A value-added Rotary institute

Heartiest congratulations to all of you for a highly meaningful and hugely successful Rotary institute Visakha Vista 2022, held at Vizag and Full Throttle, GETS and GNTS sessions at Abu Dhabi on the Formula One race track, jointly organised with 25 countries comprising Zones 4, 5, 6, 7, 1B, 9 and 10. That was an international experience with idea exchange and borderless love between several countries, teaching us the true meaning of the word ‘international’.

Our eco-friendly and highly technologically advanced institute was attended by over 1,000 delegates and watched online by over 15,000 families. The Operation Imagine service project for 4,000 beneficiaries, Run to Read with 8,000 youth, 400 Rotaractors in the Rotaract seminar, 400 women in Women in Rotary seminar, 400 TRF delegates in major donor recognition seminar, all 41 DGs attending the mid-year review, incoming district trainers and 50 senior leaders and overseas guests from RI, were all responsible for the euphoria and success.

Excellent speakers and luminaries in their fields such as Sunil Gavaskar, Raghunath Mashelkar, S B Mujumdar and Dr Krishna Ella were honoured for their exemplary work in their fields. Film director Subhash Ghai took us back to old time Bollywood hits and created nostalgia, and told us about the importance of right direction and storytelling.

While the evenings were made entertaining by the Indian Idol talent singer Shanmukh Priya, the day sessions were filled with purposeful speakers such as former Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, Chinmayi Pandya from the Gayatri Parivar, waterman of India Rajendra Singh, Guru Anand from Nepal and Sarah Gautam, who rescued over 30,000 women from the flesh trade and empowered them.

Every event or activity is as good as the people who are behind it. We have been getting rave reviews and feedback from all quarters regarding the meticulous conduct of our event with elan and style. Because of the presence and efforts of dedicated team members like you, we could pull off such a show with elegance and grandeur. So many people called and messaged to express their appreciation and admiration for the manner in which the institute was conducted and the meaningful content it offered.

At the end of day, Visakha Vista turned out to be a value-added Rotary institute.

Mahesh Kotbagi
RI Director, 2021–23