ISSUE : 42 VOLUME : 31 16-05-2012 PAGES - 4

Srivatsa and his 'Ek Din ki Saltanat'Rtn. Srivatsa could

not have asked for a bet ter Pres ident ia l debut. The meeting had a decent gathering, despite majority of the 'regular' Rotarians out in Bangkok for the Rotary Convention, thanks to the presence of some

Inner wheel Sisters. While Rtn. Srivatsa had a very suave secretary Rtn. Dr. Raghu with his trade mark smile (a great advertisement for his Dental Clinic) on the one side, he had the charming Inner wheel President Ann. Shama Milton on the other side. While the very pretty Ann. Lavanya Srinivas added glitz anchoring the program, the cherry on the cake was of course Ann. Anupama Ravindranath enthralling the gathering with her power packed presentation on “Managing Adolescence”. Srivatsa surely must have felt on cloud 9 and must be wondering how he can keep Raghavendra out of the chair for a few more weeks to enjoy the Presidency.

The meeting started with the usual National Anthem in chorus and the Rotary President inviting the Inner Wheel President to the dais to conduct the joint meeting. The meeting started with the usual

thpleasantries and amongst it was the 60 birthday of PP Rtn. K. N. Srinivasan, and a cake was cut to celebrate the same. His wife and daughter made his day special with their presence. PP Rtn. Srinivasan thanked all for the nice gesture and shared his emotions and experiences with all.

The passing away of Mrs. Haseebunissa, mother of Inner Wheel PP Niloufer Khuraishi, was condoled with a few moments of silence. May her soul rest in peace!

Ann. Shama introduced Ann. Anupama with aplomb and then it was the turn of Madam Anupama

to take us through some very informative and thought provoking issues of Adolescence and the Challenges, Trails and Tribulations for both the adolescent and their parents. We have had many speakers over the years sharing their experiences with us. But not many could have matched Ann. Anupama. Not only has she the command over the subject; she has the language, the body language and the skill to keep the audience interested. If ever there is a lady with more Charm, Grace, Humility, Modesty and knowledge it must be our very own Ann. Anupama Ravindranath. Thank you Madam for enlightening us with your knowledge and expertise. The topic was so well received that there was very active participation from everyone in general and parents of Adolescents like Ann. Lavanya, Rtn. Raju Baliga, yours truly and many others. Our veteran Rtn. Balu shared his 'Dinner Diplomacy' with us and added a lot of value with his experience.

At the end, it was the turn of Ann. Lavanya to do the vote of thanks and while doing so with her usual charm and grace, she also informed us about the great time that her Husband is having in Cambodia with Raghavavarma, Venkatavarma, Vishwavarma, Sundaravarma, Gopalavarma and others in the land of Rajavarma. Those of us who could not make it to Bangkok and Cambodia will be banging our heads for having missed the bus. But let me tell you, those who were not there in this meeting missed an opportunity to see how lucky Rtn. Srivatsa was with his “Ek din ki Saltanat”.

- Rtn. Farooq- Rtn. Farooq

thKN’s 60 Happay BirthdaythKN’s 60 Happay Birthday

President's MessageMy Dear Rotarians,

Bye till next week….

Thank You

ELast week we missed Ann.Anupama Ravindranath's talk which I believe was one of the best talks in midtown meetings. I heard that the speech, the meeting, the fellowship & the attendance was excellent. I hope you all enjoyed it. On this occasion I would like to thank Rtn.Srivatsa for presiding and Rtn. Dr.Raghu for acting as Secretary & Rtn. Sulaiman Sait, the Guest Editor for the bulletin for making the meeting a success.

Dear Friends, 20 of us attended 103rd Rotary International Convention at Bangkok. It was a great experience. We all enjoyed it. Princess of Thailand Inaugurated the Convention and in her address she thanked & praised the Rotarians for their Service above self to mankind. And our own Indian International President Rtn. Kalyan Banerjee in his Presidential address, briefed about the immediate need of the society which should be addressed by the Rotarians as a priority. It is my pleasure to thank on to convention Chairman Rtn. Sundar Raja Rao & Co-Chairman Rtn. D .Srinivasan for making excellent arrangements for the trip to Bangkok.

Today let us hear our own Rotarian friends about the RI convention. Today’s Tea is Hosted by Rtn. Umesh. Thanks Umesh !

