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PRESIDENT Rtn. Dr. N.V. Arulmozhi Varman

HoNoRARy SECRETARy Rtn. Dr. R. Chandrasekhar

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Rtn. A.S. Venkhat Ramani

PRESIDENT ELECT Rtn. P N Mohan

PRESIDENT NoMINEE Rtn. Ranjit Pratap

Asst. SECRETARy / BULLETIN EDIToR Rtn. Mohan Raman

DIRECToR CLUB ADMINISTRATIoN Rtn. R. Rajenderan

DIRECToR yoUTH SERVICE Rtn. M Sesha Sai

DIRECToR PUBLIC IMAGE AND FUND RAISING Rtn. Harish K. Murthi

DIRECToR RoTARy FoUNDATIoN & INTERNATIoNAL SERVICES Rtn. M. Balasubramaniam

DIRECToR SERVICE PRoJECT 1 Rtn. R. Ravishankar

DIRECToR SERVICE PRoJECT 2 Rtn. K.M. Vinod Kumar

DIRECToR VoCATIoNAL SERVICE Rtn. S. Ravi

TREASURER (CLUB FUNDS) Rtn. Hemant Chordia

TREASURER (CHARITABLE TRUST) Rtn. Nimish C. Tolia

TREASURER (SPECIAL PRoJECTS) Rtn. Kishor Dandeker

The LighthouseBulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras

June 27, 2017 • 6 Pages

2016-2017 • Edition No.52

The last Tuesday meeting of the RCM for the year 2016-17 was an evening one, hosted at the Crowne Plaza. A great last

meeting, indeed; with President Arulmozhi Varman applauding his team for ably handling all activities with aplomb, even as he himself was congratulated by the Club for a wonderful Rotary year, full of service activities as well as memorable fellowship events.

The star of the evening was guest speaker, actor Khushbu. In her inimitable style, she strode into the meeting looking radiant

and beautiful, all smiles and sparkling eyes. Rtn. Gopal Ratnam introduced her with high praise and she took the stand and spoke boldly about her difficult journey to stardom, her struggles as an actor and politician; and how she stood tall through all the good and not-so-good times with the sheer force of her positivity and conviction in her principles. During the Q&A session, Rtn. Mohan Raman and others quizzed her about her movie influences, her personal life as a wife and mother and her ability to balance her professional and personal life, including controversies and legal battles. Khushbu had the audience enthralled and once the meeting was called to a close, she was surrounded by them for photographs and the inevitable “selfies”, followed by an enjoyable dinner.

Truly a fitting end to a fine Rotary year. Hats off the passing-out team and a hearty welcome to a new team under President P.N. Mohan in the new Rotary year!

Sailing Against The Tide - Khushbu Style

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • June 27, 20172

minutes27th JUNE 2017

Sgt-arms Rtn M Srinivasan collared President Rtn Dr Arulmozhi Varman, who called the 51st

meeting of RCM to order, followed by a silent invocation.

The minutes of the 20th June’17 meeting was duly confirmed.

The evening was glittering with sparkling lights and flowers making the last meeting of Pres Dr Arul of the rotary year a ‘finale with fragrance’.

President welcomed members, spouses, probus club members and the chief Guest Mrs Khusbhu Sundar.

Birthday & Wedding anniversary wishes were extended by President to the respective rotarians/spouses who celebrate that week and thanked for the sunshine.

Rtn Mohan Raman reported on the full club fellowship which was on the 25th June’17 Sunday. Several Rotarians turned up in various costumes which

were outstanding and complimented the hosts who made the evening a memorable one and a great finish of the rotary year.Food & ambience commendable ! kudos to Rtn Linesh & his team. He thanked members for having a great year as Editor of our Clubs Newsletter.

President Dr Arul was pleased to say that the year went off smooth and had a great time. He thanked everyone for their support and applauded the board / Directors / Chairmen for their cooperation and said that he enjoyed the whole year as President of the esteem Club.

President recognized some members and mementos were presented by

the first lady Uma: Rtn. M Srinivasan, Rtn Ranjit Pratap, Rtn Sesha Sai, Rtn Sunil Shankar, Rtn Mohan Raman, Rtn Suresh kumar, PE PN Mohan, Rtn Ashok Thakkar, PDG J B Kamdar, PDG Benjamin Cherian, Rtn Jayshree Sridhar, Rtn Anil Srinivasan, PP Paul K Jacob, Rtn Anand Rengaswamy, PDG S Krishnaswami, Rtn Harish K Murthi, PP V Ganesan, Rtn Vikram Jalan, Rtn Shakthi Girish, Rtn Raghunath, Rtn Harbinder Singh. More recognitions will be on the 11th July. President was in full praise of Secy Rtn Dr R Chandrasekhar for his meticulous

work and support thru out the year as Secretary who did full justice in all aspects.

