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T H E O F F I C I A L N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E R O T A R Y C L U B O F T H A N E S K Y L I N E

F O L L O W U S : : H T T P : / / R O T A R Y T H A N E S K Y L I N E . O R G /

RCTS BULLETIN - AUGUST 2020 MESSAGE FROM DG RTN. DR SANDEEP KADAM

My Dear Josh President Rtn Vijay Chaphekar, I am delighted to forward this message to you and your members through your first issue of Club Bulletin namely, "The Voice" for the Rotary year 2020-21. The year of JOSH is a "Divine Year" as the new circumstances prevailing world wide, seems like God's way of showing us newer methods of serving the Society and conducting the Rotary affairs. I sincerely hope and wish that you are able to achieve the goals that you have set for yourself to lead your club to to newer heights. Club bulletin is a powerful medium communication of Club's activities both to Rotarians and to the outside world. While the club members can experience their collective pride reading about their own Club's activities, the public at large who reads the magazine will at once realize the power and reach of Rotary. Your magazine will act as the mouthpiece of your service to the society and can greatly help with your membership goals and participation of prospective Rotarians in your efforts. It is therefore very important that you convey the right information in the right format through your Monthly Bulletins. It may be worthwhile for you to circulate your bulletin to the members of the community that you serve and also to your benefactors, CSR Partners, Donors and other stake holders. I wish you and the members of the ROTARY CLUB OF THANE SKYLINE, all the very best in the JOSH year and hope to frequently interact with all of you in the year ahead. Thanking you with warm regards, YIR Dr. Sandeep Kadam District Governor 2020-21 LILY TALKS RID 3142 INSTALLATION

Installation Ceremony of RC Thane Skyline was held on 17th July,2020 on digital platform. Josh President Rtn Vijay Chaphekar along with club Board of Directors were installed in the presence of Chief Guest for the evening, DG Rtn Dr Sandeep Kadam. CHECK DAM & WATER TREE PLANTATION DISTRIBUTION With all the precautionary Check Dam & Water measures taken, President Distribution System were Rtn Vijay Chaphekar commissioned & put to good along with President-Elect testing & service at Kurvari Rtn Mrinal Surve carried Pada & Pachudarpada, out the tree plantation in Savare Village, Palghar Dist Elkunde Village,Bhiwandi by RCTS in a CSR project on 1st July. funded by M/s Vertiv Energy. DISTRIBUTION OF SAFETY KITS DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD TO VISUALLY CHALLENGED HAWKERS

PPE & Sanitizers were distributed to the teachers of Food essentials were distributed Anmol school, who were in to poor & visually challenged charge of conducting covid tests hawkers in Bhandup and through the TMC on 11th July, Bhiwandi on 16th July, 2020. 2020. NO PLASTIC JULY SANITIZER DISTRIBUTION

July being "No Plastic July", Rotary Club of Thane Skyline took up the cudgels by Sanitizers were distributed pushing ahead the awareness campaign by RC Thane Skyline to to reduce plastic, which was successfully Cremation grounds, done by spreading the disadvantages of using single use plastic, in the form of a Ambulance workers, social video which is uploaded on all our social workers aiding to street media handles. dogs, cobblers, cops, We are thankful to the DG, PDG's of District 3142 & 3141, PDG from Bangalore, Society housekeeping & along with our Skyline club members Garbage truck drivers. and District officials for being a part of it. WOMEN IN THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT OF - Rtn Reita S Singh Indian independence is associated with the names of , Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekar Azad, Subhash Chandra Bose and other freedom fighters. However there were many unsung heroes, “The Hidden Gems” whose names got lost in the annals of history. This article is a tribute to those daughters of india, who sacrificed and fought valiently for the freedom of the mother land.

1) VELLU NACHIYAR She was the first queen to wage a war against the British and gave them a good run for their money. The former princess of Ramanathapuram opposed the British rule even before the Sepoy mutiny.

2) MATANGINI HAZRA Matangini Hazra was an Indian revolutionary who actively participated in the Indian independence movement. She was shot dead by the British Indian police in front of the Tamluk Police Station on 29 September 1942.

3) MOOLMATI Moolmati was the mother of Ram Prasad Bismil who formed the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association in 1928 along with Bhagat Singh. It was due to such brave mothers of India that their sons served the country with valour and pride.

4) JANAKY ATHI NAHAPPAN She was the founding member of the Malaysian Indian Congress and was among the first women to join the organized during the Japanese occupation of Malaya to fight for Indian independence with the Japanese and was awarded the honour of Padma Shri in 2000, by the Indian Government.

5) TARA RANI SRIVASTAVA Along with her husband, she led a procession in front of the Siwan Police Station. Though he was shot, she bandaged his wounds and kept going forward. By the time she returned, he had died. However her will to go on was stronger still and she continued to fight holding the flag high.

6) NELLIE SENGUPTA Nellie was an English woman who went door to door during the pre-independence time to sell Khadi. She married and came to Calcutta with her husband who was a renowned Lawyer and decided to join in the freedom movement initiated by M.K Gandhi. Nellie also supported him and went down on the street to show her protest. She also defied the law by selling Khadi (hand-spun cloth) door to door.

7) AMMU SWAMINATHAN Ammu Swaminathan was an Indian social worker and political activist during the indian independence movement. She never went to school and received only a rudimentary education at home to prepare her for married life. Under her husband Dr Subbarama Swaminathan tutelage, her life transformed and blossomed. She studied, honed her skills and transformed to be one of the prominent faces in the pre-independence struggle of India.

