Two new members and a great Quiz!

Adding members in Rotary is always special - and adding two members to take our tally up to 94 makes it very special!

Rtn.Nagabhushanam introduced his friend, Mr. Markandeya Sarma, who has already attended several of our meetings and fellowships and is keen to bring a couple of his friends in as members soon! Mr. Sarma has the classification Consultant - Apparel Sourcing and Marketing.

The second new member was Mr. V V Prasad, introduced by Rtn. Amarnath. Mr Prasad has been loaned the classification - Electrical Engineering, and owns a communications equipment company, Nomus Comm-Systems. He is an avid marathon runner and golfer and also plays a part in many community service organisations.

Rtn. Vijay Madhira administered the Oath and inducted the new members and announced their classifications. Rtn. Ramakrishna (better known as RK) pinned the members and handed over their membership certificates and the Four Way Test plaques.







A HEARTY WELCOME TO BOTH OUR NEWEST MEMBERS!











AND THEN...... ON TO THE QUIZ!
Our favourite Quiz Master, Rtn. Ratan Jalan started off the current Rotary Year with a Quiz, and he was back with another for the last week of the year too. It was so clear that a great deal of preparation goes into his quizzes - not only are the questions carefully chosen, but

they are accompanied by great photographs and illustrations!
The pick of the questions was the identity of the person shown in the image on the right. There were lots of guesses from both the teams, Those of you who did not attend the meeting - take a few guesses before going to the end of this blog to get the answer. Rtn. Abburi Ramaiah got a special cheer for getting this answer right! Several other questions racked the brains - from the diameter of the Earth (12,750 kms - RK got this almost right) to the second richest of the newly-elected MPs (Mr. Konda Visweshwar Reddy - son-in-law of Dr. Pratap Reddy of Apollo Hospitals and husband of Mrs. Sangita Reddy, with assets of Rs. 528 crores - whew!) to the amount that Jennifer Lopez's butt is insured for - $ 27 million!
A wonderful time was had by all, with lots of cheerful cross-talk and wild guesses. Finally, the Quiz Master judged Rtns. Abburi Ramaiah and Dr. Srikanth to have been the outstanding quizzers and senior Rtn. Ramakrishna Reddy gave away prizes to both of them.
Many, many thanks to Rtn. Ratan for providing a wonderful evening's entertainment!
Answer to the identity of the mystery woman in the picture - it's Antonia Maino, known to us today as Sonia Gandhi! Not so much a Quiz question as one from "Believe It Or Not"!!!!

Till the next time - Cheers, Raghav

Vocational visit to The Birthplace

Most of us would have noticed the new building with a bright pink sign The Birthplace on Road No. 2, Banjara Hills, opposite the Harley Davidson showroom. This is the latest place in Hyderabad for "new arrivals", and it has been entirely designed by Rtn. Ratan Jalan, who runs a health-care consultancy - MEDIUM (sounds like in-between large and small, but I think it was to stress on the sound of Med as in Medical!)
As Ratan explained - unlike a regular hospital, where people go because they are ill and there is therefore anxiety. tension and sadness all around, the expectant mother who goes for delivery is all set for an extremely happy event, and it's a time to party when the baby arrives!
When Tarun Sariparupu, a bright (and wealthy!) entrepreneur returned to India from the US, he was looking for a health-care project, since he believed that was the next big thing for India after I.T. Ratan convinced him not to go for another large multi-specialty hospital, which would be like all the others, but to set up this boutique enterprise which would be unique and meet a real need of a section of society.

