on the cover CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2015

THE EDITORIAL

features INTERVIEWING RCBC’s ONLY WOMAN ROTARIAN

WELCOMING OUR GUESTS FROM PRINCETON

PULSE POLIO UPDATE

COVERAGE OF IGU AWARD

GLIMPSES OF THE ANNE’S NIGHT

UPCOMING EVENTS

BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES

Having taken over as Editor of the Banner since March, this is my first independently edited release of the Banner. While I am privileged to have this opportunity, it is accompanied by immense responsibility. Hence, I would humbly request all of your constructive feedback & tolerant stand on any shortcomings that you may observe in this edition.

This edition of the Banner is dedicated to all the wonderful women of RCBC on occasion of International Women’s Day celebrations. The theme as signified in the logo on the cover page highlights the Beijing Declaration on women’s rights. While certain aims of the declaration have been fulfilled, gaps still remain. This year, global women’s rights organisations are advocating with governments around the globe to commit whatever it takes to create an environment where women can exercise their choices in all facets of their lives. In this spirit, I interview the lone woman rotarian of our club. Read the interview to know of her Rotary experience and other facets of her life. Additionally, in the same spirit, we cover the glimpses of the Anne’s night celebrations. Thanks to all the shutterbugs who contributed with their photographs.

Join me in extending a warm welcome to the visiting dignitaries from the Rotary Club of Princeton, USA. Read more about our guests in the subsequent pages. Also a big thank you goes out to those Rotarians who are so graciously hosting them.

Stay tuned to our club events, announcements, and news in the rest of the Banner. Hope you enjoy reading this edition.

Warm Regards,Dr. Chinmaya P Chigateri

THE EDITORIAL

Q. As we all are aware, you are the only woman rotarian at RCBC. How does it feel ? When I had joined the club there were 4 lady members, with plans to enrol more. However, over the last 5 years, this number has dwindled resulting in me being the lone lady member. I do give this a thought, especially when the Rotarians jokingly bring this up. However, my Rotary experience in college, the different kind of exposure that the club has given, the bonhomie of the members and the love/affection of all the anns has made me stay back. Added to this is the fact that Shankar has not shown any interest in swapping my membership.

Q. Going back to the same topic about being a woman rotarian, whats was the big influencing factor behind you joining rotary ?

My first exposure to Rotary was as a Rotaract during my graduation days. Subsequently, I also had the opportunity of participating in one of the polio drives, while doing my post graduation. My membership with Cantonment Club happened by sheer coincidence. About 5 years ago, I was keen to join the Indiranagar club due to their proximity to my office. I made 2 visits to their office and could neither obtain adequate details nor get to speak to someone concerned. During this period, on one day, I happened to pass by the Cantonment club. I walked in and was met by Dinesh Nehete and soon the enrolment followed.

Q. Although the number of woman rotarians are increasing, we are not where we need to be on this. What do you think we as a club should do to increase enrollments among women into rotary.As we celebrate the “Women’s International Day”, my suggestions to get more women to join Rotary would be as follows- My experience shows that the best way to get more women to join rotary would be by creating awareness at an early stage, at the school/college level itself. While we do have Interact/Rotaract clubs, we would have to go beyond that. We would have to reach out to the larger audience ie. students by participating in their seminars/ guest lectures, writing in their in-house magazines etc. We could get them to participate in some of Rotary’s large scale initiatives such as the recently conducted Swach Abhiyan campaign. These will go a long way in influencing them to join the rotary, some day. In our own backyard, I sometimes wonder if our own Annets know about Rotary or what we do and whether we have created adequate opportunities to enhance their awareness. Do we see them as carrying the legacy of the current Rotarians? Perhaps we could start here.

INTERVIEWING RCBC’s ONLY WOMAN ROTARIANQ. Hello Suman and thanks for your time. Tell us a little bit more about your professional avatar and your family.

