NA GPUR C ALENDAR FRO M 5th M ARCH 2015 - 2nd APRIL 2015

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FEBRUARY

Mon

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FEBRUARY

Tue

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FEBRUARY

Wed

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Thu

Dr. Ashok Lawange Manju Shahani, Dr. Indu Arneja, Sarita Agrawal, Smita Sheth

Bharat Goenka Litesh Thakkar Dr. Shivangi Jahagirdar

BUSINESS MEETING LADIES COMMITTEE

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Fri Dr. Anita Sood

Sat Nikunj Doshi

TiE Nagpur Chapter CM Hangout: - @TiE Office

Sarvesh & Ritu Agrawal Vaibhav & Shripriya Jaipuria

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Atul & Shilpa Pandey

Anil & Varsha Parakh

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13 Dr. Vivek Harkare Asha Gupta

Sonia Khurana

Moiz Bande Ali

14 Rajbir Kaur Singh

15 Swati Atal Shamsha Raiyani

Neeta Kale TiE Nagpur Chapter 5 idea Pitch by Nagpur startups for curation

WEEKLY MEETING

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Eminent Lawyer and Senior Counsel Adv Ujwal Nikam @ Hislop College Auditorium ..open to all

Mohinderpal & Manpreet Alag Sapna & Sacheen Vastani

Sandeep & Alka Goenka

17 Jigna L. Thakkar

Navneet & Neerja Shukul

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Sun

Vilas Kale

Prerna Bhattad Habeeb Khan

RCN's Power Women ...Their stories

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Hemant & Harsha Doshi

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Mamta Jaiswal

Vishwajeet Kshirsagar

Abdul Ghafoor Parekh

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22 Kiran Rathod

WEEKLY MEETING “ Unveiling The Muffler Man " Shalini Arora and Kavita Singhal

Dr. Vivek & Smita Harkare

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25 Rajesh Yadav Kishore Sheth

Zulekha Abdul Parekh Shyam Dewani Jehangir Doongaji Shabbar Shakir

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27 Sharad Bhattad Dr. Gira Soni

Sachin Palewar Amita Behal Priti Chhabra

Gaurav Ladha

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29 Abnash Chander Khurana Usha Kale Sylvester Isaacs Ashish Neb Dr. Anil Masand Neelu Garg Shantala Bhole

Rita Dhodapkar Gurinder Kahai Durriya Ahmed Swetha Singh

WEEKLY MEETING

Shri Vishwas Laparkar on the Success story of Vivekananda Rock Memorial

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APRIL

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Beena Isaacs

APRIL

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Pinky Batra

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

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BUSINESS MEETING

Zamin & Rasheeda Amin All the events listed are on the basis of available information. While all care has been taken, errors and omissions, if any, are unintentional & may be excused.

Please confirm details / schedules with the concerned organization for changes, if any – Ed.

Birthday

Anniversary

City Events

Meeting

Project

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MI N D IT Across 1. It might be ticking 5. Fuel for a fireplace 8. Invites 12. Above 13. Go into debt 14. Finished 15. Can be counted on 17. "The __" (daytime show hosted by women) 18. Goes into 19. Opposite of frowns 21. Parents 23. Fedora, e.g.

26. Pollen spreader 27. Does an usher's job 31. Matures 33. Uncooked 35. Let go of 36. One for the __ 38. More specific than 'a' 40. Plaything 41. Containers 44. Totally up to date 47. Get away 51. Flatten 52. Let go of 54. There's three in the yard 55. "___ you nuts?"

56. __tone (cell user's download) 57. Piece of cake!

58. Where rests the mouse 59. Fill to excess

The Winners of each of these mind games will win a Tub of Dinshaw’s Ice Cream.

In case of Multiple correct entries, lots would be drawn and winner declared.

Down 1. Uninteresting person 2. __ mitts 3. Become liquid 4. Short 5. Shellfish 6. Wise flyer 7. Silly flyers 8. Warned 9. Tiller's target 10. Santa's seat?

11. Makes clothes 16. United __ Emirates 20. Sra in USA 22. Warms up 23. Pork cut 24. Past 25. Letterman's list number 28. It's often left hanging 29. Likewise 30. Look through a keyhole 32. "__-six Trombones..."

34. Tired?

37. Affirmative 39. Or __ 42. Part of a seat belt 43. Old soldiers may have them 44. Vitality 45. District 46. Little piggies?