The whole appearance of the hospital is bright, spacious, colourful and invokes a happy feeling! There are no visitors' timings and other such restrictions. There is no separate nursery where the babies are taken away and placed - the baby is always with the mother, where it belongs! All the rooms are made as comfortable as (or even more so than!) the mother would have at home.
They also have a unique pricing model - a fixed price for the entire delivery process, irrespective of whether it turns out to be a normal or a C-section delivery! And the presence of the father at the birth event is mandatory (most hospitals do not allow this at all!) Not "affordable" to all, but, as Ratan put it to us, still a small fraction of

what would be spent at the wedding which precedes this happy event!
It was a wonderful vocational visit, where we got to hear from Ratan, Tarun and the head of gynaecology, Dr. Pratibha Naraian. The arrangements for the meeting itself were nothing short of marvellous, with little round tables at which we were seated and a scrumptuous array of snacks 

and refreshments which certainly substituted handsomely for my dinner that night! And the meeting was followed by a walk around the entire facility. The attendance was not great - those of you who did not come really missed a great evening...
Thank you so much, Ratan, for this opportunity to get to know the kind of work you do and its great result!

 

Mr. T V Balan addresses our members

May 13, 2014 saw our very oldest Rotarian couple, Rtns. Sita and TV Balan at our club meeting. They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary last year and Mr Balan will be 85 later this year. We wish them a long and healthy life together!

Mr. Balan was the main speaker for the evening, and he complimented the club on having over 90 members! In a speech full of anecdotes and jokes, he stressed that humility was one of the values that would take a person very far in life. He recalled incidents from his long association with the Tatas during his career with ACC, where he rose from engineer to Vice-Chairman, before leaving them to take on international assignments in Kenya and Uganda in the cement industry. He has also been a pioneer of the IT and Communication industry.

He has also visited 11 Rotary clubs overseas where he has spoken on his favourite subject: "Information & Communication Technology in a Developing Economy".

The day after the meeting, Mr. Balan emailed me: 
Last evening when I left the Residence to get to RCJH Mtg I was only about 80% fit.  On reaching the Meeting Hall after some strenuous Walk the Fitness Quotient fell down to 70%, but I braved thru' the Evening, thanks to the understanding of your good self and President Champaka Rao. "Many Thanks".

It is we who have to thank Mr Balan for sharing his thoughts with us despite his low "Fitness Quotient"!

Mr. & Mrs. Balan each contributed $100 to the Rotary Foundation and handed over their cheques to President Champaka 



THIS AND THAT...

Many of our members may not be aware that we have a newly-elected Member of Parliament among our members! Mrs. Renuka Butta became our member on November 18, 2012, introduced by Rtn. Vasanth Kumar. Unfortunately, she has not been able to attend any of our meetings or fellowships this year. 
She was elected as Lok Sabha MP from Kurnool on the YSRCP ticket. Many congratulations to her!

Club Assembly - April 29

Before the next meeting is upon us this evening, let me report on the Club Assembly we had a fortnight ago, on April 29.
STATUTORY WARNING: This will be along read for you, since it also serves as Minutes of teh Club Assembly!
The meeting opened with a short video of a play by a Rotary Club abroad enacting an impression of the first ever meeting of what is now the world-wide Rotary movement, on February 23, 1905 when Paul Harris and his three friends met at his office.Here's the video for those who were not there:

President Champaka then requested the club Directors to report to the members on the activities of the past few months.

Taking the floor first, Rtn. Amaresh enumerated teh club programmes held since January. Our speaker meetings included a talk on "Doing Projects in India" by PDG Val and Rtn. Terry Leivers of the UK; another on "Emergency Care" by Dr. Mahesh Joshi., etc. He also mentioned the programmes on the theme "Know Your City" - a talk on the Hyderabad MetroRail project and another on "Tales from the Nizams' Era". To dd interest, we also had a panel discussion on "A Teacher's Perspective" with teachers from a government and a private school.
Rtn. Amaresh also mentioned the excellent Public Meeting held during the official visit of DG Hari Krishna on Janaury 28 and the fact that over 20 of our members attended the District Conference in Guntur on February 15-16.

