Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras 2014-2015 • Edition No.16 • October 21 2014 • 4 Pages •` 1 District: 3230 Chartered: 19.07.1929 Inaugurated: 10.05.1929 Club No: 15860 PRESIDENT A Goan Rhapsody Rtn. S N Srikanth IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT endell Rodricks, one of India’s top different kind of aesthetic based on Indian Rtn. Vivek Harinarain ten fashion designers, addressed culture, South Indian temples, eco-friendly PRESIDENT ELECT Wthe Rotary Club of Madras at a Wine fabrics, and most importantly the infusion of Rtn. A S Venkhat Ramani and Cheese event this week. He lives in the everything Goan into the clothes that became small village of Colvale in North Goa, and has part of his label. PRESIDENT NOMINEE been an active fixture in the Indian fashion Wendell’s talk for the RCM was a visual treat! Rtn. Dr N V Arulmozhi Varman scene for more than two decades. In 2014, the He gave the audience a peek into his world with SECRETARY Government of India conferred upon him its a captivating display of pictures of his designs, Rtn. R Ravishankar fourth-highest civilian award, the Padma Shri. worn by various models over the years. Asst. SECRETARY / BULLETIN Wendell also displayed many types of novel EDITOR materials that he had used in his creations. Rtn. Prabha Srinivasan He explained with visuals, how he draped his models. He mentioned that his most notable DIRECTOR CLUB project to date had been when he put Braille ADMINISTRATION on garments to enable the visually challenged Rtn. Vidya Amarnath to ‘read’and identify their garments! DIRECTOR YOUTH SERVICE Here he narrated an incident where he Rtn. Sathiaram Ram happened to meet a blind professor who in DIRECTOR PUBLIC IMAGE turn inspired the Braille collection. He would go AND FUND RAISING on to use seed pearls to write Braille on these Rtn. Dr. Srinath Yeshwanth garments. This remarkable attempt would Wendell gave the audience a brief glimpse enable the visually impaired to ‘read’ their DIRECTOR ROTARY into the history of his life when he mentioned clothes, thus identifying the particular dress, FOUNDATION & INTERNATIONAL SERVICES how he had moved to fashion designing after and would give them the liberty of dressing in Rtn. Dr. K. Rajan starting his career in the catering/hotel sector. their clothes of choice (the Braille scripts gave While doing his hotel management course in details of colour and material). DIRECTOR SERVICE PROJECT 1 Oman, an American lady is said to have spotted The Goa based designer also claimed that Rtn. P. Suresh his talent, and encouraged him to pursue his he has always attempted to make beauty DIRECTOR SERVICE PROJECT 2 fashion dreams. He went ahead and enrolled pageants more in line with our culture, and Rtn. Nimish C Tolia in a designing course in the UK and later in the that Indian designs have a major influence on TREASURER (CLUB FUNDS) US. fashion around the world. Rodricks was the Rtn. Aditya Agarwal After returning to India he had merely first Indian designer to be invited to IGEDO, the wanted to design and sell his own creations. world’s largest garment fair in Germany, and TREASURER He went on to draw inspiration from various the first to open at the Dubai Fashion Week. (CHARITABLE TRUST) facets of Goa and Goan life, whose history His advice for aspiring fashion designers was Rtn. Arjun Ananth he had researched in depth, and used this to to always be original and true to themselves, TREASURER create exclusive outfits in the couture style. and to have their own design philosophies. (SPECIAL PROJECTS) While talking about his creations, he said that Wendell concluded by saying that he had Rtn. N. Sukumar several of them were also based on the serenity had the satisfaction of putting Goa and India of temples in the south. Wendell claimed that into his creations and was also working and he eventually became known for starting a planning to bring out a book on fashion. Best compliments from: ASHISH GUPTA Managing Director - Milesworth-American Express Travel RM Towers, 108 Chamiers Road, Chennai 600 018 Mobile: +91 98400 60393; Ph: +91 44 24338665; Fx: +91 44 24359554 www.milesworth.com Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras 2 Edition 16 • October 21, 2014 Edition 16 • October 21, 2014 3 ABOUT Rotary: A Fact Finding Mission gt-at-Arms PP Ahluwalia of Member and an Alternative otary is made up of three parts: at the AREAS OF FOCUS diseases caused by unsafe water. Our projects collared President SN Member of the Nomination heart of Rotary are our clubs, that are We have identified specific causes to target give communities the ability to develop and SSrikanth who called the Committee. Rsupported by Rotary International and and maximize our local and global impact. maintain sustainable water and sanitation 16th meeting of RCM to order. The candidates who had The Rotary Foundation. At the same time, we understand that each systems and support