Rtn. Raghavendra

16-5-2012

Mysore v Bangalore ñ Bangkok Pattaya, two days of relaxing and fun in the beach city. Pattaya

thv Bangkok on 5 may retiring to the comforts of the thhotel. On 6 morning everybody was in elated spirits

and was on time to the bus and off we went to RI Convention center. The IMPACT Center, venue of the Convention was a massive structure, you have to see it to believe. Papers for the registration was all ready and registration was over quickly and then the fun started when Midtowner's had the name tag around their necks. They were with euphoric feelings and they were wearing their best smiles. Click-click of the cameras, sounds of laughter was at its peak.

stMidtowners had the privilege of watching the 1 session as we had registered early for the Convention. The hall was a colossal structure with a seating capacity of 25,000 people, well lit, good audio and huge sized TV screen. Princess Chulabhorn Walailak marked open the Convention with a speech in Thai and RI President greeted her Royal Highness with flowers.

v

After her majesty had left, RI president Kalyan Banerjee delivered his speech in immaculate English followed by flags of 200 countries plus latest entrant countries were brought in style and displayed on the stage. Host country Thailand and RI President's country INDIA flags were the last to be displayed. National anthem of Thailand and India were sung by artistes on the stage. When our national anthem was played we had the wonderful feeling of achieving something greater than we could achieve. Tears were rolling down from the eyes of Sundar and Kumaraswamy, the feeling of achieving salvation was there. After the ceremony we all went to the house of fellowship followed by lunch at the venue. We left the venue at 3.00pm to our hotel and next day morning we departed to Cambodia.

We came – We saw – We Conquered.

- Rtn. Srinivasan

RDMIDTOWNERS AT 103 RI CONVENTION-BANGKOK

THE EXPEDITION-COMBODIA

After attending the Rotary convention at Bangkok, a group of thirteen midtown Rotarians started their journey to the land of khmer civilization (Cambodia).

thWe all boarded the bus at 8.30 A.M on Monday , the 7 May and proceed to Siem Reap at Cambodia. We had a stop at the Cambodian border to get our Visa for the country and we were given warm welcome by the Asian Trial guide Mr. Sham and all of us proceeded to Siem Reap in a bus. After tasting the Cambodian lunch en route, we reached Siem reap in the evening 6 P.M. After a sumptuous dinner at the hotel all of us explored the night market of the town which had so many things to offer and we all bought various gift items.

316-5-2012

Next day a f te r breakfast, we were t a k e n t o t h e a r c h a e o l o g i c a l importance place, the A N G K O R . I t w a s indeed a wonderful experience for us to witness that Hindu culture had spread its wings to a far of place like Cambodia and marked its presence. T h e a r c h i t e c t u r e , sculpture, construction and art form -all of them b r e a t h t a k i n g . W e walked through the

places like Ta pram, Bayon and Ta Sam. We had wonderful experience of seeing one of the ancient world's most powerful civilizations. After finishing our lunch at a local Indian restaurant, we proceed to see the Angkor Wat. The temple has three levels and built almost 900 years ago. The carvings showing Asuras and Devas churning the sea of milk to obtain the Nectar, is carved on the stones and looks grand. The temple is the biggest one in Asia and had three levels. It took almost two hours to see all the three levels of the temple. Later we went to see the National Museum, which was built in the year 2008, to reveal the legend of ANGKOR. The visit was worth and we had a good understanding of ancient Khmer civilizations. The museum had 8 galleries in chronicle order.

After a brief rest in the hotel we proceeded to see the show ”SMILE OF ANGKOR”, a grand epic show to revive the great Angkor kingdom and Legends. The show had state of the art laser technology and sound systems and dances, from the churning of the Ocean of milk to the Shiva and candle wish dances and Apsara dances. The show lasted for 90 minutes and was quite entertaining.

Next day after breakfast in the m o r n i n g , w e proceeded to Kulen Mountain where we saw the river of thousand lingams. The river bed had the carvings of Lord Vishnu and thousand small lingams. We a l s o v i s i t e d a recl in ing Buddha temple and we had l u n c h n e a r a waterfalls and also had fun bathing at the

falls. Day 3 in the morning we went to see the fisherman village and

to understand their lifestyle. We had opportunity to see floating houses and also a floating school. After having a good Asian lunch we proceeded to phnom penh the capital of Cambodia and reached the place in the evening.

