All of us, at some point in time, have been guests of Mr. Kushroo Santook by lending our patronage to the arts at the National Centre of Performing Arts (NCPA). Last Tuesday, we had the privilege of welcoming him as our guest. In the time he spent with us, he was able to give us...
Last Tuesday, the chairman of Godrej Group, Mr. Adi Godrej was awarded the Pravinchandra Varjivan Gandhi Award for excellence in public life. He was also given the “gift of trees,” after he delivered a very optimistic post-award speech about how we can sow the seeds for a better Indian economy. “It is a proud moment for...
Dr. Shernaz B. Elavia, last Tuesday’s speaker, believes that stress is nothing but an illness, and it can be avoided altogether if we learn to “manage our emotions.” For those grappling with their emotions, she says, “I have certain rules, which I call dictums.” These are the same rules that have been followed by her...
At the end of the District Governor’s speech, President Ramesh Narayan said, “His informality, his rigid approach to - one thing only - being on time, and the fact that he has been able to dispense with the frills and fuss, make him an extraordinary man.” As you well know, District Governor Prafull J. Sharma, or...
What is a bitcoin? “When I bought a percentage of a bitcoin 13 months ago, a bitcoin was valued at anywhere between 500 to 600 dollars. Today, the same bitcoins have brought back 30 times the return, and are valued at 18,000 dollars (still climbing),” said the speaker. So what is the method behind the madness’? And...
Gautam Chatterjee, a former state government bureaucrat, was recently made the Chairman of the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Maha RERA). More recent to the day he took office, he was invited by the Rotary Club of Bombay to speak about RERA (Real Estate Regulation & Development Act). However, due to the thunderstorms in Mumbai, he...
The Sheriff of London knocked on the door of Richard Gresham and George Berisford, who were joint tenants of a house in Blackfriars. What happened next changed the world’s perception on privacy. Here’s a little backstory, as the Tuesday speaker, Darius Khambatta, a distinguished senior counsel, explained: Berisford died while in debt to Peter Semayne. As...
It might be hard to put a name to the voice of a radio jockey, especially to one who gained his fame back when there was only one official radio station and not yet a billion listeners waiting to be entertained. Nevertheless, the Tuesday speaker doesn’t necessarily suffer the inadequacy of such a vocation because...
It has been nine years since 26/11. That is enough time to ask ourselves whether we will ever be prepared for a similar incident. Raghu Raman, the President of Risk, Security, and New Ventures at Reliance Industries Limited, seemed unsure. However, he voiced his uncertainty with the confidence that one holds after having “spent 12...
When introduced to our fellow Rotarians at the weekly Tuesday meeting, Dr. Nadeem Rais was reacquainted with one of his own teachings - “If you are ever invited somewhere, then you must go if you are earning, learning, or having fun.” Dr. Rais is one of the leading diabetologists in Mumbai and his independent practice is...
“Business and Environment Sustainability” was the topic of discussion at the Rotary meeting last week. So terms such as “energy efficiency,” “water conservation,” and “green footprint,” to name a few, were sounded from time to time. But, for a change, these terms weren’t used to frame accusations: The speaker, Mr. Jamshyd Naoroji Godrej, used them...
Rtn. Srinivasan Prasad vacated the pulpit for V.G. Siddhartha, after requesting the latter to tell rotarians why he had accepted their invitation to be the Tuesday speaker, even though he has been known to keep a very low profile. In answering the question, the entrepreneur, who has given us Cafe Coffee Day and Mindtree, the largest...