studies related to water Rtn. N Ramji read the 4-way expressed interest in serving Rotary clubs bring together dedicated community has its own unique needs and and sanitation. test and the minutes of the 14th on the Nominating Committee individuals to exchange ideas, build concerns. October 2014 meeting were for DGN were PP Ravi Katari relationships, and take action. Through global grants and other resources, Saving Mothers And Children duly confirmed. as Member, and PP Indra Rotary International supports Rotary clubs we help clubs focus their service efforts in the At least 7 million children under the age of worldwide by coordinating global programs, following areas. five die each year due to malnutrition, poor The President then welcomed Subramanyam as Alternative campaigns, and initiatives. health care, and inadequate sanitation. To help the guest speaker Wendell Member. Their names were The Rotary Foundation uses generous Promoting Peace reduce this rate, we provide immunizations Rodricks, the renowned fashion proposed by PP S Gunashekar, donations to fund projects by Rotarians and Today, 42 million people are displaced by and antibiotics to babies, improve access to designer whose talk on his and seconded by PP NK our partners in communities around the world. armed conflict or persecution. Through our essential medical services, and support trained ‘Goan Rhapsody’ was eagerly Gopinath from the floor. As a nonprofit, all of the Foundation’s funding partnerships with several leading universities, health care providers for mothers and their awaited that day. Secretary R Ravishankar comes from voluntary contributions made by Rotary Peace Fellows develop the skills to children. Our projects ensure sustainability President Srikanth also then announced that the next Rotarians and friends who share our vision of strengthen peace efforts, train local leaders by empowering the local community to take welcomed guests, spouses, meeting would be held on the a better world. to prevent and mediate conflict, and support ownership of health care training programs. President of the IWC, Jyoti 28th of October 2014, at the Together, Rotary clubs, Rotary International, long-term peace building in areas affected and The Rotary Foundation work to make by conflict. We provide up to 100 peace Supporting Education Agarwal, Anita Ratnam, Kiran same venue at 1.30 pm. lasting improvements in our communities and fellowships per year at Rotary Peace Centers. Sixty-seven million children worldwide have Rao, an upcoming Chennai contributions in kind and cash that made Speaker: Shonali Sabherwal around the world. no access to education and more than 775 fashion designer, Vivek Karunakaran, as these donations possible. Topic: Macrobiotics Fighting Disease million people over the age of 15 are illiterate. well as Probus Club members Annadurai, Rtn. Mukund Subramaniam, Chair Rtn. Sandhya Sridhar introduced the OUR HISTORY More than 100 million people are pushed into Our goal is to strengthen the capacity of and Ranga Ramanujam. Sports Committee, reminded members guest speaker Wendell Rodricks, by reading “WHATEVER ROTARY MAY MEAN TO US, poverty each year because of medical costs. communities to support basic education and He then extended birthday and wedding about the Inter-Club Bridge Tournament to out his profile and accomplishments. TO THE WORLD IT WILL BE KNOWN BY THE We aim to improve and expand access to low- literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, Wendell spoke about his ‘Goan RESULTS IT ACHIEVES.” —PAUL P. HARRIS cost and free health care in underdeveloped and increase adult literacy. Rhapsody’; about how he had started his Our 1.2 million-member organization started areas. Our members educate and mobilize MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES career as a catering graduate and only with the vision of one man—Paul P. Harris. The communities to help prevent the spread of Growing Local Economies MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES MINUTES Chicago attorney formed one of the world’s major diseases such as polio, HIV/AIDS, and Nearly 1.4 billion employed people live on less later moved onto fashion designing. After first service organizations, the Rotary Club malaria. Many of our projects ensure that than $1.25 a day. We carry out service projects an absorbing talk about his work and of Chicago, on 23 February 1905 as a place medical training facilities are located where the that enhance economic and community Minutes experiences, Wendell took questions from where professionals with diverse backgrounds workforce lives. development and develop opportunities for anniversary wishes to those fellow be held this Sunday, the 26th of October, the floor and entertained the crowd with could exchange ideas and form meaningful, decent and productive work for young and old. Rotarians and their spouses celebrating for the Benjamin-George Rolling Trophy.