48. Largest continent 49. __house (luxury digs) 50. Border 53. Baseball stat

SOLUTIONS FEBRUARY PUZZLES CROSS WORD

SHARMILA SUTARIA SUDOKU

February Winner JERRY WATCHMAKER PS: Winners names were drawn by lot out of the correct entries received.

Editor

FR O N T PA G E

CREDITS

Udaan 2015

Director: Rina Sinha Chairperson: Nilufer Rana Editor: Nimish Sutaria Processing: Eskay's Scanner Designing: Gurushree Graphics Printing: Shabbir Shakir Paper: Courtesy BILT Coordination : Prashant Rajurkar Team Golden Orange

February Golden Orange Release Multiple Surgeries at Hemalkasa Live Band at Rotary Carnival IYE Students Presentation

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

STAY CONNECTED

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We sincerely request you to share your comments about this issue.

We look forward to your candid views which we will publish verbatim.

Send in your responses to nimish.sutaria@gmail.com, You can also send your feedback by SMS or Whats app to +91 98231 07884

continued from page no.2

Dear Vindhya Inactive members are sometimes dormant members, and despite the best of intentions may not be able to find the time to participate.

If our admission standards have been stringent and exacting, there is no reason for us to remove them from our membership. Then it is our responsibility to encourage them to participate and help them enjoy and thrive while they serve the community through Rotary.

Vinita Bahri

If you are attending the meetings or projects your participation towards Rotary objectives is bound to increase, this will not only do good to the club but will also accomplish your aim of joining Rotary. All the members who have zero percent attendance for last 6 months must be given a show cause and ultimately asked to resign so that better members are inducted in their place, this will also balance the funds issue.

Dinesh Naidu Nobody can enforce any thing on

Project announcements for the following week were made after the customary formalities.

Thereafter Dr. Rajesh Singhania briefed the audience on the successful conclusion of the Hemalkasa Medical Camp and President Bharat gave an overview of the non-medical side of the camp and thanked all those who attended.

The Long Term IYE students of the club Antoine (France), Jessica and Mary Hall (USA) and Paula (Brazil) presented glimpses of their fabulous experience in India. The photos reflected the warmth of their host families, the Indian festivals which they enjoyed, their schools, projects, food and the places they visited.

The 26th February prese n tati o n gave a picture of what they discovered, felt and learned. The students expressed gratitude towards all their counselors.

Jyoti Goenka bid adieu to them and presented them with gifts and mementoes. She also shared her own experience of the programme as a past beneficiary of IYE. Chairperson Geeta Rao thanked co-chair Mamta Jaiswal, Advisor PP Vijay Naidu and committee members and counsellors who were pillars of support through the year.

Dhruv Pathology Laboratory, Aditya Enclave, 3rd floor, Opposite Somalwar School,Nagpur-10, 0712-3265328

DIRECTOR DR. SHAILENDRA MUNDHADA

Dhruv Laboratories. J-11 Laxmi Nagar WHC Road, Nagpur. Ph: 3295328

continued on page no.20

W EEKLY MEETI N G

Hetal Sampat presented a short pictorial depiction of the Ladies Cricket League. A surplus sum of Rs. 40,000/- raised by the team of Vinita, Hetal, Sona, Ritika, Jerry, Nilufer, Shivani, Fatema, Archana and Namrata was handed over to the Club.

Pritesh Tank gave a heartwarming presentation of Udaan 2015 and acknowledged the contributions of all who had worked hard for its success.

The meeting was adjourned after the national anthem.

-Geeta Rao / Team GO

For Complete solution in Blood Banking, NABH Accredited

JEEVAN JYOTI BLOOD BANK

JP Chambers, Madhav Nagar, Nagpur-10, Ph. : 0712-6640411, 2230876

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

FOR COMPLETE SOLUTION OF YOUR DIAGNOSTIC NEEDS & HEALTH CHECK UP, NABL ACCREDITED

any one. ?Maybe inspire,maybe motivate. Surely commitment to attendance in meetings n projects are pre requisites as a member.

Funds are never in short if the cause n commitment are right.

Naushad Bhagwagar The membership is on the rise.

Attendance in meetings and projects is on the decline!

Surprise, surprise. It is a leadership issue ma'm. Address this and rest will fall in place.

Amitabh Sinha

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I N SH O RT

Now imagine this.. On a warm breezy night (full moon if I may add..!) you and your buddies driving down Kalmeshwar road having some heart to heart conversation.,. With Rafi crooning 'Khoya Khoya Chaand'.. When suddenly you hear a grumbling rumbling bumbling of your stomach... Now where to...?