Rtn. PP Reddy next dealt with Membership. He recalled that we started the year 2013-14 with 82 members and had added 12 new and very active members till date. Two of our members left the club - one on a transfer to Vishakapatnam and the other due to business preoccupation. Our current strength is therefore 92. Rtn. Reddy said he had targeted to bring the membership up to 100 before the year end and told members there was till time for eight more to be inducted! A few proposals have been received from our members and we are moving towards the target!
Speaking on his area of responsibility of Public

Relations, Rtn. Vijay first profusely thanked Rtn. Ramesh Kandula, who is an editor at CVR News, for his constant support in covering our club occasions, such as the meeting addressed by ACP (Traffic) Mr. Amit Garg, and the one where Ms. Amala Akkineni spoke on Blue Cross and the Literacy Summit. The Vocational Awards Nite was covered by Andhra Jyothi and the DG's visit to the Govt. School at Filmnagar was also covered by CVR News. ABN TV covered the Life Skills programme inauguration by Ms. Amala Akkineni at the Film Nagar school. A surprise feature in Eenadu reported an interview with President Champaka, accompanied by pictures of our projects - that was a feather in our cap! To finish the year on a high, our club got excellent publicity through hoardings in the city and live coverage by ETV when we co-sponsored the Ghantashala Musical Nite a few days ago!
Rtn. Sharda then reported on the great fellowships events we had through the year:

• Installation Nite where about 160 Rotarians and guests enjoyed cocktails and dinner
• Vocational Awards Nite where we had Rotarians from the twin cities joining us for High Tea.
• A great Divali Dhamaka on November 9, where we enjoyed cocktails and dinner to the strains of popular musical hits performed by the Rafi Foundation members.
• A Rotary Quiz, followed by cocktails and dinner.
• A lunch fellowship meet where Ms. Amala spoke on "Blue Cross".
• The gala dinner on January 28 at Aditya Sarovar after the DG's Public Meeting.
• The great Cricket Fellowship at Rtn. Abhishek's Mango resort.
• And the laugh-a-minute Politicians' Nite on April 22 with cocktails and dinner.

Rtn. Chamala then reported on the club's Literacy Projects:

1.       Breakfast for 300 children of Manikonda Primary school @ Rs. 15,000 per month.

2.       Adoption of Govt. High School, Film Nagar:

a.       Renovation of  toilets and paving of toilets area.

b.      Setting up of Science Laboratory

c.       Repair of computers

d.      Construction of stage and paving of area

e.      Repair of 350 desks

f.        Refurbishing of school electric wiring

All of the above was achieved with club funds and funding from Shankar Rural Development Foundation.

g.       Activity Centre with funds from Dr. Vivekanand, brother of Rtn. Sharda, consisting of audio-visual equipment, almirahs, books and games, painting of the room and vinyl flooring. Unlikely that any government school has such a facility!

h.      We are also funding a lady to clean the school and the toilets and a teacher for computer classes costing a total of Rs.13,000 per month.

3.       75 school desks were donated out of funds given by club members.

4.       The BJR School toilets project is pending which will be taken up in June.

Including the expenditure incurred by SRDF and the donation for the Activity Centre, an estimated Rs.10 lakhs has been spent so far on our signature project!
Rtn. Raghav then listed the international projects undertaken this year. The Matching Grant Project at Shekinah

Foundation's school for the mentally handicapped is almost complete. The final stage is the installation of a solar hot water system which is under installation.
We have already gifted the majority of the Hearing Aids donated by RC of East Palo Alto Bayshore, with the help of the Govt. ENT Hospital at King Kothi. We have also received a further 30 Hearing Aids gifted by Rtns. Val and Terry Leivers and these will also be donated soon.
The Houses for Humanity Project, funded by Rotarians from the UK, is progressing and three of the 20 houses to be constructed are complete.
Rtn. Raghav also reported that our Club Trust had a balance

      of Rs. 6 lakhs for use in our community service projects. Also, our members have contributed $9,200 to TRF this year and he was hoping that the amount would go up to our committed figure of $10,000 before the year end. Rtn. Jyothi Gutta promptly volunteered a donation of $250, and her announcement was greeted with acclamation.
The meeting ended with thanks from President Champaka.

A fantastic art event!

May 4, 2014: Over 60 Rotarians from our club and from clubs in the city converged for a splendid and unique event - an exhibition of paintings by our eminent member, Rtn. Surya Prakash, who is a nationally famous artist, and an opportunity - for Rotarians only - to pick up signed, digitally-printed reproductions of ten of his paintings, while contributing to funding our Literacy Projects.

