DG Rajendra Agarwal Addresses RCB On His Official Club Visit
I have been coming to your Club for many years; I remember my co-President from this Club was Gul, in 2005-’06. After that, I worked a lot with PP Dr. Mukesh Batra. So, your Club is an absolutely iconic club, doing fantastic, meaningful projects and making a difference to the community. But, I would like to add a few things.
I have seen clubs in Bombay coming up with huge jumps and then just disappearing. I still remember when I was the President in 2005- ’06, your Club was number one, and my club, Queen’s City, was number two. Number three was Bombay Central but it collapsed suddenly from 190 members to 100.
So, it is very important to maintain a balance on various parameters. What this Club has achieved over the years, you have maintained very well. So, you can see we came here at 10 am, had a meeting with the incoming President and the President and all the other members of the board. Look at the book on my table, such a big thick book was made in advance and sent to me.
It contained all the information required by a Governor and his team in advance. I can just say that everything required is done very well: all the data and information, accounts, balance sheet, list of members and projects, everything is beautifully taken care of and now I can also add that your Club is in good hands with the incoming President. So, a big round of applause. Fantastic Club and leadership. So, how many marks? 99/100. Why did I cut the one mark? It is more of a precaution.
I have been in Rotary for 30 years; I have been part of many organisations; I have inherited many things from my father’s trust and I am doing a lot of work. I am going to give a major part of my life to social work today and tomorrow. My time and money will be available because I believe that the very purpose of life is happiness and satisfaction for yourself. You should be happy every single moment. I told my friend Commodore Ahluwalia one thing that changed his life: ‘Do one good work every day and you will see the happiness and good sleep that you get.’
So, life is not just earning money; when you are happy, you are at a different level of life.
As Governor, I am sharing my role. My role is to join the dots between receiver and giver every day. So, with your level of Club and location of meeting and profile of members, your work done is not enough. It should be 10 times more. There are so many clubs and members in Bombay; if your work at this level is not the highest, then what is the benefit of such a big club? There are a few clubs far ahead of the work that your Club is doing. So, something is missing.
There is so much CSR funding available, I have been motivating my team to work. Motivation with small things: I have been taking lot of presents to various locations where projects are possible. On one such visit for a club’s project, I took members to a hospital, and they landed with three CSR projects in two weeks. So, there are so many opportunities for CSR, people don’t know where to spend their money. They have hired big teams and staff. They have spent just 20-30% of their CSR amounts and the Rotary platform has so many opportunities and projects. Your Club can do it at a much larger scale and take it to a higher level.
I was told by President Shernaz that you all have done Rs 10-12 crore of social work. I went to inaugurate a project by the Queen’s Necklace Club on August 15th, Heart OT at Sion hospital, and it was Rs 6 crore in one project. So, there are so many opportunities all around. If this is shared with your project members, they will come forward and say that they want to do it. So, give them projects, take them to locations and list projects — money will flow. As I always say, ‘Paisa kiske saath nahi jaata; paisa yahin reh jata hai.’ What goes with you is only happiness.
Let me share my story of happiness with you; my experience of 30 years came with something that I have learnt and felt. We are not going to remember what we ate a week ago, everything will be forgotten. But I can tell you that if you talk try to remember the happy moments, you will. These are the permanent moments of life. They are never forgotten. I can guarantee that you can remember the satisfaction you feel when you see happy faces after a project. So, all the Presidents of the Club, the happiness out of giving and doing a project is a permanent memory. I still remember that in 2005-06, I took my club members to a cataract project in Palghar; I have not forgotten it and neither have my club members. A new member to the club gave 10,000 dollars to the project after seeing the project. Till today, he has given 2.25 lakh dollars. So, this stays with you. Happy moments are stored permanently in your soul. And you are all aware that the soul is the only thing that goes with you and comes back in the next life.
So, Shernaz, when you take your members to a new project, they get that unlimited happiness. You will get retention and donations. People like to give money when they are touched by the work you are doing. Rotary is such a platform where you cannot do anything alone, it has to be done together. You are supporting so many heart surgeries, how many of you have gone there to see the child, to meet the parents? Just go and see. I had called three children at one of the meetings, one was from Akola. The father shared how he got a number from somewhere and, after being asked to get the kid to Mumbai, he still had no idea who had done the coordination and arrangement. He shared that he was waiting till the last day for this God. They were amazed to see that are there are people who help for real.
So, Shernaz, there are unlimited opportunities to get happiness by giving your time, energy, or money.