Would you ruin such a perfect enchanted evening by checking into a fancy schmancy restro-lounge? Naah! That's where Sharma Ji's Dhaba comes into the picture!! 16 kms from the zero mile, drive along the Kalmeshwar Road, it's immediately after the Radha Soami Satsang and besides the petrol pump.

A nice, cosy little place, don't expect fancy seating and interiors. It is a totally open place with a few solid gazebos besides the

-Dr. Iqbal Khan main kitchen, with a few 'khaats' strewn around. Totally a place for families as well as stags! As soon as you enter, you get this very warm and welcoming feeling where you can spend those precious moments with your loved ones and have an excellent meal. The ambience and atmosphere is very soothing and relaxing.

The staff is quick on their toes and the service is excellent.

As soon as you take your seats they offer you a wide variety of choices to pick from for your meal. Recommended are – Masala Papad, Dal Fry, Bhuna Gosht, Saoji Chicken, Kachha Baingan ka Bharta, Ginger Veg, Masala Boiled Egg, Butter Tandoori Roti and Garlic Zeera Rice. They have an option where they prepare the food according to your tastes. Like it hot? Don't

FO OD

like it hot? No problemo.. Everyone can get their taste buds tingling!

It is already a rage amongst college kids who prefer an informal relaxed and quiet evening. It also goes easy on the pocket, a place where you can be your own radio jockey ;-) All in all: Long drive + Open air + Excellent food! Value for money!

TATTO O FASHI O N -Dr. Jitendar Bharadwaj

Love for this art form led me to be Nagpur's first tattoo artist, though I am an Engineer by background. I started my store in 2003 and luckily I now have clients across the country. I work freelance and specialize in designer tattoos. The trend of tattooing is increasing in leaps and bounds and today my clients include men and ladies, whether students or working professionals, or even entrepreneurs.

At some point of time I developed an i n t e r e s t i n spiritual tattoos eventually becoming the first tattoo artist in India to get a PhD on the subject. This trend is growing and many people are getting spiritual tattoos inked. I believe the power of belief with this symbolism, especially the positive ones, really works for most people.

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

MUSIC

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- Tarun Lala On His Love Affair With The Tabla

I am told that while other kids were busy playing with their toys at age 3, I insisted with my parents to buy me a tabla set. This infatuation with the tabla has grown into a lifelong romance.

Initially I learnt the different “taals” from Shri Sandeep Chauhan. Moving on to professional training, I had the privilege to give my first performance at age 6.

I got a break with AIR, at age 7, as a child artiste.

Around the same time, a treasured moment of my life was when at a concert of Ust. Taufiq Qureshi, complimented me as “Chhote Tabalchi”!

I was lucky that at 9, I met Shri Prafulla Athalye who put me on the path which led to Pt. Arvind Mulgaonkarji, the senior most disciple of Late Ust. Amir Hussian Khan Saab. I have been traveling thrice a month to Mumbai since 11 years to train under him. After the AIR break, I have regularly performed at Nagpur, Khairagah, Nanded, Hyderabad, Mumbai and many other places.

Today at 21, I am in the final year of college and continue with my passion to be a professional tabla artiste. I have regularly represented RST Nagpur University in inter-university cultural fests and done well. I also teach music in my college and head its cultural wing. It was an honour to compose the background score for an award winning short film “Chotu Insaniyat”.

I aim to move to Mumbai after graduation and explore the opportunities that the city of dreams has to offer, and also imbibe from the great masters there. I feel privileged that God has blessed me with a talent, and my family has encouraged me. I continue to draw inspiration from the Masters Ust. Zakir Hussain, Pt. Swapan Chaudhary, Pt. Anindo Chatterjee and Ust. Taufiq Qureshi.

B O O KS

What's wrong with PAKISTAN? This is a scholarly book written by Babar Ayaz, a Senior Pakistani Journalist.