Let’s salute these and many other women who gave their all and fought as bravely as men in the struggle for independence. Their lives are an example for all the women with a message that injustice in any form should not be accepted. THE ART OF THINKING TOGETHER - Rtn Raghavendra Kandukar We as a generation have lost the ability to think our way out of our problems. Infact we might have created more complexities than ever with our fragmented approach. Einstein did give a hint at the nature of our consciousness when he said 'We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. Of late am convinced that our default approach in handling any issue needs a paradigm shift. Not because we don't know how to do it but because we don't take the trouble of understanding it. Myths and epics are plenty where we get insights into the interconnectedness of our universe. And every generation is brought up on tales of awe and wonder at the hero's journey. Yet Talking and thinking together has become a lost art. For reasons best known to us, we have become adept at talking at each other rather than with each other. Have our insecurities come in the way of our listening or have we become too busy with our individual lives.Even before the other completes what she wants to say we intrude into the conversation with our views. No time for reflection or understanding the context from where it's coming from. It's more like our memory gets triggered and somewhere from our past we dig out an old experience and force it into the present. And we expect to solve our problems with this mentality! And just imagine if each one of us keeps responding to the other from our past (old memory) instead of from the present, how will we ever create a better experience. Is there a way out of this self created vicious loop? I feel yes; if we can let go of identifying with our past experience it would be a great start. In any conversation if we can be present completely that would be the best gift we can give ourselves and all our relationships. In deep listening somehow the energies seem to connect and understand the reality of the moment. A response or silence that emerges from that moment has its own intelligence. A win - win for all. Communities that arise through such awareness is our future. And we have to be Present to create this beautiful world. FREEDOM FROM THOUGHTS - Rtn Dr Chitra Naik It has been more than seven decades of freedom. But does political freedom or economic freedom give us freedom from our thoughts! Because, it’s our thoughts which can make or break us. Very often, uber successful CEOs, celebrities are more prone to depression than their average counterparts. There is extreme competition and unnerving feelings of failure. At times extreme success has so many strings attached that it can completely pull a person down, somaticizing themselves. Many a times, the human touch is lost as we are climbing the ladder. There are no more face to face conversations. We hide and seek escape behind small screens or a Bluetooth device or earplugs – seeming to be always connected to somewhere far away from the here and now. Despite new modes of communication, we are psychologically becoming islands isolated from one another. Actually, there is something very comforting about being a regular Jack and being one of the pack. Extreme success and the time and effort that takes to get there, can make life seem precipitous and lonely. There is something very soothing about sailing in the same boat, bitching about similar situations and government and taxes and bosses the way we all were empathizing with each other during current lockdown. But the moment it’s pulled up, the elitist and the brightest of all takes a big jump forward and the whole scenario changes. The simple things like, family dinners where the discussions are about family, like Raghu hit me and Meenu took my notes, that bring texture and joy to life, are lost because we are consumed in constant work or business and growth 24/7. Extreme wealth and fame when it comes suddenly, can make us feel detached from our own identity. Many a times, even when people achieve their goals well on time, something they had always dreamt of, by the time they reach there, although their finances look great on a sheet of paper, their values change by then, it hardly seems any gratifying and leaves them empty and hollow. Sadly in today’s world, money, success and fame rule our lives, at the cost of our health, relationships and peace of mind. Materialism and consumerism is driving us. There is nothing wrong in seeking money and fame but if this defines our relationship with money, we could be on the slippery slope because somewhere we are losing our sight in what is more important in life than money. There is rather more severe bereavement in loosing loved ones, loosing friends, loosing health, loosing spiritual connection, loosing purpose in life. During lockdown in the absence of public transport, Jyotikumari, a 15 year old girl pedalled down 1200kms carrying her ailing father on her cycle from Gurugram to Bihar in eight days which just showcased love and fearless determination. Her altruism opened doors for her bright future creating synchronicity for herself out of nowhere. On the other side, we have celebrities succumbing to damnation, unruly suicides /murders for money, fame rivalry and devastating emotions emerging out of it. Many of us are dissatisfied with the humdrum of everyday existence. Future is forever unpredictable and perennially capricious. So in retrospect, today’s rigidity seems stupidity tomorrow. The essence of life lies in the refutation of one’s own values and beliefs. Beliefs get fossilized when we refuse to change them. It’s possible to change the course only when we shelve our mulish obduracy and resort to flexibility and have fluidity in our perceptions. So, can we try seeking freedom from our negative thoughts because when things change inside you, things change outside you. You seek fullness even in emptiness . EDITOR SPEAKS - BIRTHDAYS RTN. AAKANSHA KAPOOR Smriti Gupta 1st August On behalf of Rotary Club of Thane Skyline, I present the first edition of Vivek Padmanabhan 2nd August our newsletter for the year 2020-21. Hazel Mathews 22nd August With a new name & look, we aim at Shriniket Raghavan 23rd August capturing our journey towards making Kanchan Ramchandani 26th August our planet a better place. The main purpose of this newsletter Tejas Kapoor 29th August would be to showcase all the activities of our club. ANNIVERSARY We hope that this newsletter reaches many hands, touches lives, empowers Ravindranath Menon 19th August and inspires many. This monthly bulletin will contain a gist of our projects, events and some articles from skyliners.

Warm Regards, Rtn Aakansha Kapoor Director PR & Bulletin

Editorial Team : Rtn Dr Chitra Naik, Rtn Reita S Singh, Rtn Raghavendra Kandakur, Rtn Aakansha Kapoor. Editorial Designing - Rtr Sanjana Basu