Home turf bids adieu to President Shekhar

At a glittering, gala event organised in Kolkata by the chairman of global membership Kamal Sanghvi, senior Rotary leaders from India felicitated RI President Shekhar Mehta and Rashi on the first day of his assuming charge as RI president.

The participants included RI Director Mahesh Kotbagi and his wife Amita, TRF Trustee Gulam Vahanvaty, several district governors, past district governors and members of Rotary Club of Calcutta Mahanagar, Mehta’s home club.

Responding to the warm wishes and encomiums showered on him in an event filled with nostalgia, walk down memory lane, music and dance, Mehta was, for a moment, at a loss for words. But he soon regained his composure, reiterated his dreams for Rotary — a much higher membership achieved through the “Each one bring one” initiative, bigger and bolder projects, working passionately and relentlessly to take Rotary’s public image to a pinnacle, so that it becomes the NGO of choice for those who want to help the less fortunate.

Mehta said that though he would be leaving for Evanston in a week or two, he would continue to live up to his reputation to wake up many of them late at night to discuss ideas and projects he had in mind for Rotary.

He thanked everyone present at the meet for their support to him, without which, he said, he would not have made it to RI’s topmost post.

Pictures: By special arrangement