Rotaract News — October 2018

Vol.1, Issue 4

@Rotaract_India

@RotaractNewsIndia

October

2018 (Quarterly)

Harnessing youth power

Content 36 Speak out on child abuse 40 Delhi Rotaractors embrace Vertical Gardening 44 A freshers’ party to cherish

8

Rotary-Rotaract synergy essential

18 He returned from Japan to develop

Rotaract back home

28 A unique project for cancer patients

14

One DRR, two Conventions!

On the cover: RI Director C Basker interacts with two DRRs at the Rotaract Conclave in Delhi.

Picture: Rasheeda Bhagat

48 Rotaractors’ day out in a farm OCTOBER 2018

ROTARACT NEWS 3

RI Director C Basker District Rotaract Representatives Zone 4, 5 & 6A 2981

Bragadeesh Vidya Sagar

2982

S Manikandan

3000

Lokesh Kumar Rengarajan

3011

Ashima Agarwal

3012

Manan Singla

3020

Lekhna Vegi

3030

Arti Goswami

3040

Dr Shikha Chaudhary

3053

Ashish Gupta

3054

Ayush Sharma

3060

Khushal Shah

3070

Pardeep Kumar

3080

Gaurang Gupta

3090

Ashish Aggarwal

3110

Vaibhav Birla

3120

Jagrat Kapoor

3131

Dhruv Gujrathi

3132

Kshitij Choudhari

3141

Hansika Shahani

3142

Shardul Gavaskar

3150

Ranjit Kumar Reddy

3160

M D Gouse

3170

Nishita Pednekar

3181

Manjesh Venkatesh

3182

Malini Shetty

3190

Kiran Raj N

3201

Shibin David

3202

Selvakumar Ponnusamy

3211

Harikrishnan A

3212

Ashwin Shijo

3220

Mohd Amjath Yoosuf

3231

Udayakumar Srinivasan

3232

Girish Easwaran

3240

Mantu Paul

3250

Anmol Singhal

3261

Chetan Sharma

3262

Prajakta Devroy

3291

Soumya Sarkar

3292

Saugat Gautam

Rotaract News Editor Rasheeda Bhagat Senior Assistant Editor Jaishree Padmanabhan Senior Sub Editor Muthukumaran V Sub Editor Kiran Zehra Designers Vishwanathan K Gunasekaran L Krishnamurthy N Krishnapratheesh S Send all correspondence to

ROTARY NEWS TRUST 3rd Floor, Dugar Towers, 34 Marshalls Road Egmore, Chennai 600 008, India.

Phone: 044 42145666 e-mail rotarynewsmagazine@gmail.com facebook @RotaractNewsIndia twitter @Rotaract_India instagram @Rotaract_India website www.rotaractnews.org

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The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Editor or Trustees of Rotary News Trust (RNT) or Rotary International (RI). No liability can be accepted for any loss arising from editorial or advertisement content. Contributions – original content – is welcome but the Editor reserves the right to edit for clarity or length. Content can be reproduced, but with permission from RNT.

Editor’s Note

When the young inspire

Y

ou learn a little everyday… by meeting somebody new and by attending meetings, most boring and staid, until you find yourself at an event that makes you sit up and think. This happened to me last month at the Rotaract Conclave in Delhi where so many youngsers had assembled for a training session convened by RI Director C Basker. A refreshing change was the manner in which the batch of 2018–19 DRRs expressed their opinions, freely and sometimes even cheekily. Cheekily, considering that they were interacting with a bunch of very senior Rotary leaders, including DGs and PDGs. That is what the young bring to the table; the ability to express their views freely, and this because they do not have too much baggage. Advancing years bring in experience, and hopefully, wisdom, but they also add on piles of baggage, mostly filled with negative memories and teach us the time-tested adage once bitten, twice shy.

On the sidelines of the conference, I grabbed the opportunity to talk with as many DRRs as I could manage.

And I was fortunate enough to chat with RI District 3231 DRR Udhaya Kumar, who was chatting with his DG C R Chandra Bob. DG Bob introduced me to the youngster saying he has been invited to attend the International Assembly in San Diego in 2019. I wondered at Kumar’s low-key response to that bit of information, till I started chatting with the young man and learned his incredible story. A passionate researcher in energy optimisation, this young IT professional has travelled to Japan five times, and was offered a permanent resident status there with an attractive salary. He opted to stay and work there for two years and gave it all up… not to take an even more lucrative job back home but to strengthen the Rotaract movement in his region. And not in the big towns, but in smaller areas, and by doing so he has proved once again that your roots… the background you come from really matters. He hails from a tiny village, studied in a Tamil medium school and his family used to live in a mud house, till he graduated from an engineering college and started working in the IT industry.

These are inspirational stories; like others in his age group — he is 29 — Kumar too puts forth his views frankly.

Read his story in this issue, and get inspired!

And then there was the opportunity I had of travelling around Chandigarh, RI District 3080 with RI President Barry Rassin last week. His two-day visit had a prominent sprinkling of events with Interactors and Rotaractors. You will get details of that visit in the next issue, but the crux of his message to Rotaractors was: India is rocking as far as the Rotaract movement is concerned. He urged the Rotaractors to engage deeply with Rotary, get involved in community projects and resolve to make a cent per cent transition from Rotaract to Rotary. The answer to that challenge is in your hands.

Rasheeda Bhagat OCTOBER 2018

ROTARACT NEWS 5

Message from the

RI Director

Let us start more community-based Rotaract clubs Dear Rotaractors, It was a great pleasure to meet, interact and share ideas with DRRs at the Rotaract conclave in Delhi last month.

We can take pride in the fact that India is doing very well in the Rotaract movement and we have nearly one-third of the reported number of Rotaractors in the world. You are also involved in some great community service projects which are slowly but surely bringing in the much-needed changes in your regions.

But a major concern at the Rotary International level is that not all Rotaract clubs update their members’ list in the RI database.

The South Asia office estimates that barely 60 to 70 per cent of Indian Rotaract numbers are captured in this database. So now we have to take the lead and put in much more effort in capturing our true numbers in the RI database.

I urge all Rotaract clubs to take this matter seriously.

Next, we need to strengthen weaker clubs by adding more members so that we have sufficient numbers to do meaningful work and make an impact on the communities we live in.

Another issue I would like you to focus on pertains to starting more community-based Rotaract clubs in our country. Both Rotary and Rotaract provide great opportunities to network and do meaningful service projects. If we can increase the number of community-based Rotaract clubs, it will be beneficial not only for the communities they are located in, but also your members.

Please continue to share your great work with pictures to make the Rotaract News magazine more attractive and informative.

