Volume 55 Issue 45 7th May2021 ROTARY AND THE PANDEMIC Since the Pandemic of COVID19 began over a year back, various agencies and organizations have been chipping in by helping respective governments handle the situation. Rotary too has done this all over the world. Support with facilities like providing food and rations to the needy, making masks available, appreciating the efforts of the frontline workers, helping in setting up of COVID care facilities to name a few. Amongst all these, there is one noteworthy activity taken up in Chennai by the Rotary Club of Madras. Let’s have a look at a report about it and appreciate it. All this was done in a span of just over two months. Maybe something like this could be planned in our state. CHENNAI Govt. seeks Rotary Club’s support for vaccination drive Happy to help: Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan with members of the Rotary Club of Madras. Special Correspondent CHENNAI 11th Feb 2021 01:08 IST UPDATED: 11th Feb 2021 01:08 IST Health Secretary writes to the club seeking logistics support The Rotary Club of Madras (RCM) will be partnering with the State government in its COVID-19 vaccination drive. In a letter to club president Kapil Chitale, Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan issued an invitation to the club to assist in the procurement and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and suitable cold-chain equipment, assist in effective vaccine management up to the point of service delivery, and strengthen logistics services. Chairman R I’s COVID Task Force in India PRDI Rtn. Ashok Mahajan welcomed this initiative. The Rotary Club of Madras will serve as the nodal agency in Tamil Nadu and coordinate with the State government on behalf of Rotary Clubs in the State and as a channel for raising CSR funding for the vaccination drive. Rtn. Gauthamadas, chairman, Special Projects (Pandemic & Disaster Mitigation) of the Rotary Club of Madras, will collaborate with Mr. K. Vinay Kumar, Joint Director, Immunisation, on this project. The State Government partnered with Rotary Club of Madras in phase II of the red measles vaccine programme in 1985, prompting Rotary International to appoint the latter as the nodal club to kick off the PolioPlus drive in India. RCM’s’ role included the technical support, forecast, procurement and delivery of vaccines. They also helped build houses during the Tsunami. “We have an MoU with the RCM. We have only two forms of protection. Using mask and preventive medicine. Though the vaccine is given free of cost, there is vaccine hesitancy in the State. Rotary’s help is a big relief. We have inter-district challenges,” Dr.Radhakrishnan said. “These include transporting vaccines to districts that are facing a shortage. At such times these vehicles will help. NGOs support in such times is helpful to amplify the issue,” he said. What did they do? The Rotary Club of Madras has donated equipment worth ₹1 crore to the government to preserve in cold chain and transport COVID-19 vaccines across the State. Rotary Bangalore North meets every Friday at - Robano Social Service Center, Rotary Eye Hospital, 68th Cross, 5th Block Rajajinagar, Bangalore – 560010 Currently meeting online They have donated two 14-ft refrigerated trucks with a capacity to carry 4,500 liters of vaccine (44 lakh doses) and two 8-ft refrigerated trucks with a total capacity of 2,000 liters (20 lakh doses) to transport the vaccine from the central vaccine depot to zonal depots. Rotary Club of Madras has also donated 15 ice-lined refrigerators to store 10 lakh doses of vaccine in district depots and 1,000 vaccine carriers that can be used to vaccinate up to 30 lakh people at a time. The donors including Cookson, Godrej, SRF, Vinakaya Mission Foundation, Omega Healthcare. Rotary Clubs of Madhavaram, IT City besides Rotary Club of Madras. This was reported by the HINDU on 28th April 2021. Hats off to the people who carried out such a Mammoth Needy and a wonderful project. Last Week The meeting on Friday, 30th April 2021 was to be a classification talk by Rtn. Somashekar who joined us recently and an update by Rtn. Mohan Velan who enlisted himself as a COVID Warrior once again, on the support activities. This could unfortunately, not take place as Rtn. Somashekar being tied up on an online office meeting and Rtn. Mohan Velan was in a medical emergency. Pres. Balaji raised the project of oxygen cylinders, Trust Chairman raised the project of Oxygen concentrators. The matter was discussed in detail with inputs from various members. The week’s issue of Deepa 44 2020-21 was formally released by Rtn. PP S Shivaprakash. IPL Facts The 2021 Premier league also known as IPL