Sprawling, green university and school campuses have a mesmerism of their own… they take you back to your student days where most of your major problems were either an exam for which you were ill-prepared, or fluttering of the heart if your institutions happened to be co-ed. Mine weren’t… both school and college were strictly for girls and had convents attached, with strict curfews even for day scholars. Only once we bunked two lectures to watch the classic Richard Burton/Peter O’Toole starrer Becket , hoping to benefit from it as students of literature, but got into serious trouble!
Memories associated with college days came flooding in at the Symbiosis International University in Pune last month where Rotary’s eighth Peace Center was inaugurated. It was indeed a proud moment for Indian Rotarians and as TRF Trustee Bharat Pandya pointed out, its importance could be gauged from the fact that including Rotary leaders from RI Districts 3131 and 3141 which have played a great role in getting this Peace Center in Pune, Rotarians from 22 districts in our zones were present to cheer on the realisation of this dream. He disclosed that when the trustees decided in Feb 2024 to establish a Peace Center in Asia, 17 institutions from 6 countries were invited to submit expressions of interest. At the final stage there was a tough competition between Symbiosis and a university in South Korea, and finally Symbiosis was selected to host this Peace Center.
Rarely do both the RI President and TRF Trustee Chair attend the same event in any country, but at this inaugural both President Francesco Arezzo and Trustee Chair Holger Knaack were present, sending out a clear message how very important these peace centres and the task of promoting world peace are to Rotary. In a moving speech, President Arezzo pointed out that peace is not absence of war but “the presence of trust, understanding and justice. It is the daily work of building bridges and helping people live free from poverty, hate and prejudice, because these things create conflict and destroy peace.” The saddest part is that people feel lonely even in a crowd, and when this happens, fear and uncertainty about the future grow. Conflicts leading to wars happen when we “fear strangers who have been shown as evil and dangerous.” Likening this to a child’s fear of darkness or hearing sounds at night, he said these fears are resolved not through armed guards but information and knowledge, providing which was the very purpose of a Rotary Peace Center. “They help to replace fear with understanding and turn confusion into clarity. They teach skills that reduce conflict and support cooperation, train people to listen well, build trust and solve disputes without violence.” Bingo!
The importance of structured institutions to resolve conflicts, of which there is no dearth in the world around us today, and promote peace, cannot be articulated better than this. One is sure that in the coming years, international scholars coming here from different cultures and viewpoints will acquire the skills to work with unbiased minds and compassionate hearts in troubled and conflicted areas. So that they can chip away at hate, prejudice and misunderstandings, to stop violence, resolve problems and restore calm and sanity, for peace to prevail in our troubled world. Good luck and godspeed…
Rasheeda Bhagat