Let us Be the Inspiration to make Rotaract in India a real youth movement.

C Basker Director, Rotary International

6 ROTARACT NEWS OCTOBER 2018

Rotary-Rotaract

synergy essential Rasheeda Bhagat

C

oming as it did after the very serious two-day meet packed with sessions on polio, measles, rubella and tuberculosis, the mood had to be lightened several notches for the

youngsters who had assembled for a Rotaract conclave in Delhi, attended by the DRRs and DRCCs (District Rotaract Committee Chairs). And RI Director C Basker did just that by commenting that as the action had

RI Director C Basker (centre) with the DRRs. DG Vinay Bhatia (second from L) and Rotary Coordinator Ashok Gupta (third from R) are also seen in the picture.

8 RROT ROTARACT RO OT O TA TA AR ARA RA R ACT T NEW N NE NEWS EEW WS O OC OCT OCTOBER CT C TOBER OB OBE O BER 2201 BE 2018 018 01 0 118 8

shifted from the senior Rotarians to a young group, “Let’s all relax and have a fun day.”

Saying that he was a firm disbeliever in the adage ‘one size fits all’, Basker first sought views from the

assembled youngsters on why they had all been invited for such a meet.

Some of the answers: •

To share ideas

•

To improve coordination between Rotarians and Rotaractors

•

Better networking

•

To inspire each other

•

Rotary has realised it is incomplete without Rotaractors

•

To build the future of Rotary and make Rotary younger.

Rotaract facts No of Rotaract clubs in the world - 7,942 No of Rotaract clubs In India - 2,824 Number of Rotaractors in the world - 257,577 Reported Rotaractors in the world - 145,861 Number of Rotaractors in India - 45,041

While some of this was true, the rest was off the mark, said the RI Director, adding, “we want you to use this opportunity for self-development and self-improvement by partnering with Rotary. Rotaractors are in the age group 18 to 30, and you are here to understand the ongoing programmes of Rotary and how you need to strengthen the Rotaract movement in your district and ensure more youngsters join your group for their own self-development, networking and to pick up leadership skills.”

He urged them to utilise the great opportunity they had to rub shoulders with the district governors who were present at the meet. Basker said that last year when he had assumed charge as director, he represented three zones (from 12 countries) of the 34 zones that RI has. “I found there was not much cooperation between Rotarians and Rotaractors for many reasons. Maybe the DG was not spending enough time with his DRR. Or the DRR was not that enthusiastic to reach out to Rotarians. So we decided to bring in a synergy between Rotarians and Rotaractors and let me assure you that this was well before RI President Barry Rassin told us to do it.”

If such a synergy could be established, “India can be showcased as a country of youngsters who have a direction for economic development, build visionary leaders and look at humanitarian services in our communities.”

So last year he had organised a training event that involved regional leaders, DRCCs, DRRs and DGs. Following its success, a similar meeting was being organised this year too in Delhi.

B

asker said that considering the estimated 257,577 Rotaractors in the world of which only 145,861 were reported, India could take pride in the fact that we had 45,041 OCTOBER 2018

ROTARACT NEWS 9

Rotaractors. “So with one-third of the Rotaract population in the world, we will have to devise a strategy on how India is going to be a leader in this area.”

Giving another statistic, he said that of the 35,000-odd Rotary clubs in the world, only 10,182 clubs had ever sponsored a Rotaract club.

Turning his attention to the DGs in the hall, the RI Director said, “please find the clubs in your district which have never sponsored a Rotaract club and encourage them to sponsor one this year.”

Basker disclosed that when it comes to Rotaract, RI gives two figures — reported numbers (145,861) and estimated numbers (257,577) of Rotaractors. While the reported numbers are those that the clubs are reporting, the estimated numbers

worldwide are only a guess. “In India we have a reported number of only 60 per cent. This was discussed at the last meet in Hyderabad. The DRRs will have to talk to the Rotaract clubs and get the current membership updated in the database. In 2016–17, the reported Rotaractors were only 25,000 in India, but the number has gone up to 45,000 in 2017–18. That shows that the DRRs of 17–18 have done some good work. Let us appreciate them.”

But, he added, even this figure might not represent the true number. “Joseph Thomas, Senior Coordinator, Club and District Support, in the RI South Asia Office, says probably we have captured only 60 to 70 per cent of the membership.

We need to now capture nothing less than 100 per cent this year. That is

RI Director C Basker strikes a pose for a selfie with two DRRs at the Rotaract Conclave.

10 ROTARACT NEWS OCTOBER OCTOBEER 2018 2018

A section of the delegates at the Conclave. Also in the picture (on the R): Karthik Kittu, RI Rotaract-Interact Committee member; Joseph Thomas, Club & District Support Coordinator, RISAO; and D 3262 DG Bhabani Prasad Choudhury.

the challenge. If we can do that… the advantages and benefits we can give your members through connectivity via a single platform will be tremendous. Through a single click any communication or great project you do can be flashed across India.”

He added that today, because we don’t have a proper database of Rotaractors we are not able to inspire them or show them the value proposition… “they can make friends, get trained to become leaders, get job and business opportunities.”

S

triking a personal note, the RI Director said that he joined Rotary because somebody invited him, and “after that I learned so many new things, got opportunities to travel.

I have gained much more from

Rotary than what I have given it.

That is the truth… also get out of your mind that we are strengthening Rotaract to benefit Rotary. That is not true.”

Elaborating, he said India was a country with the largest youth population in the world; of our 1.3 billion people, 30 per cent of the population was below 25. “How are we going to equip them with skills and make them capable of finding jobs and become competitive in the world?

So let’s think it as a service to our community, our country by providing an opportunity to others for skill development and personal improvement. Please remove the idea from your head that Rotaract membership is to strengthen Rotary. Rather it is to build our nation by developing our youth.”

He sought from the DRRs a onepage concept paper after the event on what they were planning to do during their year — 2018–19. But

“aspire for something big, and turn something impossible into possible. Just as Steve Jobs did, moving swiftly from pressing buttons and large models to touchscreen, sleek ones. He said he did that because ‘I understood the requirement of a common man’. And he also said that he loves what he does. So whether it is the Rotaract movement or your career, start to love what you do and you will excel.”

P

RIP Rajendra K Saboo recalled that in RI his first assignment was as member of the youth activities committee. “In the course of my journey in Rotary I have been so closely involved in the Rotaract movement that I can speak at least for one hour on how the whole training programme has developed over the years and come to this stage.”

OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 11

DG Gustad Anklesaria (third from R) seen with other delegates at the Rotaract Conclave.