I was born and brought up in Trichy, a small district in Tamil Nadu. My father, a metallurgist, who had spent his initial professional life working in steel companies in East of India, had decided to relocate to BHEL, Trichy. I did my schooling and graduation (in B.Com) from Trichy. Thereafter, I completed my MBA from IMT- Ghaziabad. I joined A.F.Ferguson & Co, a

management consulting firm from campus and since then i.e. the last 18 years, have been in consulting, starting with A.F.Ferguson & Co and then moving on to HR Consulting in Ernst & Young and now in Cerebrus Consultants. Soon after my MBA, I got married to Shankar, who is a practicing accountant. I have a 12 year old son, Anmol, who is studying in Class VII.

Rotary Club of Princeton is represented by,

Mrs. and Mr. C.Ravindranath is a Masters in Industrial Engineering from Lehtigh Universityy, USA. Subsequent to that, he worked from many years with Johnson & Johnson, USA. Presently he is an investment advisor. He is married to Mrs. Margaret who is an educationist. Rotary positions held - President, Rotary Club of Princeton, Assistant Governor of his Rotary District. Janet Lynn Gurvitch is an Advisor Associate for a Financial Advisor, whose practice includes financial planning, investment and savings strategies and insurance risk management. Years with Rotary - 12 years. Rotary positions held – Sergeant at Arms, Chair of community services committee, District Conference registrar. As a volunteer I work with an organization that assists women by providing teens with educational opportunities, women with legal assistance both in the work place and at home, day care for the children of working women. I would like to meet professionals who address those same needs for women and their families Steven Erik Portrude is a 2nd generation business owner in the area of printing and designing catering to clients in the Business to Business market. Years with Rotary - 19 years. Rotary positions held –President - Rotary Club of Princeton, Deputy District Governor

Would love to see way of life in India, see wild life and natural land scape

WELCOMING OUR

GUESTS FROM PRINCETON

Dear Rotarians, Lets all join together in welcoming the representatives of the Rotary Club of Princeton, New Jersey, USA, as part of the family exchange program. On this occassion, we would like to acknowledge their benevolent contributions made for the Lingarajapuram School Project, which is one of our flagship social impact program. Additionally, lets acknowledge their assistance to the Rotary Eye hospital (Rotary North) and the Paediatric Chemo Therapy Unit (Rotary South West), in Dist. 3190.

PULSE POLIO UPDATE Rotary Celebrated 110th Birthday on 23rd February. The day also marked 30 years of making history through the Polio Plus program! HISTORIC MOMENTS: POLIOPLUS TURNS 30

Dr.P.NarayanaVice-Chairman,Rotary’s India National Polio Plus Committee

In a 1993 interview, Bomar recalled how the brother of one of the children he’d immunized tugged on his pant leg to get his attention and said, “Thank you, thank you, Rotary.” The success of this project set the stage for Rotary’s top priority to rid the world of polio. Since Rotary introduced its PolioPlus campaign, the number of polio cases worldwide has dropped 99 percent, and the virus remains endemic in just three countries -- Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

This year marks 30 years since Rotary launched PolioPlus, its campaign to rid the world of polio. Beginning on Rotary’s anniversary, 23 February, Rotary members worldwide will be holding events to celebrate three decades of polio eradication progress. Since 1985 Rotary and its partners have helped reduce the number of cases from 350,000 annually to fewer than 400 in 2014, and they remain committed until the disease is eradicated. Rotary has contributed more than $1.3 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 2 billion children worldwide. In addition, Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by donor governments to contribute over $10 billion to the effort. Before the global scope of PolioPlus, individual clubs with Rotary funding were attacking the disease closer to home.

In 1979 Rotary members and delegates of the Philippine Ministry of Health looked on as volunteers administered drops of the oral polio vaccine to children in the Manila barrio of Guadalupe Viejo. When James L. Bomar Jr., then Rotary president, put the first drops of vaccine into a child’s mouth, he ceremonially launched the Philippine poliomyelitis immunization effort. Bomar joined Enrique M. Garcia, the country’s minister of health, in signing the contract committing Rotary International and the government of the Philippines to a joint five-year effort to immunize around 6 million children against polio at a cost of about $760,000.