The LV Prasad Eye Institute auditorium was an excellent venue, with its spacious foyer which serves as a gallery for Rtn. Surya Prakash's lovely paintings. During the formal function, President Champaka made a presentation of the great work that our club has done this year for the Government High School, Film Nagar. With an outlay of about Rs.10 lakhs from

our Charitable Trust, the SRD Foundation of Rtn. Chamala, and Dr. Vivekanand, brother of Rtn. Sharda Rao, we are on the way to making this government school like no other, with a lovely open-air stage; a computer centre with over 15 computers and a computer teacher; a properly furnished science laboratory; toilets in good condition with proper water supply; an activity centre with audio-visual facilities, library books and games; the list goes on.... During Champaka's presentation, which showed "before-and-after" depictions of what we have done, the audience interrupted several times with applause in appreciation of what they were seeing!

Next to mount the podium was Rtn. Vasanth Kumar, to introduce Rtn. Surya Prakash, the focus of the day's event. Vasanth provided a detailed account of the life of the artist, his early training at the College of Fine Arts at Hyderabad, his studies of various Indian artists at New Delhi and Hyderabad, and his development of his own distinguished style of work, which is now easily recognisable. Rtn. Surya Prakash's paintings adorn the National Art Gallery, New Delhi, as well as several other notable galleries. One of his paintings is also at the PM's residence in New Delhi, as also in many Hotels and corporate HQs. In conclusion, Vasanth also revealed that he had known the artist ever since he was a small boy, since Rtn. Surya Prakash is his father's brother!

It was then time to show the video presentation - A Quest for Identity. This 19-minute video conceived and executed by Rtn. Surya Prakash in 2002, took the audience through Indian art from the earliest cave paintings, the remarkable wall paintings at Ajanta, and the works of all the great artists of the country across time and  genres.
The artist finally presented images of all the ten prints that have been digitally reproduced on canvas and framed and are for sale exclusively to Rotarians at a special price of Rs.25,000. He took the audience through the evolution of his art, which started with impressionist depiction of mangled motor parts, went on to leaves in various forms, and a nature series.
The gathering then adjourned to the foyer for a further viewing of the paintings and the prints, and it was gratifying that we received orders from a dozen Rotarians on the spot, with a few others wishing to get back after consulting their spouses/families. Everyone also enjoyed the sumptuous lunch, hosted by Rtn. Surya Prakash.
This is a good start to our fund-raising efforts and we need to give a huge THANK YOU to Rtn. Surya Prakash for coming forth with this idea and generously providing the paintings for reproduction!

Add caption

Cheers.

Raghav

Politicians' Nite at the club!

The whole nation is agog with charcha about the elections - so President Champaka dreamt up the idea of making April 22 evening a fellowship dinner where members were asked to come dressed as politicians and make an appropriate bhaashan. 

Many of our members cooperated and one could see a galaxy of political hues! Anticipating a fun-filled evening, there was a record turnout of Rotarians and their families who enjoyed the programme, which was accompanied by drinks, snacks and dinner.

The speeches were kicked off by Vasanth who, being a true-to-life member of the BJP, extolled the qualities of Modiji and the BJP and asked for a vote which would bring about a change in the government in New Delhi. 
The element of seriousness was quickly turned on its head when Vijay rose to speak about his party – the Khaan-Peen party! He bemoaned the past fate of the

country where quality was spelt Kwality, and "Walls" prevented citizens from enjoying a better taste. In a speech full of puns, he displayed the bell as his party symbol and surprised the audience when he asked people to ring a bell for him and a few in the audience – having been requested by                                        him earlier – 

pulled out bells and tinkled them. Much laughter and appreciation…! Post the speech, Raghav updated the audience that Vijay is the distributor for a brand of ice cream called Cream Bell!

Next came Sam, and there were no prizes for guessing that he represented the Rotary Party. He promised that the world would soon be polio free. In addition, he promised that there would be no more boring speaker meetings and all Rotary occasions would be full of fun and fellowship. Egged on by the enthusiasm of the audience he even promised that there would be no dues to be paid to Rotary International and everything would be free!