He said Rotaractors were already a part of the Rotary family and “they just have to automatically come into Rotary with a sense of commitment and belonging.” Addressing the

assembled DRRs, the two Rotary Coordinators Rajendra Rai and Ashok Gupta underlined the urgent need to infuse more youngsters into Rotary.

D 3232 DG Babu Peram with DRRs.

Said Rai, “We want to encourage DRRs to work with both the district governors as well as the DRCCs. Once upon a time the DRCCs were just namesake appointees but all that has changed now.” He added that RI President Barry Rassin has given a call to strengthen the Rotaract movement and ensure smooth transition from Rotaract to Rotary. “A reason we are here together today is that if we work in tandem and become a single force we will have more impact in our communities.”

He urged the senior Rotarians present in the room to invite Rotaractors to join Rotary at every opportunity and keep in mind that in 2016 RI had allowed Rotaractors to become Rotarians while still in Rotaract (relaxing the joining age to 29).

Gupta urged DRRs to turn their energy and focus on the WinS programme as it had the potential to bring a huge behavioural change in our communities.

Pictures by Rasheeda Bhagat Designed by N Krishnamurthy

12 ROTARACT NEWS OCTOBER 2018

Karwar Rotaractors hold football tournament V Muthukumaran

A

ll roads led to the Maladevi grounds at Karwar in Uttar Kannada with 15 college and neighbourhood football teams engaged in a tough battle to win the firstever two-day Rotaract Charity Cup 2018 in September.

RAC Karwar, D 3170, organised the football tournament with support from its parent RC Karwar and funding from sponsors Monginis JMJ Enterprises and Swagat Jewellers. “We were able to create the right impact with our motto ‘Calling out the unsung heroes of football’ through this high-decibel and high-visibility sporting event,” says Rtr Junaid Sayed, President, RAC Karwar. In the closely fought finals, United Brothers prevailed over Karwar Medical College with a penalty shootout.

RC Karwar IPP Rajesh Vernekar, owner of Swagat Jewellers, presented the trophy to the winners who also received a cash prize of `10,000 from R J Rodrigues, owner of Monginis JMJ Enterprises.

The runners-up were

Winners of the Rotaract Charity Cup 2018.

presented a cash prize of `5,000, sponsored by Rtn George Fernandez, and Darshan Angadi of Karwar Medical College, the Player of the Tournament, was given `1,000 by Rtn Dr Arjun Upadhya. Rtn Dr Sameer Nayak feted the runners-up.

Another player Aaron from Karwar FC was chosen as the Emerging Player of the Tournament.

RC Karwar President Anmol Revankar, Rotarians Amaranth Shetty, Ganpati Baadkar and Archana Shetty distributed other prizes to the top performers.

Good rapport with sponsors

Having held a cricket match (Rotaractors vs Rotary) in March which was also sponsored by Monginis and Swagat Jewellers, “we have struck a good personal relationship with these two corporates,” explains Sayed who is gung-ho over the grand success of the football tournament.

“I can see that our sponsors are also obsessed with social causes like we do.”

With 13 active members and “few more to be inducted in the months ahead”, the club has taken up

small-budget projects like tree plantations and helping their parent club in distributing SCAW (Sleeping Children Around the World) kits for needy students in government schools.

On the source of funding for Rotaract projects, Sayed explains, “every Rotarian used to donate for our outreach activities. In past, there was no need for major resources.”

However, the football tournament required funding from corporates and logistic support from Rotary “which we got in abundance and looking forward to similar support from them.”

OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 13

One DRR, two Conventions!

Manuj Mittal

Manuj Mittal doing the Edge Walk at the CN Towers in Toronto.

Manuj Mittal with RIPN Sushil Gupta.

S

ee you at Toronto, bye.

These were my parting words to most of my new friends at the Rotary Convention 2017 in Atlanta, USA. Being the only Rotaractor from India at the Rotaract Pre-Convention made this experience a very special and unique for me. The friends I made, the new contacts and especially the tour of the amazing House of Friendship made the Atlanta convention something to cherish for a long time.

But I did not expect that I would be invited again to the Rotaract PreConvention at the Rotary Convention 2018 in Toronto, Canada. It was totally exciting for me. The first two days at the Rotaract Pre-Convention held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre saw thousands of Rotaractors across the globe

coming together and sharing notes. The sessions were interesting, interactive and the bonds of understanding that developed between the teams during group activities were remarkable. It helped Rotaractors to learn the “Rotaract ways� of different countries and districts.

This global understanding helps us to gain access to a wide variety of knowledge in terms of projects, resources and execution techniques. The takeaways of the Rotaract Pre-Convention are the ideas we share and the bonding we developed resulting in enduring memory of this event.

Another key highlight at the Toronto Convention was the House of Friendship (HOF), a grand exhibition where stalls display major signature and flagship projects of Rotary, Rotaract and Interact clubs around the world, besides Rotary Exchange programmes. The HOF also OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 15

With RIPE Mark Maloney.

16 ROTARACT NEWS OCTOBER 2018

extends a platform for collaborations between Rotary and Rotaract clubs.

The opening ceremony at the Air Canada Centre is a must watch as it had a medley of performances from artists drawn from multiple dance forms. During the Country Roll call, when ‘India’ was announced, the whole stadium roared and cheered making us all proud. It was indeed one of the goosebumps moments for me.

Addressing the general session, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau appreciated the global work of Rotary and its humanitarian impact.

We bid farewell to our friends at the convention, but the golden jubilee celebrations of the Rotaract movement did not end here as it will be something for Rotaractors to cherish for years to come. While I parted from my Rotaract friends with the final words: See you at Hamburg, many glimpses of exciting sessions flitted across the mind. But this time, I will make sure that we meet again in Hamburg next year.

The writer is Past DRR from D 3011 and Rotaract South Asia MDIO President-elect

Rotaractors strive for a clean, green Sangli V Muthukumaran

C

lean and green Sangli city is the motto of RAC Krishna Valley, D 3170, which have Rotaractors stretching their limbs and sweating it out to make “every nook and corner of our city look spic and span,” says Rtr Kunal Khandekar, the Club President.

In a major drive, around 35 Rotaractors cleaned the premises of Chattrapati Shivaji stadium and sprayed pesticide which was appreciated by the locals.

Besides the clean-up work, they have taken up greening the city in a big way. At an open theatre Khulenatyagruha, the club has planted 50 saplings which were covered with tree guards for protection. “We have a target of planting two lakh saplings this year to realise our mission of a beautiful city,” says Khandekar. And their parent RC Krishna Valley is ready to pitch in to help Rotaractors if “we make such a request. The Rotarians are very cooperative and some have donated to our projects in the absence of sponsors.”

