KASHMIR FILES Here I am, writing to you from paradise on earth! Having driven straight from the Srinagar airport to Pahalgam, we were transported from the heat and dust of our city to the cool, clean climes of another world. Over silken roads, some of which were built as emergency runways, we almost flew to the pines and...
SUSTAINABILITY I find the word sustainability thrown about a lot in the Rotary world and especially at RCB. What is the actual meaning of a sustainable project? Is it that the project can sustain without any further Rotary intervention or is it that the project will continue to provide succour to the needy on a sustainable basis? Though I...
REVERSE DISCRIMINATION! It’s interesting and heartening to see the amount of support and effort that is going into gender equality these days. In this morning’s paper, I read an advertisement by a washing powder company extolling other advertisers to communicate equality at home by showcasing housework as not just a woman’s job. In other words, the necessity...
SHOW SOME LOVE In Rotary we hear the words scale and impact and mega-projects, and reach, etc. All very worthy concepts and necessary when we are trying to do maximum service. However, in all this, we cannot lose sight of the individuals we are trying to serve. We cannot lose sight of the old farmer in the...
TWO PROJECTS AND A FELLOWSHIP We did it! Something that was a dream last November has turned into reality thanks to the generosity of our members and to the amazing efforts of Project Chirag. Funds were collected from over 50 Rotarians by February end and before March end (right on target). The RCB model village project is now...
ROTARY YEAR 21-22 OCV This has been a year of transition and uncertainty. We began the year amidst the second wave of the pandemic and, in fact, on the day of my installation, I discovered I was Covid positive. To ensure we kept our membership intact and engaged, we reduced fees to all members, but also exempted those...
LEAP OF FAITH WITH THE VAIDU COMMUNITY I am truly excited! After months of delay and uncertainty we have finally zeroed in on our initiative of supporting the children of the Vaidu community. The programme CHALANG will finally become reality! Yesterday, we had a very fruitful meeting with the Vipla foundation. Thanks, DGE Sandip Agarwalla, for introducing them to us...
MAKE HEY WHILE THE FUN SHINES As I sit looking out at the flower filled garden in the cool morning air of Mahabaleshwar, I recall and anticipate the joy and fun a Rotary fellowship brings. Over the past close to 20 years, we have attended almost every fellowship that our Club has put together. From Corbett, when I...
DEFINING RCB Whilst working on a compilation for a coffee table book on 101 vintage clubs by the Rotary Club of Poona, there was a question on what makes our Club special or unique. Is it that we have such a historic legacy that, for instance, four successive generations have been part of the same Club, with two...
BUSY WEEK AT RCB It’s been a busy week at RCB and the beginning of many firsts! On Sunday last, we were in Palghar at a school in Boisar inaugurating the IT Innovation lab that was set up through DGE Sandip Agarwalla as an RCB project supported by other Rotary Clubs of Palghar. It has been set...
CHARITY AND PARENTING In a tweet on charity and parenting, Rotary International explained how children whose parents were charitable were more likely to make their own donations as adults. Apparently, there are five ways that one could encourage our own children to be part of a community that serves, putting them on a path of a giving...
WELCOME THE SATELLITE CLUB OF RCB Last week, our very own Rotarian, Dr. Indu Shahani spoke to us about her tryst with the young and eager and her connection with three generations, from baby boomers through millennials to Gen Z. She spoke how Gen Z were responsible trustworthy and reliable, inspite of their air of over-confidence and...