As if to be one up on Sam, RK came on with promises for everybody – no examinations for children; teachers would not have to teach; government servants would be entitled to "no work, full pay"; and all public buildings and government land would be given away free, but on strictly "first-come first-served" basis!

Hmmm - and who was this walking very slowly to the podium, holding his whole body still and saying nothing? Minus the turban, Sai represented the PM by saying as little as possible, chiefly because he had not got Madam's permission to speak at this gathering.....!

Typical of our male-dominated politics, the only woman candidate

to speak was Meena who acted the role of "desh ki bahu", Smriti Irani, complete with saffron attire. Responding to the urgings of the women in the audience she promised to pilot the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament, if elected.

The fiery best for the evening was brought on by Nagabhushanam, who mimicked the MIM leader to perfection, not only in attire and facial hair but also in the ferocity of all his statements condemning the poor performance of the ruling parties everywhere and promising that his party could bring about real change!

Getting serious for a change, Ravi Madabhushi condemned all the politicians who made empty promises to win votes. He felt that the old politicians should b voted out and young people should be voted in, who would bring about change and solve the unemployment problem.

Bringing a touch of realism to the evening, Amarnath related his very recent experience where he travelled on a train in a first AC coach where he had as one of his companions a lady who was clearly the wife of a politician. In the midst of their conversation, police entered the compartment, demanded that all baggage be opened up, and discovered that the lady had a suitcase full of cash!

Before the evening concluded, Champaka called up Mahesh Medlari, the Teach for India fellow who has been teaching for the last two years at the Government High School, Film Nagar and who has been a tremendous help to our club in all the work that we have done after adopting the school as partof our literacy projects. Mahesh is an extraordinary young man who gave up a lucrative opportunity in corporate life to join Teach for India and work for the improvement of government schools. He is moving to Pune next year where he will be handling recruitment and other matters for TFI.

 

PDG Sam presented a memento to Mahesh as a token of our appreciation of his great work.

The wonderful evening of fun and fellowship was brought to a close with prizes awarded to Nagabhushanam and Vijay for their turnout and speeches and the entertainment they provided to all, with Sarat Gopal and Alka doing the honours. Sharda, in her inimitable style, grabbed the mike at the very end to ask members to join her in congratulating and thanking Champaka for the wonderful time had by all!

Meeting on April 15, 2014

Hello everyone!

Last Tuesday, April 15, for a change, we had a very different kind of speaker/subject as our main event. Major Tuhin Choudhary, an extremely well-read ("I read a book a day!") businessman found he had opinions on all that is happening around us in our country. Since he had a flair for writing, he started putting these thoughts down in the form of policy papers and then went on to form an NGO - Institute for Democratic and Economic Affairz" (IDEAZ). The institute also has a website - www.ideaz4india.com containing all his writings. Just looking at the topic groupings gives one an idea of his range - Social, Ethic & Morality; War & Conflicts; Finance & Trade; Education & Healthcare....

Major Choudhary spoke to us mainly on the world's (and India's) financial systems and taxation policies. The idea I found most fascinating was that, in India, barely 3% of the population pays income tax; of this, perhaps 2% comes from government employees and public sector undertakings, where it is just a transfer of funds from one pocket to the other. And the remaining 1% is probably less than the entire cost of maintaining an income tax department! So he believes that income tax will very soon be replaced by  expenditure tax, in the form of the contentious Goods & Service Tax - GST. Let's see if his prediction comes true...

 

Major Tuhin Choudhary addressing our club

Rtn. Tagore presents a memento to the guest speaker, while President Champaka looks on.

Announcements:

President Champaka reminded members about "Nagara" the district cultural programme to be held at Mahboob College on Saturday, April 19 at 5.30 pm. The club has already paid a lump-sum so your entry and food will be free. (No alcohol...)

She also told members that the next meeting of the club on Tuesday, April 22 will be a purely fellowship event - Politicians' Nite - where all are requested to come dressed as politicians and prepare to make "bhaashans" like we hear all around us during this election season.

Have a great week...

Raghav