Science Buddy

In order to demystify science, Rotaractors hold experimental demos in the classes at government schools in Sangli district. Three five-member teams visit schools across the villages

Rotaractors on a clean-up drive.

to hold 90-minute experiments to invoke curiosity among students.

“We target 50 schools reaching out to 2,000 children with the Science Buddy project,” he explains, and is confident that his “well-organised teams will generate interest among students.”

On the healthcare front, they have formed cohesive two-member teams which fan out to cover all the 200 plus government schools in the district and teach hygiene practices under the Arogya Shastra Project.

“Last year, we covered 114 schools in the district and those left out will be attended to by our teams.” The club has tied up with Asmi, an NGO, which provides the fuel cost for the Rotaractors who had to travel long

distances in reaching out to schools.

“We ensure that a duo covers at least two schools a day. But travelling between schools covering 50–60 km a day on a difficult terrain with film projectors and other equipment is a big task,” says Khandekar.

An energetic club

Praising the Rotaractors of Krishna Valley, DRR Nishita Vyankatesh Pednekar says, “they are an energetic and enthusiastic lot. Last year (2017–18) alone, the club has completed over 400 projects across all the four avenues of service.”

District 3170 has 42 Rotaract clubs with over 1,000 Rotaractors and the contributions of the Sangli group will make it to the top league, she says.

OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 17

He returned from Japan to develop

Rotaract back home Rasheeda Bhagat

18 ROTARACT NEWS OCTOBER 2018

hether it is visiting Japan five times, turning down an opportunity to get a job and live in Japan, getting the honour of being invited to the 2019 International Assembly in San Diego as a District Rotaract Representative, or creating 10 jobs on his own steam within the IT industry for Rotaractors, DRR Udhaya Kumar from RI District 3231 has done it all.

And not that this youngster hails from a privileged background and has had the opportunity of attending an elite school or graduating from a top-notch university. On the contrary, Udhaya Kumar is the first graduate from his village — Pandikuzhi — in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu.

He studied in a Tamil medium school in his village and later graduated in computer science from an engineering college in Tamil Nadu.

Kumar’s father is a farmer with a small landholding of two acres and till recently lived in a hut. But no longer, as his son, who has been working in the IT industry in Chennai for eight years, has built him a nice concrete house.

DRR Udhaya Kumar participating in a road safety awareness campaign in Japan.

Hunger to excel So how did a village boy from a poor background end up excelling in his vocation so much that his company has sent him to Japan five times, I ask Kumar on the sidelines of the recent Rotaract conclave in Delhi. His response is a grin, as he says, “Not only have I gone to Japan five times, the Japanese offered me a permanent job there, but I chose to return home!”

Wow, how cool is that, I exclaim, as Kumar explains how it was the hunger in his belly to make something substantial of his life, that made him really work hard in his school and college and excel in his studies.

“I wanted to become a leader and so in Class 8 I joined Scouts and emerged a leader,” he says.

His quest for leadership skills continued in his engineering college in Tiruvannamalai and “in my third OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 19

year when I found that a Rotaract club had opened, I was interested in joining.” By now he was already in an NSS leadership position and the college’s cultural coordinator.

“My teachers knew my interests and passion and recommended that I should join this club. In my final year I became the president of the club.”

Rotaract gripped him so much that even after completing his studies and finding a job in Chennai, he wanted to continue so he joined the Green Galaxy Rotaract Club sponsored by RC Madras Central Aditya. For four years he worked diligently for the club’s expansion, “became its secretary and we bagged 12 awards for our various projects and activities.”

Visiting an auto show in Japan.

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Growing Rotaract in smaller cities Meanwhile, his parent club in Tiruvannamalai noticed the changes he had brought about in Green Galaxy, “and it was also felt that while the Rotaract movement was developing well in the bigger cities, it wasn’t doing that well in the smaller ones such as Kancheepuram or Tiruvannamalai. So (PDG) Sampath Kumar Sir suggested that we set up a proper communication network to expand the Rotaract movement. I sought the permission of Green Galaxy and they immediately allowed

me to leave saying they would always support me.”

Kumar started a new communitybased Rotaract club called Deepam with 45 members, all of them from the IT industry and his juniors in college or the workplace. A vibrant club, it took up several meaningful community service projects; one for children of an orphanage with the title ‘Make the children smile’. But an unusual project he started was From VIP to VIP — from a velai illa pattathari (person without a job) to a very important person!

And then this bundle of energy and enthusiasm discloses that “using our own circle of friends, we’ve created jobs for 10 Rotaractors in the IT

DRR Udhaya Kumar with wife Kalpana and daughter.

industry”! This came about, he adds, when he asked “some people to join our club and they said we don’t even have a job, how can we afford to join a Rotaract club.”

These 10 youngsters have got jobs in IT majors including Infosys and Wipro. “We have our friends in these companies and they gave very good references. Also, using our network some of the Rotaractors are now studying in the US, Germany and Japan. All the members of our club are such talented people.”

Japan sojourn So how did Kumar manage to get handpicked to be sent by his company so many times to Japan? “Because I have a passion for research and when I go to Japan, there is no other distraction, such as family or OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 21 OC

When I started working, my English wasn’t that good but I always spoke up and the CEO of my company encouraged me; he wasn’t interested in my English but my ideas.

DRR Udhaya Kumar with RI President Barry Rassin.

friends, and I can concentrate freely on research.”

He has an interesting theory on how he became so interested in research; “my father never pushed any buttons to pressurise me on what I should study or what I should become.

So my mind is free and I can concentrate on what I like best.”

And the Japanese loved this researcher who specialises in energy optimisation and offered him a job at an attractive package. “I stayed in Japan for two years (2015–16), and got a permanent resident visa but when I got a call from home saying they wanted me back to develop Rotaract, I returned and now have become a DRR!” 22 ROTARACT NEWS OCTOBER 2018

Creating a plastic-free village by involving youngsters.

A sterling quality in this young man is that he never hesitates to give his opinion how big or daunting a forum. I ask him about his felicity with the English language considering he studied in a Tamil medium school.

A lot of the credit for this, as well as his self-confidence and ability to speak up at any forum, should go to his close involvement in Rotary and Rotaract, he says. “At so many different events they gave me the opportunity to participate and even lead.”

This confidence, Kumar says, always helped him to speak up at any meeting. “When I first joined the workplace, my English wasn’t that good but I always spoke up and the CEO of my company encouraged me;

he wasn’t interested in my English but my ideas!”

So will he join Rotary?