COVERAGE OF IGU AWARD

Rotary Bangalore Cantonment recently conferred the ‘International Goodwill and Understanding Award 2014-15’ on the ‘The Needy Heart Foundation’, a philanthropic organisation that has intervened, medically, socially and financially, to provide cardiac treatment, including surgery to underprivileged persons from Asian and African countries. The award ceremony saw the members of Rotary Bangalore Cantonment and representatives of the Foundation present in full strength. ‘The Needy Heart Foundation’ was conceived and set up in 2002 by a group of cardiac surgeons who identified that lack of awareness, lack of funds and lack of access to medical treatment, has

been a lethal combination that results in many tragic and avoidable cardiac-related deaths. By establishing tie-ups with hospitals and donors, and backed by the founders’ own cardiac expertise, the Foundation has performed hundreds of free heart surgeries for those from underprivileged sections of society.

The Foundation has till date treated 30 plus patients from Pakistan, 38 from Indonesia and about 30 from Bangladesh. OP Khanna, Chairman, The Needy Heart Foundation says, “The Foundation has brought these nations closer together and helped developed peace and understanding among these nations. We are not working for money and most of our donations come from individuals committed to the cause of the underprivileged,” explains Khanna. He adds that the Foundation has a lot of children coming to them. “Most children who come to us have heart-related complications and we do our bit to rope in the best doctors to treat them,” he adds.

Dr Devananda NS, Chairman and Head of Department, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Manipal Hospital informs that the Foundation works hand-in-hand with a lot of hospital across the City to assist the underprivileged in heart-related treatments. “Rotary’s award is a recognition of the contribution of the Foundation and this is sure to inspire us to work harder to reach out to as many people as we can,” he says.

Rotarian Shailendra Gupta, past president of the Rotary Club, says that they have been fortunate to recognise eminent organisations and individuals for the last 12 years with this prestigious award.

“This award is particularly for those who have worked tirelessly, in their chosen field, to help bring communities closer and also enhance the lives of people in need, in more ways than one,” says Shailendra. He adds, “Our projects cover a wide spectrum including health, hunger and humanity. Also, empowering women to make them self-sufficient has been the other focus of our club.”

After handing over the award, Rotarian Arvind Gokhale, Director of Rotary Foundation informs that Rotary International lays great emphasis on building goodwill, understanding and promoting peace among International communities.

“The Rotary Club of Cantonment, through its many endeavours, have been fulfilling this through International matching grants for community and social projects, organising youth and family exchanges between other countries, and also promoting and actively working in the pulse-polio programme,” informs Arvind Gokhale.

Credit : Deccan Herald News Service, Bengaluru, Mar 28, 2015

GLIMPSES OF

THE ANNE’S NIGHT

CONGRATULATIONS

Damodaran Nair Jasbir Dhody Ramdas Pai

Vinay Pai Samir Gupta

Lets all put our hands together in congratulating our Past President Rtn Sudhakar on being selected as the Assistant Governer for the year 2015-16. This photograph is taken at the training program held

at Wonderla resorts.

2nd April - Visit from the Rotary Club of Princeton, USA.9th April - Shifted to 11th April - Joint meeting with Jeevanbheema Nagar16th April - Vocational visit to Yogakshema 23rd April - Amnesty International Talk30th April - Vocational Awards

Upcoming Events for the Month

Rtn. Karumbaiah M

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nnete Ashish

(Rtn. Aloysius Fernandez)

Rtn. Randhir Talwar

Annete Kam

ya Ramachandran

(Rtn. Ramachandran V

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Annete D

ipti (Rtn. A

loysius Fernandez)

Spouse Janani (Rtn. M

ukunth Jeyasingh)

Spouse Manjula

(Rtn. Shetty Ramakant)

Rtn. Ramachandra Seshagiri

Annete Pavan

(Rtn. Karumbaiah M

C )A

nnete Karthik (Rtn. Ram

achandra Seshagiri)

Spouse Radhika Pai (Rtn. Vinay Pai)

Annete A

bhijeet (Rtn. H

emant Kalyan)

Vinod John and Mercy

Mathew

s P M and Sheila

Krishnamoorthy N

and Rajalakshm

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Rtn. Karuppu Samy

Kurian K and Susan

Wedding A

nniversaries

Birthdays

For private circulation onlyPublished by Rtn. Jasbir Dhody, President, Rotary Bangalore Catonment11 Promenade Road, Bangalore 560005Printed by Varaprada Enterprises, #3106, 6th B Main, Indiranagar, Bangalore - 560 038