Rotary Club of Bombay The Gateway DISTRICT 3141 BULLETIN OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF BOMBAY | FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY | WWW.ROTARYCLUBOFBOMBAY.ORG VOLUME NO. 62 ISSUE NO. 37 APRIL 6, 2021 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE THE KING OF FRUITS Mango is the King of memories from childhood of happiness and million years ago. Mangoes were cultivated in Fruits. The coveted joy and pimples. And there is aam ras, aam India, possibly, as early as 2000 BCE. title is largely to do panna, aam papad, icecream, kulfi, candy, with its seasonal kadhi, cheesecake, tart, yogurt, soufflé, jam, As I dig into my scoop of fresh mango ice- availability. (Yes, we lassi, milkshake...the list goes on and on. Each cream, I’m happy that we actually do have a can get it year- having their own magic that can lead us down claim on mangoes… just like we do aapri Rani round now, but we memory lane. and aapro Freddy Mercury. all also know that those are just watered down versions). Genetic analysis and comparison of modern mangoes with Paleocene mango leaf fossils It beats any other fruit, exotic or otherwise, in found near Damalgiri, Meghalaya, indicate that its demand and versatility. the centre of origin of the mango genus was in President Framroze Mehta the Indian subcontinent prior to joining of the Mango as a fruit is amazing. It brings Indian and Asian continental plates, some 60 #tuesdaythoughts “Bright May afternoons — LT. GENERAL SHOKIN mango trees in the garden echoed with cuckoo calls.” ― Meeta Ahluwalia CHAUHAN (RETD) ON WHAT #numbercrunching AILS THE NORTH-EAST AND 21 mn metric tonne The volume of mango produced in 2020 by India, HOW TO INTEGRATE IT WITH the world's leading producer of mangoes during the REST OF THE COUNTRY measured time period. I HAVE BEEN GUARDING It started in 1918 when the Akbar Hydari, had a nine-point #caughtintheweb INDIA’S BORDERS FOR 30 OUT Naga Club was formed after agreement with the Naga groups OF MY 40 YEARS OF SERVICE, World War I and the Nagas told or the Naga tribes. The basic LOOKING AFTER THE NATION the British, who were then our issue in this agreement was that AND TRYING TO BRING PEACE colonial masters, that ‘once they would join the Union of IN A CONTENTIOUS LAND. you leave India, please leave India for a period of 10 years us where we are. That means and after 10 years, they would I wonder how many of you have that we were not a part of any be given a choice whether they actually visited the North-East? ancient kingdom, we are not want to leave or continue being Most of you may have gone to a part of India, and we don’t a part of India. Unfortunately, Shillong, seen the beauty of belong to be in India. We have a after freedom, by 1948, we said Meghalaya. How many of have different caste terms, a different that there is no question that been to Arunachal Pradesh or lifestyle and we want to remain India will ever be broken again Manipur, Nagaland or Mizoram? independent’. This further took and that everyone who had And, even if you have, how a fillip when talk of freedom was been a part of British Colonial many have ventured beyond the in the air in 1946. India would belong to India. It capitals? So, let me give you a was understood that because brief idea of what ails the North- Once again, they said that we were fighting war in Kashmir, East today before I come to the they did not want to be a there was no room for too North-East proper. part of India. At that time, the much dissent anywhere else in Governor of Assam, Governor the country. This problem has CONTEXT IS KING! TODAY: INDIAN PLAYBACK SINGER SUDHA MALHOTRA, RECEPIENT OF THE SHYAM MUNSHI AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN THE ARTS. ON ZOOM AT 7 PM 2 THE WEEKLY MEET April 6, 2021 THE WEEKLY MEET 3 Inner Wheel President PP Ashish Vaid PP Kalpana Munshi PP Dr. Rumi Jehangir President Framroze Rtn. Hariprasad Nevatia Swati Bhansali Mehta continued in the North-East since nation! We may be different people, Along with the North-East, there is members and bring them under then. but we are one nation and as that also another issue called the ‘16 km some kind of agreement so that nation, you and us have as much free move regime’. 