“Of course! I am now 29 and wanted to join this year, but I was advised that since you have taken up the DRR’s role, you have a lot of commitment to your district’s Rotaractors, so next year definitely I will join RC Tiruvannamalai, the home club of PDG Sampath Kumar, who is my mentor.”

PDG Sampath is all praise for the “enthusiastic, hardworking and talented Kumar who is so sincere and passionate about doing something for the community.” He recalls that even before he started working, and was a student and an ordinary Rotaractor,

“he kept asking for a good project that would make a difference to the lives of people and he did a fantastic job.

When we started D 3231, the Rotaract movement was zero in our district; but Udhaya Kumar has helped us to take up the challenge of growing it and making it more vibrant.”

His focus areas During his year, this DRR wants to strengthen the base of Rotaract in D 3231; “I want to give proper orientation to the members, build a leadership training programme and build up a core team that will plan and implement meaningful projects that create a positive impact in society. Funds for this work won’t be a challenge,” he says.

OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 23

Rasheeda Bhagat

Even though the Japanese keep asking his employers to send back Kumar to Japan for a specific research project, “and my company asked me will you take up the Japan project, I told them give me a domestic project, and that too one related to community service.

Already we’ve developed a software programme for government schools.

My company understood my interest and passion and has given me a project related to government schools.”

Explaining a unique project he has planned for this year, Kumar says, “The general tendency is such that we find only negativity in people who give us service… such as bus drivers, conductors, policemen etc. We are quick to blame them but rarely see the kind of hard work they do to make our life more peaceful.” He plans to make small cards which carry the Rotary logo, End Polio image and “give these cards to Rotaractors so that when somebody finds any auto driver or policeman giving good service, he can put an appreciative message on the back of the card and give it. You will

DRR Udhaya Kumar with D 3231 DG C R Chandra Bob.

My aim is to become the Prime Minister. And it is not a joke.

Only if good people get into politics, bad things will go out of our system such as corruption.

DRR Udhaya Kumar felicitating his teacher.

24 ROTARACT NEWS OCTOBER 2018

make them happy as appreciation from an unknown person is more valuable than money!”

“The system itself can change. My ambition is that in the next five to six years I want to change the very attitude of the Indian society.” Clearly a leader in the making, so does he plan to join politics at some stage?

To this light-hearted question his reply is dead serious, and articulated with a straight face: “Yes, certainly! My aim is to become the Prime Minister.

And it is not a joke. In the government school I was studying in, when I said this, everybody was laughing.

But only if good people get into politics, bad things will go out of our system such as corruption, divisions on the basis of caste, community and class.”

Kumar walks the talk when it comes to idealism; he is happily married to Kalpana, a math teacher.

“I chose to marry her because she had lost her father. But of course, she is a very talented woman, who supported her family through her job when they were in dire straits after her father died.

It is she who pushed me to become a DRR and said she would support me totally,” he smiles.

Designed by N Krishnamurthy

Rotaractors vibe with Ausa community V Muthukumaran

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small town Ausa in Latur district of Maharashtra is lucky to have a zestful Rotaract club — RAC Ausa Midtown in District 3132 — led by President Nishant Rachatte who not only inspires his members but takes active role in devising projects and implementing them. It is a

two-year-old club, and all the 15 Rotaractors are active and brimming with ideas for a variety of service activities, he says.

In August, the Rotaractors visited Ramachandra Balak Ashram, an orphanage at Budhoda village 4 km from the town, to celebrate Raksha Bandhan with 50 inmates. “We were so touched when the little girls tied rakhis on

our wrists, and we in turn presented sweets and gifts to the children. It was so much fun to interact with them,” recalls Rachatte. He along with the Club Secretary Krishna Fattepurkar performed a stand-up comedy which the children enjoyed.

On Independence Day, they invited 10 retired Army men, including two former officers, to give inspirational talks for an audience of 50 youngsters. “They talked about their experiences safeguarding the borders, the training and life in the Army in general, to which the audience listened spellbound.”

The club donated uniforms to 15 needy students of Sriram Madhyamik Vidyalaya at Sarola village, 10 km from the taluk.

During the Ganesh Visarjan in Ausa, the Rotaractors gave snacks and refreshments to policemen on duty and the aged devotees accompanying the rally.

Rachatte maintains a ‘club diary’ to keep an updated record of projects he will be taking up in the coming months. “So far, I have noted down 20 social programmes and events.” His list includes self-defence training sessions for girls, distributing to the public and school students, a ready reckoner with contact details of the police and other emergency authorities, and installing direction boards at vantage points such as near holy places for guiding visitors to go around the town.

Heaping praise on the Ausa Rotaractors, DRR Kshitij Choudhari says this community-based club is doing at least two notable projects every month “which is really commendable given that it is located in a small town with rural landscape and is one of the 27 active clubs which has updated their membership details with the RI registry.”

OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 25

He came, he conquered

H

e came and conquered. RI President Barry Rassin, accompanied by his wife Esther, visited RI District 3080, and prominent on his agenda were two events connected with Interactors and Rotaractors. Not only did he spend enough time at the Peace Rally and later the Rotaract Conclave, the RI President was at his enthusiastic best while interacting with the Rotaractors. He was more interested in answering their questions and preferred a dialogue over a monologue.

Text and pictures by Rasheeda Bhagat.

A unique project for cancer patients Kiran Zehra

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did not feel ugly. In fact, I felt good that my hair was going to be used to make someone else look beautiful,” says Rennee Saradha, past president of Rotaract Club of Women’s Christian College, D 3232, on her tonsuring and donating all her hair for making natural wigs for cancer patients.

The Rotaractors have been donating hair and money for making wigs since 2013, Rennee’s presidential year.

“While browsing for ideas about our project, we came across an organisation based in the US, named Hair for Hope. We thought why not do something similar for cancer patients here and when I discussed the idea, my club members agreed.” They wanted to give the project a positive name.

“Disney’s movie Tangled based on the fairytale of Rapunzel was a big hit at that time. The movie was positive and had to do with healing and hair; so we named our project Tangled,” says Rennee, detailing about the genesis of the project.

28 ROTARACT NEWS OCTOBER 2018

Rennee Saradha (left) with two other Rotaractors of RAC Women’s Christian College.

But at that time, the club was not getting a positive response for the project. “It was only in the initial stage, yet family members and friends we spoke with about Tangled wondered if this was even possible. The idea of going bald wasn’t new but donating the hair instead of giving it as an offering to God was new. To add to it we live in a culture where hair is associated with beauty and in some communities, it involves sentiments too.

