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SEASON 4: SERVICE THROUGH ROTARY (PART 1)

 

Where there is kindness, there is goodness and 

Where there is goodness, there is magic. 

A dialogue in Cinderella

Rotary was established in the year 1905 by Paul Harris, a lawyer by profession based out of Chicago, USA. However, the tradition of crafting a theme for the new Rotary year is credited to Percy C. Hodgson, Rotary’s president in 1949-50. Since then every January Rotary members enthusiastically await the announcement of incoming Rotary International President’s next theme for the year announced at the International Assembly, an annual training event for the incoming District and Regional leaders. This year’s Rotary President Stephaine Urchick, only the second lady[1] to occupy this position, announced the 75th theme – The Magic of Rotary.

Membership of Rotary is by invitation from a current active member. When I was invited to join Rotary by one of my MBA classmates during June 1988, I joined with lot of hesitation because, I was then busy managing a couple of companies and a partnership firm apart from being the Secretary of Consortium of Electronics Industries of Karnataka (CLIK). However, over the next few years, apart from attending the meetings of the club that I had joined, I had also visited a few Rotary clubs in India and abroad. Thus, I got a good understanding of functioning of Rotary as an International Service Organisation. 

Having come out of a company and the partnership firm during mid 1990s, I agreed to take over the mantle of my club, Rotary Bangalore Koramangala as its President for the Rotary year 2000-1. I got motivated by then incoming Rotary District Governor[2] (DG) Dr. Prithvi Raval, whose focus was on Community work. Hence, I decided to use the Rotary platform to deliver fifty service projects to the community, as I was completing fifty years in the year 2000. With the Rotary theme for that year being Create Awareness, Take Action, our club completed fifty service projects as planned, spread over the entire year. Since then, the Magic of Rotary got rubbed on to me. 

Dr. Prithvi Raval (1950-2021) was not only a second generation Rotarian, but also a second generation DG as his father Dr. R.S.Padmanabhan himself was a DG, as well as a second generation practising dental surgeon. Dr.Padmanabhan was a Rotarian since Prithvi’s childhood years and hence, Rotary may have got rubbed on to Prithvi from a very young age. After completing his BDS at Kasturiba Medical College, Manipal and post-graduation from Temple University, Philadelphia, USA, on his return to Bangalore in 1977, Dr. Prithvi apart from starting his dental practice, also joined Rotary.

Though Dr. Prithvi was a hard-core professional and no nonsense person, he was very much service oriented. He had volunteered his professional services as a dentist to help the poor communities in Africa, Central and South America through Rotary. He had also established a mobile dental clinic to provide free dental services to government school students and Spastics Society of Karnataka. In fact, my initial interaction with Dr. Prithvi began during 1997 when I organised a couple of dental camps for school students as Community service director of my club. Dr. Prithvi also initiated me into developing Matching Grant Project partnering with a Rotary club outside India to avail grant from the Rotary Foundation[3] (TRF) to support community projects. 

Sometime during February 2002, Dr. Prithvi called me to inform that Avoidable Blindness (AB) will be one of the thrust areas of Rotary as announced by then incoming R.I. President Bhichai Rattakul,[4] at the International assembly held during January 2002. He further informed that he had suggested to then incoming DG Bansali to appoint me as the District Chairman of the newly formed AB committee. Subsequently Bansali called me to confirm the same. I never imagined then that this new responsibility will take me on to a totally different journey – a Journey to serve the underserved! 

As advised by Dr. Prithvi, I participated in two events organised for incoming District AB Chair persons and DGs across India, and other regional AB coordinators; one at Hyderabad during April 2002 in which Past R.I. President Frank Devlyn (1939-2020), International Chairman for AB was the key-note speaker and the other at Goa during June 2002 in which Dr. S.S.Badrinath (1940-2023), the legendary ophthalmologist who founded Sankara Netralaya, Chennai was the key-note speaker. These two events not only motivated me to take up AB projects, but provided opportunities at a later stage to work on several AB projects with some of the finest Rotarians, both in India and abroad as well as a few compassionate ophthalmologists in India!

As District Chairman for AB Committee, to create awareness about eye-related issues and what Rotary clubs can do to prevent unnecessary blindness in the community, I organised a half-a-day seminar during first half of the Rotary year 2002-3 with the support of six ophthalmologists, many of them being Rotarians themselves. This helped me to connect with a few Rotary clubs for raising funds for AB projects and a few eye hospitals to provide free professional eye-care services to the needy. I presented a report to then R.I. President Bhichai Rattakul which covered AB projects done in our Rotary district, when he visited Bangalore during the later part of the Rotary year.

At the Hyderabad event, I had met Dr. Gabriel Minder who was nominated as AB member-at-large to represent Rotary International during 2002-3, as he was based out of Geneva where Head quarters of World Health Organisation (WHO) is also located. During our chat, Gabriel evinced interest in visiting Bangalore and I told him to be in touch with me whenever he plans to visit so that we can work together on some AB project. During that short conversation, I could have never imagined that he’d be my friend, philosopher and guide to take me through the journey to serve the underserved for the next decade and more!

[1] Only since 1989 women were invited to join Rotary. 

[2] Rotary districts are different from Revenue districts and many a time encompass not only several revenue districts of a State, but may include districts of neighbouring states too. In the African context, a Rotary district encompasses even several countries. At present there are 529 Rotary districts in the world and each district is headed by a District Governor. 

[3] The Rotary Foundation was established in the year 1917 by then out going R.I. President Arch Klump through an Endowment fund of USD 26.50 for the purpose of doing good in the world and today has grown into more than one billion USD.

[4] Bhichai Rattakul (1926-2022) had served as Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand during 1983-90 and 1997-2000, before being anointed as President of Rotary International for the Rotary year 2002-3. 

August 13 , 2024 | Ravi 83 

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