Next dayin Phnom Penh we visited the Royal palace and also National museum. In the afternoon we went to Tuol Slendg Genocide Museum. The museum was an old prison was created by the orders of Pol Pot designed for detention, interrogation, inhuman torture, and killing after confession. The sight of prison rooms was really horrifying and we also had the opportunity to see two survivors. In the evening we went to the Russian market to do our purchasing.

thWe left Phnom Penh on 12 night by 7.30 P.M and reached Bangalore via Bangkok . The entire trip to Cambodia was very interesting and informative.

- Rtn. Sundarraja rao

Malaysia-truly Asia

Four of us –myself, Bhanu, Pavitran and Bheemesh spent one more day in Bangkok after the convention and took the flight to Malaysia as none of had seen this country and this tour was comparatively shorter. After reaching Kuala Lumpur we spent half-a-day seeing the city – the magnificent Twin towers, the war memorial, the Jamek mosque, the Royal palace, the national monument etc. The in the evening we had an elaborate shopping at Central market which was estd in 1888 and in China town in Petaling street. In KL we had the luxury of having south Indian food three times a day. Next day we checked out of the hotel to Genting highland, en route we visited Batu caves and the Murugan temple. Genting Highland is truly out of the world experience for all of us. The infrastructure, the outer and indoor theme parks, the casinos, the 24/7 entertainment activities all just amazing. We really enjoyed our stay there and the 10 day tour was really getting us tired and homesick and we were eager get back. And on 11th we boarded our flights back home and reached Mysore by 10 pm.

- Rtn.Prahlad

Alagappan with Angkor wat ShivaAlagappan with Angkor wat Shiva

All smiles at Angkor watAll smiles at Angkor wat

The Charminars at KLThe Charminars at KL

Next Week in Midtown Dr. SUPRIYA DAS from Kolkata

will speak on PROFILE OF HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE

Date: 23-05-2012 at 6.30pmVenue : RCL Hall, JLB Road

Rtn. Pavithran .C.P.20-05-2012

(Mobile: 9448554130)

Happy

Birthday

Rtn. PHF. PP. M.S. Nanda Kumar

&N. K. Anuradha

20-5-2012 Cell : 9945242822

Rtn. PHF. Srivatsa .M.R & Sheela Srivatsa21-5-2012 Cell : 9886506206

Rtn. Milton & E. Shama Milton22-5-2012 Cell : 9448369247

Wedding Anniversary

Speakers urge Rotarians to fight global poverty

P o v e r t y a n d hunger were the targets of the second plenary session of the 2012 RI Convention, as a variety of award-winning speakers e n c o u r a g e d Rotarians to use their ingenuity to solve t h e s e g l o b a l challenges.

M i c r o c r e d i t pioneer Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace P r i z e l a u r e a t e , c o m m e n d e d Rotarians for their work in developing microcredit loans for the poor. The founder of Grameen Bank also encouraged Rotarians to pursue social business enterprises that would work with microcredit-funded businesses not just to produce revenue but also to return profits to the communities where they operate.

As an example, Yunus highlighted a joint venture between Grameen Bank and Danone, a European food company, to produce high-nutrition yogurt for children in Bangladesh. The goal is to reduce malnutrition while creating manufacturing and distribution jobs.

“In today's world, we use money to make money, not solve problems,” said Yunus. “If we use money creatively in a business framework, we can solve any problem.”

Recently, Grameen Bank also joined forces with Adidas to produce shoes that cost less than US$1 per pair. The affordable shoes help prevent infection by foot parasites in poor communities.

“My dream is to one day take poverty out of our society and put it in a museum that our grandchildren can visit to see what it was like,” Yunus said.

Antipoverty crusader Hugh Evans, cofounder and CEO of the Global Poverty Project, said Rotary can use its considerable influence to fight poverty.

“Like Rotary, we believe that mass mobilization of individuals can effect real change in the world,” Evans said. “When we focus on the needs of others, our own burdens become lighter. Our perspective sharpens.”

“This idea, the same one that drives you as Rotarians, guides our work at the Global Poverty Project,” he said.

Muhammad Yunus commends Rotarians

for their work in developing microcredit

loans for the poor during the second

plenary session 7 May.

Gift of life project (MG74139)

Ms. Madhumitha, aged about 8 years underwent surgery for Congenital Heart Disease on 1-05-12 at Apollo BGS Hospitals. This surgery was sponsored by Rotary Mysore Midtown under matching grant project Gift of Life. This is the fourth surgery under this project.