‘Can this be possible in a place like Chennai?’ we were asked.”

They were also told that in India nobody would want a wig.

The idea of going bald wasn’t new but donating the hair instead of giving it as an offering to God was new.

Rennee Saradha PP, RAC Women’s Christian College

OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 29

“So, we decided to send it to the US and were looking for options to send the hair across.” Then past DRR-turned-Rotarian and a mentor of the club Solomon Victor suggested that they visit the Adyar Cancer Institute (ACI). “In our interactions with the doctors at the ACI we understood that there is a requirement for at least 100 wigs every month,” she adds. “We also learnt that most of those who underwent treatment come from a financiallyweak background so much so that buying a wig that costs anywhere between `15,000 and `20,000 was totally out of the question.” The project created awareness and helped to provide wigs to those who are affected by chemotherapy.

Rotaractors entertain children afflicted with cancer.

With the help of Rotary connections, the club slowly began to plan how to go about the project.

The past president met Rtn George B Cherian, the CEO of Raj Hair International, a pioneer in the Indian Human Hair industry supplying hair wigs to 56 countries worldwide.

“Since he was a Rotarian we did not have to go over the process of telling him what Rotaract was and what we planned to do or why. He believed in us because he knew the power of Rotary. But asked us to focus on different ways to getting hair donors.”

Most of those who underwent treatment come from a financially-weak background.

Buying a wig that costs anywhere between `15,000 and `20,000 was totally out of the question.

30 ROTARACT NEWS OCTOBER 2018

The Green Trends salon trained 600 stylists to cut 10 inches of hair without changing the donors’ looks.

Green Trends, the salon chain was roped in as a partner. It was initially decided that the Women’s Christian College will host the donation drive for a month at the college.

“But we realised that there weren’t going to be many walk-ins for the donation inside a college.” So, the venue was shifted to the various branches of the salon in Chennai and for a month and more Green Trends collected hair for our campaign.”

The club directed prospective donors to the nearest Green Trends salon.

The next step was to raise funds and “what better way than to conduct a cultural extravaganza for college students in the city.” Through the funds raised from the event, and with

a donation for making 20 natural hair wigs, “everything began to fall in place.” Phoenix, the fundraising event of the club, is an annual affair now and last year alone RAC Women’s Christian College hosted over 2,000 students from across the city, and used `2.5 lakh they had raised, to provide artificial limbs to 24 amputees.

On Feb 4, 2014, 20 members from the club shaved their heads marking a month-long initiative to collect hair for cancer patients.

Green Trends salon cut and collected the hair free of cost. “They trained more than 600 stylists to collect 10 inches of hair without changing the donor’s looks,” says the current president Smruthi Dass.

The club received positive feedback for the project and Tangled has become its signature project.

“Although we do a lot more projects this one is close to all our hearts,” she adds. Recently Rennee was also featured on Rotary International’s Instagram post under #myrotaractmoment.

As part of this initiative 100 mastectomy bras were distributed to breast cancer patients at the Adyar Cancer Hospital. Members of the club also visit paediatric cancer patients and spend an entire day entertaining them and giving them gifts.

Designed by Krishnapratheesh S

OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 31

Vapi Rotaractors empower women V Muthukumaran

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n July this year, the Rotaractors of RAC Vapi, D 3060, launched their ambitious ‘Make her Safe’ campaign through which they organised seminars and self-defence lessons for girls in schools and colleges. “We have held this programme in two schools and a college so far. A karate expert with black belt imparts rudimentary training on selfdefence to girls.

Special lectures on menstrual hygiene and sensitive issues such as ‘good touch, bad touch’ are also included to create awareness among students,” says Dhara Dhanesha, Club President.

In another initiative — Share to Serve — the Vapi Rotaractors distribute clothes, household items, footwear, schoolbags, winter clothing and

Karate being taught to girls, as part of the ‘Make her Safe’ campaign.

raincoats to needy families in and around the city.

Dhara, who is also the Project Chair, is overwhelmed by the support and positive feedback she has received after she posted a video on her club’s Facebook page.

“I was flooded with phone calls from various places with people offering a number of useful material including books for distribution,” she says.

‘Share to Serve’ is the brainchild of the club’s former president Chinar

I was flooded with phone calls from various places with people offering a number of useful material including books for distribution.

Dhara Dhanesha President, RAC Vapi A Rotaractor gifts a T-shirt to a beneficiary.

OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 33

Madia who began this project in 2016.

But over time, the project got traction and many people readily offer support and assistance in kind. From this year, the Rotaractors are reaching out to far-flung areas such as Dharampur, Umbergaon and Silvassa, the capital town of Dadra and Nager Haveli, an UT bordering 34 ROTARACT NEWS OCTOBER 2018

In its first outreach, the club organised a workshop on converting used cotton clothes into sanitary pads for nearly 200 tribal girls at Nana Ponda, a village near Vapi.

Gujarat, for distributing donated clothes and other commodities.

From September, another programme called ‘Red Revolution’ was started as part of the district campaign to educate tribal girls on menstrual hygiene. In its first outreach, the club organised a workshop on converting used cotton clothes into sanitary pads

for nearly 200 tribal girls at Nana Ponda, a village near Vapi.

There is no dearth of ideas for the 52 membersstrong club as the Rotaractors were drawn from various walks of life including engineers, doctors, accountants, fashion designers, architects, teachers and interior decorators, among others. „

Back to our roots Team Rotaract News

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his Krishna Janmashtami, the Rotaractors of RAC Uyirmei, D 3202, celebrated the birth of Lord Krishna with a variety of traditional entertainment programmes, bringing back the cultures of yore. They had organised games such as uriyadi, where the participants pile on each other until they hit a pot containing a gift.

This represents the folklore of Krishna who is supposed to have climbed on

his playmates’ shoulders to take the curd from a pot hung from a ceiling.

Silambattam is another game that showcased a player’s prowess in playing with his silambu (a bamboo pole).

They regaled the young children with the ancient dance forms such as mayilattam (peacock dance), devarattam and kummi-kolattam (dandiya).A dance drama depicting the life of Lord Krishna and his preachings

from the Bhagwad Gita added value for the children.

“In this age of modern dancing and rock shows, this programme was a big hit with the children as they got a glimpse of our culture and tradition,” says Nitya, the club president. It also earned the appreciations of the parents and other elders for “according to them we have done a meaningful programme on a special day.”

Rotaractors with the performers and children.

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Speak out on

child abuse Kiran Zehra

Schoolchildren watching a film that highlights awareness on child abuse.

