The BY Offsite Lonavala Retreat

The Bhavishya Yaan (BY) Committee recently had its first weekend offsite in Lonavala at Rtn. Ashok Jatia’s Rhythm Resorts on April 16th and 17th. The theme of the offsite may aptly be described as “Nostalgia” and “Passion, the driving force of BY”. Over 35 Rotarians and R’annes were present including Pres. Rtn. Dr. Sonya Mehta, President Elect Rtn. Dr.Mukesh Batra, President Nominee Rtn. Ramesh Narayan and Rtn. Arun Sanghi, and the Knowledge Partners, apart from BY’s Present Chairman Rtn. Madhusudan Daga, Co-Chair Rtn. Rajesh Shah, PPs Rtns. Manoj Patodia, Manish Reshamwala, Preeti Mehta, Shivkumar Israni, and BY’s new Chairman 2016/ 17, Rtn. Satayan Israni, amongst other committee members. On 16th April, the BY Committee members and spouses arrived at Rhythm Resorts. After a sumptuous lunch, the Committee met in the Conference Room. R’anne Jaya Prasad, Coordinator of the NMJ School, organized the offsite and proved to be quite the Master of Ceremonies for the unique function. She welcomed everyone and shared how BY was responsible for her and her husband, Rtn. S.V Prasad’s entry into Rotary.

In a similar vein, a number of Rotarians and R’annes passionately shared their interesting and inspiring experiences working with the dynamic Bhavishya Yaan Committee, including Rtns and R’annes: Alok Seksaria, Co- Chairman Rajesh Shah, Pradhan, Niranjan, Pratibha Pai, Neeta, Aavan and Rinku Suchanti. Rtns. Ramesh, Alok and Madhu then shared their vision of expanding BY’s activities to other schools. Almost every speaker mentioned Rtn. Ramesh Narayanan’s name and his role in BY since its very inception. President Rtn. Dr. Sonya Mehta, who has been associated with BY right from the first year was the mentor of the Worli School. Rotary President Elect Rtn. Dr. Mukesh Batra spoke eloquently as regards “passion in one’s work” as an important criteria, and went on to spontaneously offer providing homeopathic medicines for the BY children in his clinics. Rtn. Ashok Jatia, Director BY 2016/17 was so touched that he offered to sponsor BY children to his Resort in the coming academic year.

An Audio Visual was shown, which captured the journey of BY from its inception in 2009 to today. Jaya then concluded the “formal” session by sincerely thanking all. The evening continued with fun and games including indoor and outdoor games, with two groups being formed – ‘Oddly Orange’ and ‘Go Green’, and the latter winning the rolling trophy of Rhythm Lonavala and the famous chikki. An action packed evening lead into a great dinner party which went on late into the night with live music with some of the talented lot lending their voice to the mic including Rtn. Dr. Mukesh Batra and R’anne Vandana Daga. Champagne was popped open to jointly celebrate Rtn. Jimmy and Aavan Vakharia’s wedding anniversary and Rtn. Manish Reshamwala’s birthday. The celebrations continued late into the night with Rtns. Arun Sanghi and Ashok Jatia taking to the floor! And so came to an end the BY offsite the next day, even as everyone reluctantly returned to Mumbai, but renewed with the promise of another exciting BY offsite next year!