or, for sponsorship reacons, this year called as VIVO IPL 2021,is the fourteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board for Cricket Control in India (BCCI) in 2007. It is to be played in 6 different venues in India. These seasons have entertained millions of cricket lovers who have watched the events at the stadia and on media platforms. This year it was being viewed only through Media Platforms. Unfortunately, for the cricket fans, this has now been suspended. Here are some interesting things that came out of the IPL. The longest serving overseas player Overseas players are all the rage of IPL. That said, the players come and go. In the midst of all the churn, one player has stood the test of time, AB de Villiers. The South African batting wizard is the only overseas player to have played at least one match in each IPL season since its inception. IPL hundred For all the flamboyance that accompanies the KKR outfit, their batsmen aren’t good at scoring tons. Brendon McCullum scored 158 in the very first IPL game in 2008 against RCB & till date we have 38 Centuries scored in all the 14 IPLs The lone wicket taking ball Statistically speaking, Adam Gilchrist is the best bowler in IPL history No wicket Keeper batsman & bowler have the distinction of having bowled just one ball in competitive cricket. His bowling average and economy are both 0.00. His dot ball percentage is 100 per cent, as he bowled just 1 ball in IPL 2013 and picked the wicket as well won the match to his team by dismissing Harbhajan Singh in Dharamsala. For the love of hundreds and hat-tricks Not very many wield the bat and roll their arm over and take wickets score tons. The only players to have scored a hundred and picked up hat-trick are Rohit Sharma and Shane Watson. Rotary Bangalore North meets every Friday at - Robano Social Service Center, Rotary Eye Hospital, 68th Cross, 5th Block Rajajinagar, Bangalore – 560010 Currently meeting online Players that have stood the test of time Longevity in cricket is celebrated. That said, in the lucrative IPL, where the stakes are high, teams constantly chop and change their units. Therefore, very few players stand a chance to feature year after year. That said, there a small cap of players who have played the longest. They are Suryakumar Yadav – 9 seasons, Manan Vohra – 8 seasons, Shreyas Gopal – 6 seasons, Iqbal Abdullah – 10 seasons, Shreevats Goswami – 9 seasons. Unfortunately, these players have not yet made it to national side. The curious case of Shane Watson 2008 and 2013 The Aussie all rounder has turned out for both Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings and incidentally played in fixtures against each other as well. In IPL 2013, Watson scored a century against Chennai Super Kings for Rajasthan Royals. Five years later, in IPL 2018, Watson scored a century against Rajasthan Royals. Incidentally, he was also the first player to the MVP title twice, remarkably in the same two seasons, 2013 and 2018. Four players and twelve championships Four Indian stars have hogged the limelight better than most others. The foursome of Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Yousuf Pathan have collectively have won 12 of the 13 IPL championships. One player, three different teams, three consecutive titles Karan Sharma, the leg-spinner, holds a rather unique distinction. Between 2016 and 2018, he turned out for three different IPL teams and yet in each of those three seasons, he won the IPL. He was part of the winning side in 2016 with SRH, 2017 with MI and 2018 with CSK. An IPL winner as player and head coach The Aussie, Darren Lehman won the IPL as a player with Rajasthan Royals in 2008. Thereafter, he hung up his boots and took up coaching duties. In the very next year, in 2009, Lehman pick up the title as Head Coach of Deccan Chargers. Qudos In spite of the ongoing pandemic, some our sponsored youth clubs have been very active. Rotaract Club of BMS College for Women and Interact Club of St. Mary’s Public School have sent their reports of the Club’s activities which can get them the RI President’s citation. Wishing both the youth clubs the very best. Anne Anitha W/o Rtn. Gopalakrishnan K 8th May 2021 Anne Janaki W/o Rtn. PP V Subramaniam 8th May 2021 Anne Sandhya W/o Rtn. Ramprasad KS 9th May 2021 Anne Sujatha W/o Rtn. Janakiram J 9th May 2021 Annet Kaushik S/o Rtn. Ramakrishnan N 11th May 2021 Rtn. Rajkumar K and Anne Mallika 7th May 2021 Announcement: th 14 May 2021 Online closed door meet voting for DG : 23 – 24 Rotary Bangalore North meets every Friday at - Robano Social Service Center, Rotary Eye Hospital, 68th Cross, 5th Block Rajajinagar, Bangalore – 560010 Currently meeting online .