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aunched last year by the Rotaract Club of Bishop Cotton Women’s Christian College and Rotaract Club of Bangalore Southwest, D 3190, the objective of PANTS is to create awareness among government school children on various forms of child abuse (physical, verbal or visual). “This year alone we came across 12 cases of child abuse from just one of the two schools we have been visiting regularly,” says Saniya, president of the club. All the 12 children have

now been sent for counselling and “in most of the cases the parents weren’t even aware that the child was being abused. So, we requested the principal to talk to the parents and guided them through the process for counselling,” she adds.

Last year the club covered 10 government schools to create awareness on the concept of safe and unsafe touch, giving them necessary knowledge and education, which could help them in their personal safety from such abuse at home, school or outside.

The initiative was dubbed PANTS: P – Privates are privates, A – Always OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 37

remember your body belongs to you, N – No means no, T – Talk about secrets that upset you, S – Speak up,” explains the president “because child sexual abuse is a topic difficult for children to understand. We wanted a catchy name and one where the children can remember the rules we talked about on their fingertips.”

The club created a 10-minute video on child abuse which they play in the classroom and by way of cartoon characters “we explain to the children how to defend themselves, and teach them how to say ‘No.’” The club members then chat up, one-onone, with every child in the class. This helps them build a relationship based 38 ROTARACT NEWS OCTOBER 2018

on comfort and trust with every child, and we assure them that the conversations will remain confidential,” Next, in case of child abuse “we have to tell the child that it is okay to talk about the abuser because in 90 percent of the cases the abuser is a family member or a friend that the family trusts.” Another important thing she points out is that there should be regular communication between the parents and their children. “Unfortunately, in India parents hesitate to talk about sensitive topics, and in some cases, they refuse to believe what the child is saying.” she adds.

Talking about creating awareness on the helpline numbers for children

she says, “Everybody should know 1098 is the toll-free helpline number for children in distress and was launched in 1996. But not many are aware so we make it a point to tell the teachers in the classroom about it.”

The club has decided to work with private schools too and is looking for partner Rotaract clubs to take this project to different cities in the country.

“We have a #Metoo campaign for women victims of sexual abuse. But in the case of child abuse we are doing very little. With the power of Rotaract we can take this project to different parts of the country because this issue can only be addressed through awareness,” says Saniya.

Cheering up

special children Jaishree

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t gave us so much happiness to see the excited looks on the faces of the children as they welcomed us to the centre,” says Mobeen Shaikh, a member of RAC Techplorers, D 3132, and the Project Chairman of the Friendship Day celebration. The Rotaractors assembled at the Aarambh Autism Centre in Aurangabad to celebrate Friendship Day with the children.

“As soon as we started interacting with these children we realised the

most difficult task was to break the barrier of silence and be able to communicate with them. So we engaged them in limbu chamcha (lemon and spoon) and musical chairs and those were the ice breakers.” Games such as the Mannequin Challenge and Who bursts the balloon first made them all the more comfortable. “We loved the happiness in the children when they burst the balloons,” says Divya Wagh, the club president.

The Rotaractors entertained the children with songs and dances and the children also were inspired to participate. “When little Akshay sang Meri Maa and another little girl sang a Marathi song chaafa bolena, it moved us so much. All of us had tears in our eyes,” she says.

The Rotaractors tied friendship bands on the wrists of the children and distributed chocolates. “When we left the centre, it was only natural that all of us turned pretty philosophical and each one of us started reflecting on our lives.

We started to appreciate the little things in life. For after all, when these children, despite their challenges are happy and satisfied with what they have, why can’t we be much more thankful for all the good we have?” observes Divya.

Kshitij Choudhury, the DRR and member of this club, says that this project, though it cost very little, is by far the most satisfying initiative as it brought cheer into the lives of the special children. The Rotaractors of RAC Achievers and the Candle Foundation, an NGO too participated in the programme.

Rotarctors of RAC Techplorers celebrate Friendship Day with children at the Aarambh Autism Centre.

OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 39

Delhi Rotaractors embrace Vertical Gardening V Muthukumaran

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n a neighbourhood teeming with social projects and residents taking interest in community welfare, the Rotaractors of RAC New Delhi, D 3011, have their task cut out. DRR Ashima Agarwal says that most of the 1,400 Rotaractors are active in numerous projects being implemented by 35 clubs in the district.

Turning the spotlight on their flagship project, she says from July this year, “we have developed a Social Design concept which has been taken up with much enthusiasm by 4–5

40 ROTARACT NEWS OCTOBER 2018

clubs. By the end of the Rotary year, we are hopeful that 80 per cent of the clubs would have taken up at least one specific project under the Social Design concept.” Simply put, a Social Design project involves activities that impact the community directly such as plastic recycling, gardening or creating awareness on social issues. RACs New Delhi and Saksham are the first ones to embrace the Social Design project by implementing a novel Vertical Gardening project that involves the recycling of plastic bottles. Here the plastic containers and holders are

arranged vertically on public walls, metro pillars, schools, destitute homes and parks so that plants can be grown in these.

Once a week, Rotaractors water the plants which are chained through jute ropes so that the entire green symmetry gets adequate circulation of water. “Vertical Gardening does not require much funding as we have plenty of plastic waste dumped all around, while we need plants, manure and permission to use public space or school wall for developing this Social Design project.”

We want to make a good sturdy park bench with 70–80 Bisleri bottles and place it in a municipal park.

Wamil Baluja President, RAC New Delhi

Expanding reach Recycling the plastic has not stopped with just Vertical Gardening for the members of RAC New Delhi. By mid-August, they had collected over 500 plastic bottles and mixed them with high-grade cement to develop school and park benches. “We can make a good sturdy park bench with 70–80 Bisleri bottles and place it in a municipal park. We are awaiting permission for making school benches from the authorities,” says Wamil Above: A Rotaractor tends to a plant in a vertical garden.

Left: Rotaractors of RAC New Delhi with children from the Vikaspuri colony.

Baluja, President, RAC New Delhi.

The Rotaractors have already built a vertical garden with plastic waste by planting 100 saplings on a public wall in Vikaspuri colony.

With 130 members, this communitybased club is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year with a number of high-visibility projects. They have set up a compact library with two metal racks holding 1,500 books at Ayudham Society, an old-age home-cum-orphanage at Najafgarh, under Akshar Project. “We will lend the books to children and the library will be expanded,” he says.

Through such Social Design projects “we will bring some benefits to the marginalised people. We are still doing research on devising new projects through plastic recycling like setting up natural air conditioners to promote an eco-friendly lifestyle,”

says Sanchita Nagpal. Through Project Dhanak, the club has adopted a slum in Vikaspuri to engage the children with mentoring and teaching sessions. “The children are taught basic manners, etiquette, simple math and English. We host an Annual Day for them with culturals. Also, a doctor visits the area once in three months to check the health of children.”

