Month: June 2025
No story is too small to be told
Banu Mushtaq’s Kannada short stories reveal human nature in its myriad minute manifestations with wit, warmth and vivid detail, all of which come alive in
Rotary achieves ‘2025 by 2025’ dream
Rotary’s ambitious goal, officially set at the 2017 Atlanta Convention, when TRF celebrated its 100th anniversary, to take its Endowment Fund to $2.025 billion by
Providing meals to Mumbai’s hungry
Rotarians of RI District 3141 are reaching out to the homeless in the slums of Mumbai with warm, nutritious meals through Project Annapurna. “Named after
One roof, many services
The Rotary Club of Kolhapur, RID 3170, operates the Rotary Samaj Seva Kendra, “probably the only institution in our city offering a wide range of
Making life throb again
At a limb fitment camp in Gadchiroli, 785km from Nashik, Maharashtra, organised by RID 3030, Ramesh, a 45-year-old man took his first step in years,
RID 3132 Rotarians bring digital learning to 100 rural schools in Maharashtra
If you want to make the clubs in your district vibrant and keep the club members engaged with Rotary activities, give them a mega project to embrace. This was the objective of the leadership team of a mega transformative project in RI District 3132, where 100 clubs were involved in providing digital classrooms to 100 schools across the 11 revenue districts of Maharashtra that come under RID 3132.
RC Bhavnagar gives hope to underprivileged children
Sanjay and Nehal were born into an underprivileged family in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. Their grandfather and parents lived in the backyard of the Rotary Service Centre established by the Rotary Club of Bhavnagar, RID 3060, in 1975. As they took care of the centre, doing all the sweeping and cleaning work, and struggled to make ends meet, the very idea of educating their children in good institutions was a distant dream. “They have now been at our centre for 45 years, but in those days, when their two children were young, life was a daily battle for survival, and the future seemed uncertain. But destiny had something brighter in store for them,” says Manish Kothari, past president of RC Bhavnagar.
Making a difference – July 2025
A mega medical camp at Sarigam In a mega medical camp at the N R Agarwal Rotary Hospital conducted by RC Sarigam, RID 3060, around 540
Francesco Arezzois new RI President
Francesco Arezzo, a member of the Rotary Club of Ragusa, Italy, has been selected by the Board of Directors to become Rotary International’s president for
See you in Taiwan
It’s Taipei time! Work is well underway to bring you a world-class event with the prestigious speakers and special surprises that make attending the Rotary
Cancer detection workshop at RC Kundli
With the aim to sensitise women on the need for early screening, RC Kundli, RID 3012, conducted an awareness workshop on breast cancer in partnership
Bay View Rotarians do 320 projects worth Rs.4.5 crore in one year
Looking back with great satisfaction on the Rotary year 2024–25, which has gone by, Rajni Barasia, outgoing president of RC Bombay Bay View, RID 3141,
HPV vaccination drive in Kanpur
More than 500 girls have benefitted in a cervical cancer vaccination drive conducted in two phases by RC Kanpur North, RID 3110, in a joint
A Chennai women’s club encourages small entrepreneurs
Project Spark was conceived in March 2024 when on a hot summer afternoon, I met a woman selling koozh (rice gruel) on a pavement. She
Grace in giving
As death and destruction, threats, flexing of muscles, and unleashing of raw military power plunged parts of our world, yet again, into uncertainty and fear,
Your gift will transform lives
As we enter a new Rotary year, it is time to build on our past and step forward into the future. A future where Rotary
Take a closer look
When you joined Rotary, chances are it was because you wanted to make a lasting difference. Arch Klumph felt the same way. When he proposed
Say ‘Yes’ to Rotary as we Unite for Good
Dear friends, As this new Rotary year begins, I look back with deep gratitude. My journey began over three decades ago — not as a
Rotary magic at a Pune rural school
It was during a casual visit to a relative’s house at Ravadi village, near Pune, by a Rotarian that led to a much-needed makeover for the Krantiveer Vasudev Balwant Phadke Vidyalaya, a Marathi medium school in Bhor taluk. With no compound wall, broken toilet fittings and a rough, unusable playground, the school presented a decrepit look. As the morale of students and teachers was at its nadir, school principal Ravindra Pawar requested Alka Rode, a member of RC Pune Sports City, for urgent help to build a compound fence for the school to ward off anti-social elements freely entering the premises, and creating a nuisance.
Rotary gifts a state-of-the-art library for visually-challenged at Jadavpur University
When you push open the door of the accessible library’s main room, the first face that will catch your attention is that of Shubhojit — the most energetic young man, always wearing a smile. Ask him anything, and he will promptly spring into action. Welcome to the world of Shubhojit, Shubhodip, Bablu, Akash, Asikul, and many more visually-impaired students of Jadavpur University (JU), Kolkata, who are pursuing undergraduate, postgraduate, and even doctoral studies. Each day presents its own set of challenges, but their spirit is never daunted by the weight of those struggles. The accessible library at this varsity is their home away from home — a place where their needs are understood and their voices heard, and where they are equal stakeholders alongside the faculty and administration in shaping the future they deserve.
Women and dabbas
There is a classical saying in Hindi “Pran jaye per vachan na jaye.” It means a person will die before breaking a promise. For many Indian women, it’s more like “Pran jaye per dabba na jaye,” meaning if they have sent you something to eat in a box, they are very loath to forfeit the box, or dabba. They don’t care whether you liked the contents of the dabba; they care only about the dabba and absolutely insist on getting it back. I found this out to my cost nearly half a century ago. A friend’s mother had sent me some undhiyu, a Gujarati dish that is apparently cooked upside down underground slowly in an earthenware pot and comprises a lot of vegetables and ghee. It’s marvellously heavy to eat. I wrote to the lady thanking her for the thought and the delicacy and she wrote back immediately saying “I am glad you liked it. Please keep the container safely, I will collect it when I am next in Delhi.” Those days the postal department used to have a service called QMS, or quick mail service. Letters reached Bombay and Calcutta, as they were called then, in 24 hours. Madras took 36 hours. Much to my dismay, I had given the box away to the maid, who had grabbed it gleefully.