Recently I gave a lift to a classmate in my car. After he got off, my driver told me that this person had held a very important post in the government. I was astonished that he knew my classmate because he had never met him. When I quizzed him as to how he knew my friend, but he, always a man of very few words, said “Driver”. I was stunned. It has never occurred to me that despite all the fuss about privacy laws, the danger was sitting on the front seat and, moreover, behind the wheel.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a healthy body as one that is in a ‘state of complete physical and mental well-being… By health we mean the powerful force to live a full, adult living, breathing life in proximity with people and things that you love. For you to realise all that you are capable of being and doing.’

Kerala Governor Arif ­Mohammed Khan presented the Vocational Excellence Awards to five individuals for their selfless contributions to society at the two-day district conference of RID 3100 in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. In his speech, he called upon the citizens to “take individual responsibility for the progress of the nation and society.”

Bhaktee Deodar, a budding entrepreneur, broke new ground when her creative crafts done in resin and wax started selling like hotcakes after she implemented some key management and marketing strategies that she learnt through Project NAWNI, a mentorship programme of RC Pune Pride, RID 3131. She has now joined this club as a member.

Those environmentally conscious among us are concerned about surface and air pollution, climate change, global warming and several other related issues. But there are also people in this world with a deep love for nature, and have a special place in their hearts for all creatures great and small.

Teenagers Akshita from ­Bhavan Vidyalaya, Bhavraj from St Johns High School, and Ragini Yadav from Rotary Vidya Sadan, a school at Bapu Dham slum colony in Chandigarh, are reliving their happy moments at the three-day residential RYLA by narrating their “joyful experience” to their families and classmates.

It was a Rotary Youth Exchange programme way back in 1974–75 “that changed my vision of life, after spending a year in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, with a freezing winter and warmhearted people. That experience paved the way for me to become the first RI president coming from the ranks of the YEP. By the way, I survived the winter,” said RI President Nominee Mario de Camargo, in a passionate acceptance speech made at the closing session of the Singapore Convention.

How will you make your club “irresistible” to your members, and foster a “sense of belonging” in them? This is my challenge to you,” said incoming RI President Stephanie Urchick, while addressing a general session at the RI Convention in Singapore.