- Vilas Kale My Pakistani Identifying the “Two-Nation Theory” (the basis of Pakistan's friends have creation) as a Genetic Defect, he has analysed the numerous stayed with me problems faced by Pakistan (as a democratic country) because in Nagpur, in its foundation is based on religion. It is a well-researched, turn I have stayed authentic and objective analysis of how Islam was misused by with them in their vested interests to fan extremism and fanaticism, which has now D u b a i h o m e . boomeranged. He writes with great authority about the Quaid-eWhen we meet we Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah's double speak, and the Army's t a l k t h e s a m e role using Islam as a force to suppress the sub-nationalities language, share the aspiring for autonomy, its financial power and misplaced same food, sing all adventures against India, as also its takeover of democracy by old and new Hindi multiple coups. He has very effectively brought out the film songs. If citizens disastrous role played by General Zia in trying to take the can be so friendly country back a 1000 years by encouraging the Mullahs in why are our countries Islamization of Pakistani laws which were in conflict with the at War? This question 20th century value systems. has bugged me since The Chapters analysing regional and provincial conflicts, the 1971, when as a student why and how of the creation of Bangla Desh are a treat for I went hitch-hiking to students of politics and social sciences, and so are the ones on Middle East & Europe, and made some Pakistani Pakistan's foreign policy (if there is one!), relations with India, China, Afghanistan, USA and Saudi Arabia. friends en route.

Rahul, my son, gave me In 34 chapters Babar Ayaz has given the modern Pakistanis a this book which answered almost all my questions. It's quite ready reckoner on what ails their country and a way out of the daring and very uncommon for a Paki to be so honest and frank present mess. Do read it, after all its good to know why our neighbour is what it is!! in analysing the country that's now called “Most Unsafe”.

Changes = Big Difference DIET LA N E -Small Sneha Fafat

Sleep Guys!!

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

TASK 6 – Sleep- Detox the brain.

What – Skimping on sleep dulls activity in the brain, the locus of decision-making and impulse control. A sleepy brain appears to crave junk food while also lacking the impulse control to say no.

Why - Sleep is like nutrition for the brain. Insufficient sleep impacts your hunger and fullness hormones.

How – Most people need between 7 and 9 hours each night.

Get less than that, and your body will react in ways that lead even the most determined health freaks straight to pastry shops.

Add to the list or ask your question on www.facebook.com/dietlane Sneha is a registered dietician and consulting Nutritionist practicing in Nagpur.

Look out for task 7 - Health Vs Weight.

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continued from page no.17

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

Dear Vindhya, A time was ,when our club had quality members only.Slowly the quantity increased. Now it is a big quantity, and we have to decide whether we need qualitative quantity or quantitative quality.I think we need the best blend of both but properly balanced. I have observed that every month our 100 percent absentees are more than that of the 100 percent present. That is what forces us to introspect and decide about making attendance compulsory & retire inactive members.

Our club is always at the forefront to implement systems & discipline hence we can be the trendsetters in respect of attendance. also. If we do that people will think ten times before becoming members. I think there will be very few quitters & if they exceed our expectations we are capable of finding alternative options to fund the club activities since i believe in the old Maxim " Necessity is the Mother of Invention" Girish Deodhar Prospective members are appraised of their responsibilities, when invited to be members (what a euphemism!), and before they commit. Though their financial contributions may help projects, one doesn't have to be a member to contribute to TRF or the Club directly. Improving voting strength and numbers, raising funds et al are means and not the ends in themselves. Years of discussions and plans to increase involvement and attendance have all come to naught. Why carry dead weight? Nimish Sutaria How are we going to 'retire' such members? By throwing them out presuming that they will never ever perform and participate?

'Will it build goodwill and better

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friendships ?' and 'Will it be beneficial to all concerned?'

Rather than that more efforts should be put in by others to involve them. Every individual has some potential and interest in some field of activity or the other.

All that is needed is to encourage them showcase their talent and evolve as Good Rotarians. These members could also be tapped vigorously for contributions to TRF and Service projects.

As regards looking out for outside options for funding club activities, no problem, but the funds raised from the public must be scrupulously spent only on service projects. Rotary India wants us to go ahead in a big way in tapping medium and big Corporates for CSR funding of our Literacy and 'Swachh Bharat' campaign by implementing ' WASH & WINS' i.e. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools projects.

Vishwas Sahasrabhojanee Centennial District Governor Lets give the members the benefit of doubt ! Lets not think all the time that they have joined Our Premium(!) Club only for recognition in society or only for personal gains or participating only in fellowships..The Financiers In them also is Voluntary No one has forced it on them to pay the hefty membership fee.... Can we look within ??

Rotary Builds Leadership.. And the challenge of good leaders is to Inspire and Encourage Participation..Always Being a in a Comfort zone of working only with the same set of members is undesirable ..Filter them on their Classifications / Areas Of Interest and allocate responsibilities accordingly.. Make the Sponsor members responsible for their

Nominations..Make The mentoring an On going Process ..

Finally.. Allow Them To Make Mistakes and Appreciate Them For whatever Little or More They have done ..