Secretary Rtn Dr R Chandrasekhar thanked all for their support and Pres Dr Arul for having faith in him to render service to the club..

Secretary announced that the next regular meeting will be on the 4th July 2017 at the Hyatt at 1 pm.

Speaker : Mr Surya Ramachandran who will speak on : Wildlife of India beyond tigers’.

Secy listed out the Awards received by our Club from the District for 2016-17.

PP Gopal Ratnam introduced the Guest speaker Mrs Khusbhu, a social activist, actor, highly principled, outspoken, politician.

Mrs Khusbhu spoke on ‘Sailing against the tide’ interestingly about her various hardships faced and how successfully overcame them. She took questions from the floor posted on various topics including her cinema career and interaction with varied personalities.

President presented a specially made plaque and our clubs memento/80 year history book to Mrs Khusbhu.

Rtn Shakthi Girish thanked Khusbhu for her bold talk and being an admirer recounted her association with her on many times.

The meeting was then adjourned.

At the board meeting


Glad to inform you that RCM was well recognised for the

unstinting efforts put in by President Dr Arul, Board members and all the members of the club.at the District Awards held on 24th June’17 evening at Hyatt. 12 members of the Board represented the club at the gala awards function. The Awards function was conducted in an exemplary manner with Rtn PP. Paul Jacob at the helm as the Chairman of the Awards committee.

District Awards & Recognition – June 2017


List of AwArds: Certificate of Merit

1. Club Service – Rtn R. Rajenderan2. Vocational Service – Rtn S Ravi3. Youth Service – Rtn M Sesha Sai4. Community Service Development –

Rtn R Ravishankar5. Community Service Health –

Rtn Km Vinod Kumar6. Club Bulletin – Rtn P. V. Mohan Raman7. Special Project: Building 400 Toilets –

Rtns. S. Ravi & R Ravishankar8. Rotary Foundation:

Total Contribution - $ 60,000 Plus9. Promote Public Image of Rotary –

Rtn Harish K Murthi10. International Service –

Rtn M Balasubramanian11. Club Secretary – Rtn Dr R Chandrasekhar12. Outstanding Support To District:

Rtn. M. Balasubramaniam13. Outstanding Support To Rotary

Foundation: Rtn. PDG Benjamin Cherian

14. Outstanding Support To District: Rtn PP. Paul Jacob

15. Best Overall Club In The District: Platinum Trophy (Shared With RCM East)

- Rtn. Dr R Chandrasekhar, Secretary


The Hosts:

Rotarians

Ahmar SiddiquiAnisha Sundaraman Dr.Arindam KunarBalaji ChinniChandrasekar T S Dr.Deepak ChanderGeeta NaguMadhav SehgalManish KawlraNitesh Jain Dr.Prashant KharchePratish DevadossRaghu KailasRanjeeth RathodRanjit BakshiRajat MhetrasSapru MathewShakti GirishSharon Krishna Dr.Shivaraman TShyam SunderSumit Kalra Suniel LullaSunita SureshVenky Munikrishnan Dr.Vijay KadelVivek Parachur

Signing off with a bang - this is an apt description of the last glittering bash of the Rotary year 2016-17

for our RCM.Keeping the tradition alive of dynamic Green

Rotarians hosting the Club on a balmy, starry evening, this year’s party was based on the era of the infamous gangster Al Capone. What seemed like a difficult theme to pull off at first, turned into a smashing bash, with more than 150 Rotarians turning up, dressed to their eye-teeth; dressed to impress! Fedoras donned smartly, sequinned dresses worn coquettishly, feather boas and cigars and of course, the gentlemen wowing everyone in their suave suits and debonair personas.

As Rotarian Mohan Raman put it when he spoke about the evening at the subsequent Tuesday meeting, it was a unforgettable night, where the Green Rotarians pulled out all stops to make it extra-special. There were performances by dancers from Uzbekistan, music spanning from the 20s to Bollywood, prizes for best dancing couple, best dressed women and men and more. Rtn. Rajesh Somasundaram and his wife Midhuna took the evening by storm in their outfits, as did President Arulmozhi Varman and First Lady Uma Varman. Rtn. Dr. Sharon Krishna Rao looked the part with her glittering black outfit and dark eyes.

The hosts were 25 Rotarians and this team was spearheaded by Rtns. Venky Munikrishnan, Ranjeet Rathod and Prashanth Kharche, ably supported by the others. Special thanks were in order to Rtn. Arindam Kumar for working with the team at Gatsby, Crowne Plaza; to Dhiya for decor and our Green Rtn. Deepak Chander’s wife Divya for being the master of ceremonies for the evening.

Speak Easy,IT’S PROHIBITION TIME!

EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY: Rtn. Asst. Secretary, Rotary Club of Madras, ‘Rayala Towers’, 2nd Mezzanine Floor, 158, Anna Salai, Chennai - 2, Ph: 28591020.Contact the editor at: [email protected]. Design: www.studiodescience.com

Visit: www.rotarymadras.in Contact club secretariat at: [email protected]

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • June 20, 20176Birthday4th July – Rtn N Ramji5th July – Rtn AK Rajkumar5th July – Rtn Suniel U Lulla7th July – Rtn Mahinder Jain8th July – Rtn Anand Vurgese4th July – Ann.Deepa (Rtn Sathiaram Ram)8th July – Ann.Padma (Rtn MV Ananthakrishna)8th July – Ann.Parul Bhatt (Rtn PP Satyan Bhatt)10th July – Ann.Dr Anila Mathan (Rtn Anand Vurgese)

EDITORIAL COMMITTEEAdvisors: Rtn. PP N.K. Gopinath,

Rtn. Sunita SureshChairman: Rtn. Mohan Raman

Rtn. Shaan Katari Libby, Rtn. Bhaswar Mukherjee, Rtn. Shakthi Girish,

Rtn. Biswajit Babu, Rtn. Sandhya Sridhar, Rtn. R. Ravishankar, Rtn. Hiren B. Shah,

P.S. Sridharan

SunshineRtn Sunita Suresh – `1000Rtn Indrani Krishnaier – `1000Rtn Vikram Chesetty – `2000Rtn PP NK Gopinath – `1000Rtn PP L Rajagopalan – `5000Rtn.VS Narasimhan – `6000Rtn. PV Mohan Raman – `2000

Wedding4th July – Rtn Ranjit Pratap Ann. Uma4th July – Rtn Shankar Jalan Ann. Renu4th July – Rtn VM Sivasubramaniam Ann. Suseela5th July – Rtn Dr Krishna Hande Ann. Dr Indira7th July – Rtn Ravi Moorthy Ann. Narayani9th July – Rtn Subbiah Viswanathan Ann. Jayamangalam Eswaran

Dear RCMers,As usual another Rotary year draws to a close and heralds the new dawn of

a new Rotary year holding more promises and action. This goes on year after year, and this is the 89th year for us at Rotary Club of Madras.

Looking back at the year gone by, my thoughts turn to what has transpired, not just this last one year but over the several decades that we have been relevant on the scene. We have done several great projects, far too many to list or discuss in a few lines. Notably we have been the pioneers of vaccination in India. In the eighties stalwarts such as PP KrishChitle have proved the feasibilities of Rotary being able to spearhead a large population based vaccination program with an effective cold chain. End polio project came out of this pathbreaking action. From these small beginnings, the world today stands at totally eradicating polio from the face of the earth. We were recognised for our idea and the execution of the Flame to mark this momentous achievement at the RI convention Atlanta. A feather in our cap indeed

We have played a vital role in changing the lives of thousands of families by our projects. The Rotary Nagar project is humming with activity – over 200 students registering for the evening tuitions and benefitting from them. Tailoring and embroidery classes for women, Hindi classes during the school holidays, spoken English and Computer literacy for women have become relevant and popular. Women’s empowerment program at Sembakkam has scaled great heights. Gummidipoondi Boys town now has close to 100 wards under our care and the vocational training program is well poised for the major take off. Selayur vocational training center too is undergoing a major boost with Unnathi and Tennex joining hands with us.

On the water and sanitation front we have scaled new heights. We have been successful in inducing behavioral change in over 400 families in two panchayaths. This has been done at a cost that is sustainable with high quality and success rate. Over 100 RCM families took to kitchen garden in our go green initiative.

Pat yourselves on your back for raising the largest amount by our fund raisers. Our initiative in building a school for the flood affected has attracted funds from San Antonio and from TATA.

RCM has gone from strength to strength over the last 8 decades and last year was no exception. We will continue to move forward, we will reinvent ourselves and continue to remain relevant to society.

We have all had a great time and I particularly have enjoyed it thoroughly. Board of RCM 16 – 17 has been cohesive and cooperative. All the Chairpersons and the committees have performed beyond expectations and have made RCM stronger and effective. As a social machinery, we have become efficient and energetic.

It has been a pleasure and honor for me to have been placed at the helm of affairs for one year. It hasbeen thoroughly enjoyable for me. First lady Uma joins me in thanking every RCMer for the honour and support that was given to us through the year.

Nothing remains without change the it is my best wishes to the new team led by Rtn P N Mohan to take us to greater heights and outperform what has been already achieved.

- Dr Arulmozhi VarmanPresident - Rotary Club of Madras

Secretary announced that the next regular meeting will be on the 4th July 2017 at the

Hyatt at 1 pm.Speaker: Mr Surya

Ramachandran who will speak on: ‘Wildlife of India

beyond tigers’.

Presidentfrom the

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