Day: March 1, 2024
Transgenders who defied norms honoured in Chennai
Holding a pride of place at the transgender award ceremony titled Matram (change in Tamil) hosted by the Rotaract Club of Shri Krishnaswamy College for Women in Chennai was the veteran Noori Saleem, a transwoman from Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu, who emerged victorious after battling long years of societal pressure, taunting, and all other forms of humiliation and discrimination to create a home for over 300 HIV positive children abandoned by their families because of their infection.
The power of Rotary friendship
The motive power of Rotary is friendship,” said Paul Harris at the Rotary Convention held in Edinburgh in 1921. The friendships that are forged between Rotarians can be the beginning of great things for our community.
Rotary Jungle Garden in Panvel
Near the market yard of Panvel city in Raigad district of Maharashtra, a two-acre urban forest — Rotary Ghandat (dense in Marathi) Jungle — with a park in the front has sprung up, thanks to RC Panvel Central, RID 3131. This green hub has become a centre of attraction for locals and tourists alike.
RID 3291 sets up a blood bank in Kolkata
Rotary Club of Calcutta, RID 3291, in association with the Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC), has set up the district’s first blood centre — the HMC Rotary Blood Centre — at Howrah, Kolkata. The facility was inaugurated in February by Arup Roy, state minister-in-charge for urban development.
Project Create Hope touches 835 beneficiaries
A multipurpose mega service project titled Create Hope reached out to over 800 beneficiaries from diverse fields at the Ayana Convention Hall, Vijayawada, on the sidelines of the two-day district conference of RID 3020 named Sneham (friendship) in January. RC Vijayawada Midtown hosted the Discon in which 1,200 Rotarians from around 90 clubs took part in the sessions and other events.
Meet your Governors
Muthiah Pillai joined Rotary “driven by the prospect of networking and advancing my business.”
Loud, louder, loudest
It’s often said there is an underlying unity in India’s huge diversity. We don’t agree on many things. But one of the few things that we do agree upon wholeheartedly is a strong preference for noise, the louder the better. Our diversity converges around extreme loudness. A few weekends ago this was brought home to me once again. Suddenly, quite out of the blue, a massive thumping of electronic music started up from behind our house. It’s a massive parking lot owned by a massive builder. It’s always full but not on weekends. So the builder has been renting it out to ‘events’ companies.
Raising awareness on diabetes
On World Diabetes Day (Nov 14) last year, RC SPIC Nagar, RID 3212, in collaboration with Dr Arul’s Diabetes Centre in Thoothukudi, organised a diabetes awareness camp in the port city. A range of medical examinations including testing blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, HBA1c (test to diagnose type 2 diabetes), biothesiometry (to detect neuropathy), dental and eye checkup were conducted. Over 500 people availed the services at the camp.
The importance of adequate sleep
Create your own virtuous cycle. We had to literally think out-of-the-(meal) box, thanks to our dentist’s appointments. We stuck to our two-meal daily intake (lunch and dinner) and ate what we have done for decades — homemade oil-less food that we recommend. We ‘upped’ our meal times: lunch at noon, supper at 6pm, and decided to turn in at 8pm. Early to bed and early to rise may or may not make us wealthy. But it definitely ticks the healthy and wise boxes. Just waking up before dawn is like gaining an extra day. But before we get to sleep and its benefits, let’s get one thing straight.
Make a fresh start while moving home
Moving home is akin to making a fresh start. It offers you an opportunity to carry out some serious stocktaking of the inventory of household goods you have acquired. But while doing so, wearing a green bifocal will make a world of difference. You will not only be able to give away things you don’t need but can recycle and repurpose bits and pieces of furniture and clothes lying unused for years. More importantly, you can invest sensibly in new household goods to ensure that your new home is as minimalist and environment-friendly as possible.
A new ending for Oppenheimer
In the summer movie season, when people seek escape with superhero sequels and action thrillers, I joined millions who flocked to theaters in 2023 for a deeply thoughtful history film that became a rare summer hit to go against the mould.
Giving a hand to the handicapped
Over 500 individuals with a deformity of their upper limb were fitted with LN4 prosthetic hand at a special camp organised by RC Mangalagiri, RID 3150, at Mangalagiri, Andhra Pradesh.
Vande Bharat architect tells its story
Are we able to manufacture to the standards that we import, even after decades? The answer is a resounding no. Because when you say technology transfer… I call it an oxymoron…. Technology is a creation that lives in the mind and the heart of the creator. There is no way to transfer that. We are stuck between mindlessly global and hopelessly local. The truth is stuck somewhere between, I would say near the hopelessly local.”
Rotarians fund marriages
For 27 years now, Rotary Club of Uklana Mandi, RID 3090, has been funding the weddings of young women from disadvantaged families in the district. The Rotarians also shower the newly-weds with gifts such as utensils, mattresses, clothes, furniture and other household articles essential to start a home. The weddings are conducted on January 14 every year, commemorating Makara Sankaranti, says club secretary Sugan Chand Goyal.
Sri Lankan Rotarians combat cancer
Imagine a world where whispers don’t turn into screams. Where tiny abnormalities are caught before they morph into monsters. This is the transformative power of early detection, especially for breast and cervical cancer. A mammogram could re-write your destiny. A test kit could detect the earliest stage of cervical cancer and hold the key to unlock a healthier future,” says PRIP K R Ravindran.
Kerala & Pune charm a German exchange student
I simply loved Kerala and can tell you that no available tourist literature captures the entire beauty of Kerala,” gushes Henry Clemens, 18, a Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) student from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, now in India on an RYE programme of RI District 3132. He is living with the family of Abhay Raje Jain from RC Ahmednagar Dignity, “but my host club is RC Ahmednagar Midtown.”
Rotary-Rotaract relationship is still evolving: RI President
At a hall filled with enthusiastic Rotaractors and Interactors in Colombo, RI District 3220, RI President Gordon McInally and RI director Raju Subramanian interacted