Enforcing ban or removing from membership is the easiest way out ... There are many waiting in queue ..But Lets Do A thorough Job at our end . Rina Sinha Well, the choice is yours ; either dilute your effectiveness by having varied and ever growing activities thereby perpetuating the need for ever increasing membership to fund them....

OR.... limit your activities to a number where meaningful work can be done, reducing your fund requirement , which will allow for retiring of inactive members.

In other words, aim for quality in activities and membership.

Jimmy Sanjana PHF My personal belief is that everyone contributes when they join a voluntary organization like Rotary, albeit differently. And multiple ways of contributing have to be assessed in multiple ways. Having said that, its up to the club to set up a point based pecking order if they so desire , and decide the cut off mark, like they do in educational institutions , which decides whether the member gets a 'pass' or a 'fail'.

Vindhya Sanjana Retire every year 5~10% members based on lowest attendance (lottery) and new intake same % of members.

Regards CA Hemant C. Lodha

HEALTHCARE -PP Atul Shah

IMPA CTI N G LIVES

Central India and an area where there has been no Government intervention as well.

We talk of number of Diagnosis, Surgeries, patients treated as a matter of fact. It is probably just another in our Club activities.

When I sat down to work out the figures of our Club's contribution in the area of Healthcare at minimal market rates, it turned out to be worth Rs 10 million annually. Kudos to the medical fraternity of our Club, who have been selflessly serving over 3 Generations.

It is worth looking at the Health care pie of our Club and its contribution in Rupee terms in different areas of Healthcare.

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

Healthcare services, is another area where our Club is leading from the front. From a Diagnostic Camp to Surgical Camps, Ophthalmic as well as General surgeries are organized by our Club year on year. What is noteworthy is that these camps focus mainly on Tribal and Rural areas, where people at large either have no access or availability of Surgeons and Doctors of repute are not available. During these camps even the disposables and consumables are arranged by the Club. Thus it is complete solution / service in Healthcare.

Apart from this Blood donation and Collection, which according to me is also a part of Healthcare Services, is an all round the year effort by our Club. We have now created State-ofthe-art Neo Intensive Care Unit at Matru Seva Sangh, yet again showing our commitment towards providing quality and affordable Healthcare for the underprivileged, which is first of its kind by an NGO in Nagpur.

Very shortly another first by our Club – The Skin Bank will be commencing its operations. This will be first of its kind in

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LET US F O R TO G O

The word Kutch means an island, Bhuj is its capital. Looking at the map, one can barely find any roads marked, and there are not many. So this almost unexplored place was our target since three years, much before Amitabh Bachchan sold it to viewers.

Finally in January 2015, the Rann of Kutch it was! The Rann (meaning desert) is a salt marsh. One needs to plan a trip during the full moon when the nature presents itself in all its glory. The first destination from the airport / railway is Dhordo where the camp is situated. It is a tent city specially created

for tourists between 1st of December to the 5th of March. The site is welcoming, pretty and festive. Camels and sounds of musicians playing make the ambience special. The tents are spacious, clean and have attached washrooms, which was the best part! We had air-conditioners too and we did need them in the afternoon, though the mornings were cool. Food at the camp was good though we would have appreciated more local fare… but I guess they need to cater to all tastes!

A visit to the salt marsh was planned on the first evening.

We were taken partly by bus and partly by camel cart and one gets to spend about 3 hours there for which we were unprepared, as the only place to sit is the salt bed which plays havoc with your clothes. You are welcome to keep standing of course! But we forget all our discomfort when we catch the sunset reflecting on the salt

TRAVEL D O CTO R

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

"How does one go about finding the best hotels and deals during peak travel periods? The Rotary Conference is in Mumbai in December and we would like to go to Goa before that, but the hotels are all full or have jacked up their prices significantly. Please suggest” - Madhavi Naidu Dear Madhavi, Here are some options you can consider: 1. Online: Obviously the best resource nowadays. Check thoroughly, compare several websites and then decide your hotel after checking the reviews on Tripadvisor or a similar website. You can compare several hotels and their rates on Kayak and Tripadvisor. Or if you have a coupon from Makemytrip or Expedia, this is the best time to make use of it.

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The Rann Of Kutch

2. Call the hotel: Before you book a room, call the hotel itself during business hours to see if the hotel will match or beat rates you've found online. There are several independent hotels that don't upload their entire room inventory online, so it might make sense to call them in person.

