LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD....

[Address Delivered by Vivek S Patwardhan, President, Rotary Club of Thane Metro at OCV on March 28, 2018]

Dist Governor Sivarraj, dignitaries on the dais, my fellow Rotarians and Friends,

I welcome you to this gathering on the occasion of the official club visit of the District Governor.

The last time you came to our Club, Mr Dist Governor, it was on June 23, 2017; it was my installation day. And you are here today. This intervening time period is of 9 months and 6 days! It has given birth to many projects to serve the Society and further the cause of Rotary.

On the installation day, Mr Dist Governor, I had explained our plans and made one commitment to you. The commitment was that we will give our best; we will do whatever it takes to make things happen.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am happy to announce that we have delivered on the promise. Here is a list of projects we have done:

1.    We have built two check dams in Bhiwandi Taluka. This will touch the lives of over 5000 persons.

2.    We have drilled two bore wells. Mr Vikas Jadhav who is also President of a Rotary Club wants us to drill the third bore well, and I would like to announce that we will do it soon.

3.    We have donated two E-learning integrated computers, the best product available in India, designed by IIT, to the two schools at Angaon,

4.    We have gifted two solar power systems to the same two schools at Angaon. This means they will not have to pay any electricity bill for several years to come. And as a Rotary initiative we have thus contributed to the initiative of green earth.

5.    We have constructed a toilet block at a village school. Lack of toilet facility is one of the causes of early school dropouts, we hope this project would contribute to reducing the drop-out rate among girl students.

6.    I would like to make an important announcement here. Mr Hemant Jagtap who is our friend, philosopher and guide suggested that we should undertake the project of Bicycle Bank. Girl students in villages often have to walk long distance of 4 to 5 Km one way to the school. The result: drop-out rate among girl students goes up. So we will be providing 75 bicycles to SVP School at Kiravali. These will be given to girl students on rotation basis. Those students who pass out 10^th class will hand over their cycles to those who come in the 8^th std. We expect that our project will go a long way in supporting education of the girl students.

At this juncture I would like to acknowledge the contribution of Rs 1 Lakh made by my ex-colleagues in Asian Paints. I would also like to mention that Mr Hemant Mondkar has already contributed Rs 2.0 Lakhs will be contributing another Rs. 1.60 Lakhs for the Bicycle bank project. Give him a big hand!!

Thanks to the donors, the students will have a pleasant surprise waiting for them when schools reopen in June.

This also means that our year does not end with OCV, it will continue till June end.

We have in addition done some interesting events: RYLA with Bedekar College’s Management Institute for the third successive year. We organised a Kavya Vachan event for our club; it was well compered by Surekha Mondkar who is a poetess herself. We have done three events for our senior citizens. And a diabetes awareness and detection camp. The list is long. In addition, Dr Kanti Solanki has published a book on Rotary information.

This, by any standard is a superlative performance. This would not have been possible without support of my fellow Rotarians like Hemant and Surekha Mondkar, Pooja and Sandeep Nemawarkar, Mangala Karandikar, Dr Kanti Solanki, Omprakash Shahi, Niteen Dhuru, Dr Pradnya Aptikar, Padma and Pravin Doshi and other members of Rotary Club of Thane Metro.

Mr Dist Governor, Ladies and Gentlemen, I seek your continued support to the activities of Rotary club of Thane Metro.

Vivek S Patwardhan

When School Teaches a Lesson

We went to Angaon School today. The weather was unusually unfriendly. It was raining incessantly.

We had decided to assemble at Korum Mall and then proceed together. Before I could reach, Sridhar had already arrived. I looked for him. He was standing under a canopy to protect himself from the rain. There is something about Mumbai’s culture – it teaches you to value punctuality.
As we chatted Pooja called up to say that Sandeep and she would arrive in three minutes. They did. Sandeep turned and reversed his car so that we can get in to it without getting wet. Then came Gopal, and Mondkars. Kulkarnis followed in their red M&M car.

I hopped in Kulkarni’s car. The road was not bad. We reached Angaon.
The school trustees were waiting for us.

Rotary Club of Thane Metro gifted an e-Learning product to the school. It is one of the best products, if not the best. It is also expensive – it costs over Rs 2 Lakhs.

In my brief speech I also announced that we were giving the contract for fitting two Solar Power Systems to Powermax Ltd. It is a contract worth Rs 15 Lakhs.

I mentioned that any Rotary Club will give you such products, and we had really done nothing different from other clubs. Our distinction lied in our approach. We are looking at partnering with the school to develop the character of students and not providing teaching aids or amenities.

This thought clicked with the trustees. Within our club we have a wealth of talent which can be utilised by the school in increasing the effectiveness of learning, or in educating the students. The trustees said they looked forward to long term association with us.

We have also learnt some important lessons. Firstly, there is no dearth of money if you wish to do good work – good selfless work. Secondly, things work well if you spend sufficient time planning it. Thirdly, listening to the ‘customer’ tells you what needs to be done.
 
We know these lessons. It is just that when everything works well, you rediscover them!

Vivek Patwardhan