Day: May 26, 2025
A Rotary medical mission in Jammu
Mithila Devi Gupta, an elderly Hindu woman, was supposed to undergo gallbladder surgery in Bhaderwah, a town in Jammu district of Kashmir. She was in
A drawer dilemma
Two months ago, my 98-year-old mother passed away. She was occupying the only bedroom on the ground floor. That was fine except that as I
Set the birds free
Our apartment block’s WhatsApp group often buzzes with messages about how a pet bird has flown away and if anyone spots it, she should alert the owner on its whereabouts. Such frequent attempts to retrieve birds have always made me wonder why people keep avians as pets, and whether this a sustainable practice?
Put your backpack to good use
Your shoulders, stooped or squared, are important to first impressions. The former indicates a negative impression, and the latter, a positive one. Real-life examples for
Eyecare in rural Jharkhand
Inspiration can strike in the most unexpected places. For Jagannath Santra of RC Jamshedpur, RID 3250, it happened in the quiet halls of the National Archives of Singapore. “While I was there on work just before the Covid lockdown, I came across a photograph of a 1947 Rotary mobile dispensary donated by the Rotary Club of Singapore. It had once treated civilians injured during World War II, and supported vaccination drives. That image reminded me of Rotary’s legacy of humanitarian service,” he recalls.
Affordable dialysis in rural Hubli
For people battling kidney disease in the villages around Hubballi (Hubli), every dialysis session was a challenge, not just against the illness, but against distance and cost. The nearest dialysis centre was miles away, with unreliable transport options and cost that most could not afford. “Even today, there are just 4–5 dialysis centres in the area, and these facilities charge Rs.2,500 per session which is unaffordable for local farmers, labourers and daily wage earners. Many patients skipped treatment or stopped altogether, simply because they had no other choice,” says Binoy Momaya, past president of the Rotary Club of Hubli South, RID 3170. He was instrumental in setting up the Rotary Hubli South-Bhanji Khimji Lifeline Dialysis Centre within a multispecialty hospital in Hubballi, “to bring hope where there was none.”
A backup for humanity, under the Arctic ice
Documentary photographer Christian Clauwers of the Rotary Club of Antwerpen-Oost has been travelling around the world for more than a decade to capture the effects of global warming. His photos show what is in danger of being lost, and in that sense they are a major wake-up call. For his latest project, he managed to gain exclusive access to the world seed bank on Spitsbergen in the Svalbard island group.
Ethiopian children get a new lease of life thanks to Rotary
The latest beneficiaries of a mega Rotary project in Bengaluru to mend little hearts are a group of children from Ethiopia. They have been helped through the Rotary Needy Heart Foundation (RNHF) based in Bengaluru, which is an offshoot of the Needy Heart Foundation (NHF) and was set up in 2021 by past president of RC Bangalore Indiranagar O P Khanna, whose dream was to provide a new lease of life to children and adults from economically disadvantaged families. Together, the RNHF and NHF have helped mend the hearts of over 12,000 children and adults since 2001.
The best is yet to come
I have had so many wonderful experiences over the past year, but as comforting as it might be to dwell on the past,
Sports Day for sanitary workers
On the eve of May Day, a newly chartered RC Erode Chakras, RID 3203, conducted a sports meet for sanitary workers as its maiden project
Making a difference – June 2025
An AED (automated external defibrillator) was installed at the Ranchi Airport by RC Ranchi,
War hysteria
First things first. Full marks to the person who thought of giving the name Operation Sindoor to the military assault launched on Pakistan by