3. Smaller Properties: Many small hotels don't want to pay search site commissions, and therefore are not listed on mainstream websites. TripAdvisor is a good site to use to identify these small hotels, but you should go directly to the hotel to make reservations. Especially during peak travel periods, it makes sense to find out about these (from the B&B or Specialty Lodging listings on Tripadvisor or hotel listings on the Tourism Promotion Board website for instance) 4. Think outside the box: If you're

followed by the moon light on it! Surreal and a must see! 18000 sq feet of the glistening marsh…

The Lal Dongar, another site we went to, was a disappointment. One should revisit the salt marsh instead. The Roads are very nice, and are maintained by the Border Security Force.

Bhuj offers an added attraction of shopping for handicrafts and Bandhej, and we contributed heartily to the local economy!

Wild life lovers can go looking for the wild asses, though we did not see any. We did catch the Siberian crane in great numbers, which was totally enchanting.

Kudos to the diversity that is India.

-Deepali Kale traveling with family or planning a longer stay, look into renting an apartment or house. You can find listings at HomeAway, AirBnB and VRBO, among other services.

These are usually with a minimum stay of 3 or 7 nights minimum, but make a lot of sense during rush periods at places like Goa. We rented two bungalows at a property called Aguada Anchorage last year and for a large group like ours it was wonderful and worked out much cheaper than a regular hotel.

5. Travel agent: You can finally just appoint your local travel agent to search for you through their professional network. Or you can call an agent in Goa directly and ask them to look around.

Happy Travels!

Rahul Kale, Travel Doctor

- Team GO

TULIP FESTIVAL–1 2-1 5 APRIL

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

Spring brings in blossoming tulips to the valley, as the landscape softens and flourishes after the harsh and cold winter. The Tulip festival is held annually in the month of April when the tulips are in full bloom. The garden looks like a silken carpet of bright colored tulips. The bare brown earth between rows of Tulips makes for intricate designs (like carpets), leaving an indelible print in the mind.

The Tulips (native to Persia) are grown in the over 5 acre garden spread at the foothills of Zabarwan overlooking the world famous Dal Lake. Nearly 60 varieties of beautiful and vibrant tulips grow in this garden, attracting nearly a lakh or more visitors every year. For many who have visited the Cheshmashahi Gardens, a visit during the festival will likely renew their love of the valley.

Cultural programs, Kashmiri folk music and handicrafts, traditional Kashmiri cuisine forms an integral part of the experience during the festival. For more information, http://www.festivalsofindia.in/tulipfestival/#sthash.X8gPj1sM.dpuf

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SMILI N G FA CES Trymbak Raut – Recipient of scholarship funded by Scholarship Committee – Rotary Club of Nagpur He is a resident of Mohota village, Tehsil Kalmeshwar. His father was an employee of Zilla Parishad supporting a family of 6.

He completed his Std 12 in the village itself and moved to Nagpur to do his graduation. He did his B.Ed from Dhanvate College, Congress Nagar.

For 2 years of his graduation he lived at the Ramkrishna Math and absorbed the unique experience of living there. He considers the Maharajjis of the Math as

-Hetal Sampat

his mentors. The principles of Moolya and Sadhu are what he has imbibed from the experience there. He considers himself lucky to pass the stringent entry regulations of the Math.

After his graduation, he did his B.Ed in Nagpur in Geography and Marathi and is currently teaching the subjects to Stds 810 at Keshavrao Pawar Vidyalaya, Katol.

Deeply influenced by the teaching and way of life preached by Swami Vivekanand, he aims to spread the philosophy learnt and remain associated with all the programs of the Math to lead a

serene and contented life. Calm, composed and a deep philosopher, are my impressions of this young man. Wish him all the success !!

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

YO U N G A C HIEVERS

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THEY MADE IT !!

Animesh Jaipurkar – Founder MH31.com Animesh was born in Nagpur and was a student of Somalwar School Khamla till XII standard. He completed his B.E.(Computer Science) from GH Raisoni college of engineering. His mother has retired from Coal India Limited and his father retired as Executive Engineer from MSEB. His elder brother has done MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and now runs a Hydro Power Project consultancy.

His growing up years were greatly influenced by his training under NCC ( National Cadet Corps). He was good at studies and stood in order of merit in SSC as well as HSC examinations. He continued to do well and completed his graduation in Computer Science with distinction.

After graduation, he did a corporate job for four years. He was working initially with Tata Consultancy Services & then with Goldman Sachs. He always wanted to do something of his own, and in 2009 he finally managed to get started.

Whilst away from Nagpur, he realised that there was no online medium through which people who have moved away from the city could keep in touch with the city. With the intention of putting the news & events from Nagpur on the web, he started the portal Mh-31.com in 2009.

