Day: January 2, 2025
Only India can usher in global peace
India is well-positioned to take on the leadership role in ushering in global peace as “the world is witnessing an unprecedented upheaval with
A kind of serendipity
I am an Elif Shafak fan. This remarkable writer with over 20 novels under her belt writes in Turkish and English.
Nostalgia for a Delhi of yore
North India, or at least the part of it that lies to the north of Agra, has invented many foods, especially after partition in 1947. Butter chicken. Kulcha a la aloo, ie stuffed kulchas. Chow mein avec tadka, which was our revenge against the Chinese for mauling us in the 1962 war. (Avec means ‘with’ in French, by the way). Dosas stuffed with kheema, which was a specialty of the Coffee House in Delhi. I think it reminded the Keralites who ran it of their kothu parottas back home. And in the 1980s a friend told me that Indian Airlines even tried putting kheema in idlis. Ouch!
Towards a sustainable future
A strong culture and corporate values lay the foundation for leadership excellence which must be sustained through collaborations and continued success, said Puneet Chhatwal, MD, The Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), at a session titled ‘Look beyond yourself’ at the Kochi Institute.
Tales of inspiration
The first of January should, in real terms, be another day. But it is happily not just that since we attach a special significance to it. As someone put it, we see it as a reset time when we start afresh, dream a new dream, and set new goals. The day serves as an opportunity to start on a clean slate, think anew and even seek inspiration from those who have successfully ventured into areas we haven’t and made a difference or achieved a measure of success.
Farmers are priority for this Mumbai club
In a novel initiative to train farmers on green technology, RC Bombay Queen City, RID 3141, along with eight other clubs, hosted a two-day
An Institute to remember
The Kochi Institute will go down in the Rotary annals of India as a “complete Institute”, in that it had a mix of everything to satisfy the needs and taste of the participants — from some outstanding speakers to humanitarian projects, great food and entertainment.
A school comes to life
As the Interactors from Utterbuniyadi Vidyalaya in Amalsadi, a tribal village near Surat, Gujarat, worked on their cleanliness drive, the wind seemed determined to make their job harder. “The moment we started sweeping, paper bags and plastic bottles flew right past us like they had grown feet,” says Sahil Rathod, the president of the newly installed Interact club. “We couldn’t stop laughing, it was as though the wind was playing games with us. One of us even chased down a plastic bag that had taken off with the breeze.”
An Institute for all tastes
The best part of the Kochi Zone Institute convened by RI Director Anirudha Roychowdhury and chaired by PDG John Daniel was reserved for the last.
Untapped CSR resources and underutilised cadres
The magic of Rotary doesn’t just happen among senior leaders. It happens where you are — in your clubs, in your communities, every time you act on an idea and change someone’s life. Thank you for all you do to create a better world,” RI President Stephanie Urchick said at the TRF seminar, prior to the Kochi Institute. Urging Rotarians to continue donating to TRF, she shared a couple of her experiences highlighting TRF’s role in transforming lives and communities.
Next Zone Institute… Delhi
At the Kochi Zone Institute, RIDE K P Nagesh, as convenor of the next Institute, invited delegates to Delhi
Need to guard against “built-in attrition” in membership
While Indian Rotarians were doing a great job in attracting new members to Rotary, attrition continued to be a problem and the challenge was to address issues related to attrition in different forms, RI President Stephanie Urchick said in her inaugural address at the Kochi Zone Institute.
Next Rotary peace centre could be at Pune or Seoul
The next Rotary peace centre could come up either at the Symbiosis University in Pune or in Seoul, TRF Trustee Martha Helman, a member of RC Boothbay Harbor, US, told Rotary News in an interview at the Kochi Institute. She has been instrumental in getting the huge funding of $15 million from the Otto and Fran Walter Foundation, which made possible TRF setting up its latest Rotary Peace Center in Istanbul, Turkey.
World War III has begun… between man and nature: Wangchuk
In a world where violence and conflicts are tearing apart nations and wars are being waged in different parts of the world, environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk left the participants of the Kochi Institute with a different thought when he said: “when we talk about world peace, today’s problem is not the huge war going on between nations but between man and nature. I believe that the World War III is already on between human beings and nature.”
Past presidents recognised
At the Kochi Institute, three past RI Presidents were recognised for their contributions to Rotary.
A magical RYLA at Ellora Caves
One day, during a conversation two Rotary club presidents from nearby districts, RIDs 3132 and 3060, got an idea of conducting an inter-district RYLA at the Ellora Caves, the UNESCO World Heritage site, with the theme ‘Culture, art and cinema’ for school students.
Meet Your Governors
While analysing membership challenges, Prashant Raj Sharma identified that the first two years are crucial for new members to feel at home and integrate into the club.