Deepak Parekh is the Chairman of the Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC). By now, the corporation has financed over six million homes. Therefore, when he was presented the Citizen of Mumbai Award, it was a Rotarian who suggested, “He should be honoured not only as a citizen of Mumbai, but as a citizen of India.” As...
Dilip Doshi, former Indian cricketer, was invited to the weekly meeting last Tuesday, entrusted to share his thoughts on a very topical issue: Ethics. Although the subject has been well dissected by some of the greatest philosophers, Doshi’s perspective was rather refreshing. His sporting and business career inspired some very interesting parallels between sportsmanship and...
Should it not be assumed that a speaker, given a keen audience, a good thirty minutes to speak, and a buffet lunch at the Taj Mahal Hotel, is a little too complacent about the honour if he begins his speech by saying, “I will be a little short because I have to catch a flight...
The Tuesday meeting began not with a speaker as is typical, but a technical glitch that made the experience of singing the national anthem a little more heroic, for we had to keep in tune without being guided by the backing track. Till the last moment, many were unsure whether or not to assume that the...
Sandokan, by the second half of the 19th century, was a young Indian prince diminished of his title and kingdom by British imperialists. To avenge this disastrous turn of events, he made constant attacks on the British forces, in his new avatar as the captain of a den of pirates. Although Sandokan is a character...
Last Tuesday, the pulpit was shared by two speakers from different walks of life, but both seemed to have tread a path that only passion can help us navigate. The speakers were Pooja Dhingra and Zoru Bathena. The latter is the BMC’s biggest nightmare, and the former a young entrepreneur who introduced a Parisian culinary...
Ambi Parameswaran has spent over thirty years in advertising, a fact confirmed by his enlightening account of the industry in a short thirty minutes. A career spanning so many years has obviously given him a chance to reminisce, and us the pleasure of understanding his perspective on the changing trends. A lot of what he shared...
“Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee, and I'll forgive Thy great big joke on me,” was a line lent to us by the great American poet, Robert Frost. However, in the context of Bharat Dabholkar’s experiences in advertising, this quote makes for the perfect adman’s prayer. Not just because it is short, concise, and...
Dr. Shubha, the Chief Scientist and Head of Airport Instrumentation at the National Aerospace Laboratories, amazed the Rotarians with her impressive list of achievements last Tuesday. Not only does she have dozens of patents and copyrights in her name, she has also received the 2016 Bushwick Award for Outstanding contribution to Science and Technology and...
Once again, last Tuesday’s speaker needed no introduction. However, to satisfy the curiosity of those wondering how she didn’t slip into obscurity like most actresses of her generation, a little must be said about Tanuja Mukherjee’s new avatar. Yes, she’s featured less on page three, but stills gets ample coverage for her work as a...
Rotarians were eager to listen to Keki Mistry, the Managing Director of HDFC Ltd, share his thoughts on Corporate Governance, and even more eager to get him to answer their questions. Even after the meeting was adjourned, many queries remained unanswered, but the speaker was able to lend us his perspective on India Inc., a...
In hearing Rtn. Shailesh Haribhakti’s analysis of the 2018 Budget, there were only two instances when laughter prevailed. The first instance was when he was introduced by a fellow rotarian: “Shailesh Haribhakti needs no introduction!” This, the speaker acknowledged as “the most memorable introduction.” And the second uproar was heard when the lights were dimmed...