He designed and developed the website.

He was responsible for the entire content and enjoyed his role as an entrepreneur. It was a great learning experience trying to understand the online medium, reaching out to people and making the website popular.

Within two years of the launch, MH31.com started getting more than thousand visitors per day. A lot of Nagpurians across the globe started regularly following the website. MH31's facebook page has more than 30,000 thousand likes and continues to grow. As the company got bigger, more and more people got associated with MH-31.

Through MH-31, he has come in contact with many Nagpurians who are settled across the globe. Those connections have really helped him in furthering his software business. Today they develop software through the company Qice Technologies Pvt. Limited.

He acknowledges the role of his parents in shaping his life and who have helped him overcome the difficult times that one usually faces when running a business.

It is amazing how a small thought gets converted to a HUGE venture. We appreciate Animesh's attempt to create value for Nagpurians settled overseas and helping them stay connected. Wishing him all the Best !!

S u b h a s h C h a n d r a Agrawal is an ordinary man w i t h extraordinary determination.

Having filed about 6000 RTI petitions, Mr. Agrawal is known for his 'Letters to Editors' taking up causes of national and public interest by writing to newspapers and concerned authorities.

A cloth merchant from Chandni Chowk, Mr Agrawal, at one time, had the distinction of having the hat trick in Guinness World Records: (1) maximum letters till date published in newspapers, (2) maximum letters published in a particular newspaper in a particular calendar year in 2003 and (3) maximum letters till date published in a particular newspaper. Interestingly his wife Madhu Agrawal also holds Guinness World Record for maximum letters to newspapers in a particular calendar year.

With a brilliant academic record, Subhash Chandra Agrawal's observative mind inspired him to fire his first 'letter-missile' in a national capital-based Hindi 'Hindustan' in 1967 while facing pocketing of ticket-money by a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) busconductor without giving him a proper ticket. Quick response by DTC authorities made him realize the impact of print-media, which resulted in his achieving “Guinness World Record” as he began writing almost daily to the “Letters to the Editor' column in different newspapers and magazines, highlighting the areas concerning the woes of the common man.

Over the years, the authorities in legislature and bureaucracy began admiring his suggestions through his letters which carried no personal agenda.

Once, the then Vice President of India, Mr. M. Hidayatulla, gave him a unique honour by sending him a hand-written letter saying that “…because you think so seriously and sincerely in public interest,

you are my personal friend, and I will not use official machinery in communicating with you!”

Agrawal's numerous suggestions were i mplemented by various publicauthorities even before Right-ToInformation Act 2005 came into operation; for example, change in design of Railway Coaches; change in size and metal of coins; publication of Readers' Digest in Hindi, improvement by Johnson & Johnson in Band-Aid, entry of women in Rotary International etc.

May it be the constitution review, finance, banking; communications, posts, railways, transport, consumerism, radio, television, civic problems or any other field, his suggestions have been appreciated and recognized at highest levels as well as by the public.

RTI Act added more shine to his passion for letter writing for public causes, and he started using it from October 2005 itself when the Transparency Act came into force. He utilized the RTI Act to reveal crucial information from all wings of governance including judicial system, having filed about 6000 RTI petitions, all in the public interest, with about 600 of these having reached to the Central Information Commission (CIC). It is a matter of fact that almost all the CIC verdicts have gone in his favour - a remarkable achievement indeed!

Response to his RTI petitions is being regularly and prominently highlighted in media. He also interacts with the Public Information Officers at various platforms, learning further by their experience and dealings with various kinds of problems in the RTI petitions. He has also been awarded an award of rupees twenty five lakhs (one crore prize-money shared amongst four) by Sitaram Jindal Foundation for his crusade against corruption.

He has been invited by several prestigious organizations to educate their officers handling the RTI petitions.He was amongst the six nominees for 'Indian of the year Award 2013' by CNN IBN. Transparency International invited him to participate in a conference of SAARC

SH O W C ASE - Dinesh Naidu

nations in Kathmandu (Nepal) to deliberate on transparency Act in India.

Law schools' text-books have prominently included his RTI petitions especially relating to the Supreme Court. His RTI petitions have resulted in landmark reforms including like introduction of 'Judicial Accountability Bill' in Parliament.

He has always utilized the RTI Act with a positive attitude for reforms which is admired by all Central Information Commissioners (past and present). The media trusts him for his independent and professional views on the Transparency Act as well as aspects of corruption and irregularities in different forms of governance.