16 km between they can be a part of India. We have had an armed insurgency right to know about each other the two countries is an international from 1956 onwards. Sometimes, and what we have really failed in is boundary that divides the villages The second issue is that from the we have a cease-fire, sometimes it understanding what the North-East along the Indo-Myanmar border time the Covid pandemic began, breaks and then restarts. The latest is all about. where people can come and go, a large number of young people cease-fire was in 1997, and that share the border and trade with from the North-East, who were seems to have lasted till now. We So, let me give you an idea. We each other. The idea is that they studying or working in the soft are still in a cease-fire mode but we first have Arunachal Pradesh; its can carry head logs and share those skills industry all over India, had no have also started talking to them tribes are: Tangsa, Nocte, Chakma, head logs between each other. place to stay within the states they about integrating them with the Tutsa and the Lisu tribes. In Assam: It is difficult when you police the were working/ studying in. They Union of India. Assamese, Dimasa, Bodo, Bengali, border and try to prevent people had to come back. At one point, Bronglai, Bronglais Naga, Kukis, the exodus in Gomantak became What ails the North-East; why don’t from coming in or going out. There Rakuls, Karbi, Khasi. In Meghalaya is a free move regime with no land so heavy that unfortunately we we understand the North-East and you have the Garos, Khasi, Hajong, could do nothing but accept these what are the main situations? borders or fences, we have the Narangs and Tiwas, in fact the Assam rifles along the 1760 km children who were coming by When you talk about the North- majority in Meghalaya are actually but it is very little, the jungle, the special trains and that is how the East, you are talking of 15,000 Catharsis. In Tripura you have the ground, the terrain is so difficult Covid epidemic reached Nagaland km of borders of your country, Tripuri, Riang, Jamatia, Noatia, that it is difficult to find them. and other states. Till May, there had 2.62 lakh square kilometre of Uchai, Chakma, Halam and in So, we can try and regulate the been no pandemic in any one of area of land mass, 3.1% of India’s Nagaland which is actually the land movement in 16 km. the North-Eastern states. population, 40 million people from of 60 major tribes, you have the Angami, Ao, Chakhesang, Chang, But what seems to be the problem When talking of the North-East, diverse origins, tribes, religions, and what do you think? What is the belief and over 220 languages and Khiamniungan, Kuki, Konyak, and why are we in the state of Lotha, Phom, Pochury, Rengma, constant insurgency and why is kind of people they are? What is dialects. It is an amazing spectrum the kind of food they eat? What of people with different languages, Sangtam, Sumi, Yimchungru and there an issue? The Nagas said they Zeliang. In Manipur you have the don’t belong to India, we had the are their customs? What do the tongue, thought-processes. But shawls or colours they wear say where did these people come from Lamkang, Liangmai, Tangkhul, Hydari agreement that said that Tarao, Thadou, Thangal, etc. the Nagas can decide after 10 years about their tribe? It is an amazing and why is it so important that we conglomeration of how they need to understand how important if they want to be a part of India. The issue about the North-East In 1960, we had another 21-point live. Nagaland is actually a state the North-East is? When you look is, firstly, that the kind of people where each village is independent, at the North-East, the Nagas, the agreement with them wherein there are, there are 220 dialects the state of Nagaland was created there is no ownership of land and Kukis who also came to the Nagas, and more than 200 tribes. There is because there is no ownership the Mizos and the Lushais came and we pushed through the state from the top, Arunachal Pradesh of Nagaland, but we did not take of land, the village headman or from the upper Burma and the and towards south is Nagaland, the village owns the land of the Hunan province of China. In the everyone into account and this Manipur, Mizoram. This is also insurgency continued. village. They don’t have paper 17th century, the Assamese were the 1770 km-long Indo-Myanmar transactions or pattas where the brought in as Kachin slaves into Border. In the recent coup in In 1975, we had the Shillong land is given to a particular person. the Hukawng Valley and settled in Myanmar, about a hundred Agreement where, once again, The land is distributed between what is now Assam.