A moral support While it is always better to have more Rotaractors for project outreach, Baluja says, “though we love to have more hands to execute projects, we have a parent Rotary (RC New Delhi) who is ever ready to give us support in the form of loagistics and resources, when required.” Last year, he recalls, they did a WinS project at a government school in Malvia Nagar which was sponsored by their parent Rotary.

OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 41

Rotaractors reach out to .HUDOD ÀRRG YLFWLPV

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fter the havoc caused by heavy flooding in Kerala, bringing life to a standstill for thousands of men, women and children, Rotary India swung into action. Rotaract clubs also joined hands with the Rotarians and distributed essential and household items to the flood victims. In many places, the Rotaractors of Kerala accompanied the Rotarians, braving the torrential downpour and flooded roads, to take people to safety.

Rotaractors of RAC Dimapur; RAC GIT Belgaum; RAC New Delhi; RAC Krishna Valley; RAC Ponda; and RAC Chiplun, with their contributions for the Kerala Flood Relief initiative.

Text by Jaishree

Rotaractors interacting with the elders at the Jeevandhara Vrudhashram.

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A FRESHERS’ PARTY TO CHERISH Kiran Zehra

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hese Rotaractors decided to ditch the DJ party to welcome their freshers to do “something more responsible which will help our new members understand the values of Rotary and Rotaract,” says Aneri Bhat, a member of Rotaract Club of Ahmedabad

Narol, D 3054. So along with the new members, Kaushal Gohil, the Club President, visited Jeevandhara Vrudhashram, a home for the aged.

A day away from Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, these youngsters did some “real socialising,” says Gohil, adding that “elderly people

can feel cut off from society. So, we decided to bring the outside world inside and add some joy and excitement to their day.”

At a loss of words to express the joy she felt when the inmates of the old-age home warmly welcomed the Rotaractors, Aneri says “many of

Left: A Rotaractor serves food for the senior citizens.

46 ROTARACT NEWS OCTOBER 2018

Rotaractors involve the senior citizens in a dance at the old-age home.

them, we were told, have made this their home as they were forced by their children to leave their homes.

But they forgot about their worries and embraced us with so much love.

We were all in tears.”

The Rotaractors organised a day full of fun, games, music, poetry, and “Garba! Young or old garba toh karna hi tha!” she adds. At the end of the competition the inmates were asked to give out certificates to the new members which they did with so much joy.

“You have to see them as regular people, not as the elderly. That is where we all go wrong. They aren’t a burden when we accept them as our equal,” says Gohil adding that what he learnt during that one day was something he wouldn’t have got to learn in any college or university.

“You offer them a cup of coffee and they’ll tell you their life story,” says another club member. A few of the members have decided to meet the inmates more regularly. “Maybe we can’t fix their bad knee, but we can make their living environment warm, funny and happy,” says Aneri.

Designed by N Krishnamurthy OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 47

Rotaractors’ day out in a farm Jaishree Jaishree

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e must never waste food.

Now I know what struggles a farmer undergoes to cultivate each morsel of the food that we so easily pile up on our plate and just shove it off without any thought once our stomach is full,” says Sateesh, President of RAC Kamalam College, D 3201. This is what he and his team of 22 Rotaractors learnt when they donned the role of farmers for a day recently.

48 ROTARACT NEWS OCTOBER 2018

A casual talk about farming among these Rotaractors hailing from places around Pollachi, a suburb town of Coimbatore, led to them packing their bags to Navakarai village in Kerala. “We were visiting a friend who owns a piece of land in the village and when we requested that we work in their farm, his mother happily obliged.”

The youngsters learnt to milk cows, tend to and feed the cattle, take them out for grazing, clean the pen, sow seeds, remove weeds from the

We even dressed up like farmers, changing from pants and shirts to dhotis and mundasu (turban) on our heads that doubles up as a towel to wipe our face as we sweat it out in the fields.

fields and plant saplings. “We even dressed up like farmers, changing from pants and shirts to dhotis and mundasu (turban) on our heads that doubles up as a towel to wipe our face as we sweat it out in the fields.”

They got a taste of farm food — a simple yet healthy ragi kanji for breakfast and hand-pounded rice for lunch. “When we uploaded our photos on Instagram and Facebook, we got frantic calls from our friends asking us if we were alright!” laughs Sateesh.

On a serious note, the president said that the farmers face a lot of challenges in their daily lives. While the government had promised them subsidy on electricity bills, it has not benefitted them yet, and no action has come through even after submitting several petitions to the local authorities. They were promised fertilisers at a subsidised rate and crop protection insurance, but none materialised. “We made a short video of this conversation and uploaded it on the social media hoping that some

positive action will happen. We have also decided to pool in some funds and our college management has also promised to support the farmers in whatever way possible.”

It was a novel experience for the visitors as they learnt what it is like to be in a huge family. “While in cities, nuclear families are the norm, all of us could feel the warmth and caring so tangible among that 10-member family. There was a kind of closeness and camaraderie which is lacking in our environment where each of the OCTOBER 2018 ROTARACT NEWS 49

Rotaractors play the role of farmers in a village. Below: A Rotaractor addressing villagers at the gram sabha.

family members are engrossed in their own world of work pressure and mobile phones,” he observes.

Extending this ‘village life project’ the club members created awareness about the significance and power of the gram sabha in another village called Thungavi, close to Coimbatore. A chance talk with one of their college professors ignited this idea in the Rotaractors. “He explained to us about the concept.”

The gram sabha is supposed to be a democratic and participatory planning platform to find solutions to villagers’ problems and discuss ways to optimally use the limited local resources. “But often villagers are ignorant about it and we decided to raise awareness about it in the village,” says Sateesh.

While a quorum is mandatory for a decision to be passed at the sabha, it was not practised there.

The programme has certainly taught us to respect farmers and their services.

For after all, we cannot be alive if they do not toil so hard on the fields.

“So we sensitised the villagers about their rights and the procedure to be followed at the gram sabha.”

And subsequently when the meet commenced, the tahsildar was taken aback when the locals attending the sabha raised complaints about the roads left unlaid, the unbuilt toilets and water issue in the village.

Sateesh rates this as a valuable project which has helped him and his friends learn and appreciate life. “It has certainly taught us to respect farmers and their services.

For after all, we cannot be alive if they do not toil so hard on the fields,” he says.

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RI President Barry Rassin with two Interactors at the Peace Rally in Chandigarh, RID 3080