PERSONAL LIFE Not much is known in the public about this 'unsung hero.' What does he do to earn a living? Mr. Agrawal runs his family's old wholesale business of textiles and furnishing. His wife, Mrs. Madhu Agrawal helps him in attending to a large number of visitors who seek his help in RTI matters.

Soon after their marriage in 1975, they took a bold decision of not to have a child.

The cheating in family business by his uncle made him rise above the materialistic world, and he started liking the philosophy of the Parsi way of life – work for the society, and not for yourself.

His wife supported him in adopting 'nochild' policy. It gives them sufficient time to devote themselves for taking up publicinterest causes through letters to the media and the RTI queries.

An incurable hardening of right-hand thumb during adolescence could not snatch his passion for writing which he continued by single-finger typing because he never learnt formal typing!

“Perhaps,” he wonders, laughing, “I may have a world record in single finger typewriting as well!”

Subhash says: “No subject is too trivia – small-small corrections in the society can make a big difference.”

E m a i l : subhashagrawal1950@gmail.com

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

Subhash Chandra Agrawal, Ordinary Man with Extraordinary Determination

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FRESH ME N

New Members

Mayyank & Shweta Jaain

-Manju Shahani

Chetna and Pranav Singhal, Priyanka and Rakesh Awachat, Preeti and Sandeep Vaid were all friends with Shweta and Mayyank Jaain so when the others joined our club, the Jains did as well. They always wanted to 'give back' to society and what could be a better platform than Rotary?

Small kids, 5 year old Sanidhya and 5 month old Kimyra have kept Shweta away, but Mayyank has been very regularly attending all meetings. He is enjoying Rotary thoroughly and would like to get more involved in the projects.

Born and partially raised in Mumbai, business brought his dad to Nagpur. He finished the rest of his schooling at SFS and then took up Commerce and then MBA. Shweta, was born in Kanpur, schooling in Nainital, graduation from Delhi and MBA from Bangalore. She worked for a while in Delhi and has settled in Nagpur after marriage.

Once her girls grow up and get into full time schools, she would like to pursue some vocation. She might even join the family business, ie trading in Metals...Copper, Steel etc. Mayyank would like any kind of involvement in Rotary, while Shweta definitely wants Community Service and would like to work for kids, maybe in an Orphanage or so.

The Rotary family happily welcomes the Jaain couple!

Zaheer and Fatema Akolawala

He pursued her for more than a year and she rebuffed! Zaheer Akolawala saw Fatema at a wedding in Wardha and a thunderbolt struck. He managed to get her email ID from a cousin and kept writing to her while she was studying in Pune.

She didn't know him and would trash all his mail.

When she finished college and came back to Nagpur, her

grandfather told her of a proposal. They met... she agreed‌ got married and later she found out that the guy who pursued her silently was the man she had married! The romance in their life still continues and today they are a part of our Rotary family.

Now they have 8 year old son, Hussein, also in their lives.

Zaheer, a Nagpurian since 3 generations, did his schooling at SFS, Engineering in Electronics and Power from YCCE and took over the family business of trading in Switch Gears and Industrial Supplies along with his younger brother.

Fatema, along with her sister in law, is a franchise for Customized Wall Paper and other home decor. They were both very keen on joining our club for a long time but business commitments kept them away. Finally it was friend, Jatin Sampat, who brought them in. Zaheer loves management programs and would like to be associated with Vocational Service. Fatema is very creative herself and would love to be a part of creative training programs.

Welcome Zaheer and Fatema!

MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE

Chetan and Neha Khemka

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When friend Zaheer Akolawala was joining the club, Chetan was also tempted. He spoke to Rtn. Jatin Sampat about it and then joined. Born and raised in Nagpur, Chetan is a product of SFS, Centre Point and Hislop College, eventually ending up at the coveted Purdue University in US. He went for a degree in Electrical Engineering but was told that Engineers don't come back to India.

So not taking a chance, he switched to Hospitality Management. With a degree in Hospitality, he was all set to take charge of the family owned Radhika Hotel but his fate was different. The hotel was sold off and today Chetan, along with his father is looking after trading of Industrial Products.

In 2003, he got married to Neha from Jaipur. Neha has a Masters in Mass Communications, and for the moment is devoted to the Children's Movement for Civic Awareness. They have a 9 year old son, Arnav, currently at Centre Point.

Chetan and Neha would love to make lots of friends. Welcome to the Rotary Family.

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MARCH 2015 GOLDEN ORANGE