The Rotary Opens Opportunities Banner A Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bangalore Cantonment Volume XXXVII Issue #9 Water and Sanitation Month March 2021 President Rtn. Ravi Narasimhan INTERACT RYLA Immediate Past President Rtn. Bharath Bail be put-to. It was very interesting to note that students came up with 18 different President-Elect ideas regarding the use of paperclip! Rtn. Vinod John Each of the five competitive events had first Secretary and second prizes. Out of the ten prizes that Rtn. Gargi Ojha were up for the grab, Shishu Mandir bagged four (one first and three second prizes), Little Angels Modern High School three (all first Director - Club Service Rtn. G. K. Ravikumar prizes), TREP two (one first and one second prize) and Sri Guru Harkishan High school Director - Community Service one (second prize). The winners were given Rtn. Karthik Seshagiri prizes in the form of books. This year Best Rylaite prize was introduced which was bagged by Kumari Ashwini of Shishu Mandir Director - Vocational Service Rtn. Prashanth Nair who received three prizes: one first and two second prizes. Another new feature of this Director - International Service year was the introduction of a Running Rtn. Shabbir Choilawala The first major event of Youth Services Trophy for the best school, which was Committee in this Rotary year was Interact worked out by considering the marks Director - Youth Service RYLA held on Saturday, 27 February 2021 at obtained by all the participating students Rtn. D. P. Sabharwal Shishu Mandir. 64 students from five schools from each school in all the events. The (Little Angels Modern High Trophy was won by TREP Treasurer School, Rotary Chennapatna, students whose aggregate Rtn. V. Ramachandran Sri Guru Harkishan High score was 206.7 marks against School, Shishu Mandir and 202. 4 scored by Shishu Sergeant-at-arms TREP, Yelahanha) attended Mandir. Rtn. Rohit Karanth observing all safety norms A 'Certificate of Participation' concerning Covid-19. and a Book 'Play with Joint Secretary The programme started at Proverbs' was given to all the Rtn. R. Radhi 8.30 a.m with breakfast and participants sponsored by Rtn came to an end at 3.15 pm after prize Ravi Narasimhan and Rtn Co-opted Director distribution. There were five competitive Seshagiri. The Prizes were given away by the Rtn. Arvind Gokhale events namely Personality Quiz, Tickle your first lady of the club Ann Indrani Narasimhan Brains, Art & Craft Work, Maths Quiz, and while the Trophy was handed over to the Co-opted Director Riddles & Puzzles. In addition, there were winning team jointly by Rtn President Ravi Rtn. Cherian K. Baby three talks/presentations by Rtn D Narasimhan and first Venkatesh on Leadership, Rtn Suman lady Indrani. Club Trainer Shankar on Communication and by Wg Cdr Rtn. Shivdev Deshmudre The performance of the (Rtd) DP Sabharwal on Ideas which were students in all events followed up by an exercise on Ideas except Art and Craft as Club Co-ordinator regarding the uses to which a 'Paper-clip' can Rtn. Samir Gupta noticed from the marks Guru Nanak, Mother Teresa) Scientists (Homi Bhabha, Ramanujan, SN Bose, CV Raman), Sportsperson (Viswanathan Anand, Mary Kom, PV Sindhu, Pankaj Advani). Highest score was 10 followed by second highest 9. Just a few more scored seven and six. More than half the students scored 5 or less! In their feedback, students appreciated the ambiance of Shishu Mandir as well as the meals: breakfast and lunch. The event that was most liked by the participants was Art and Craft, in which students were given a A-4 size sheet and asked to make anything without the use of any aids like pins, tape, glue etc. This 15 minutes activity produced really excellent & outstanding work by many students and the judges had a really difficult task to name the final winners. The first prize winner was a 'lotus flower' while the second prize was a 'family of butterflies.' All the three presentations were liked by the participants. However the most liked presentation was 'Communications' by Rtn Suman Shankar. Many students expressed a desire that 'RYLA' should have obtained was moderate to poor. However, it was really poor been of a longer duration' and that there should have been in Personalities Quiz in which they were shown 20 pictures group activities (these are features of our normal 2-days in five categories namely Artists (Lata Mangeshkar, Ravi RYLA event) which, alas, we could not have this year due to Shankar, Bismillah Khan, MS Subbalakshmi), Nation Builders Covid19! The best feedback we got however was: 'I just enjoyed.' (TN Seshan, Verghese Kurien, E Sreedharan, MS Wg Cdr(Rtd) DP Sabharwal Swaminathan), Saints (Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekanand, Director, Youth Services. An Afternoon's Reflections It's coffee time, this afternoon, I picked up 6 cups as I usually Many couples of our age group I am sure, are already in the do, but realise that all are out at work, and there's a need only zone and club of empty nesters, We too would join them for two. pretty soon. “Will be home by 7”, is what I had heard both my sons and Knowing fully well that this is the reality of the husband yell, As they stepped out to work this morning after next phase, I decided that I should and must fully a year long interval. well brace. It's almost a year now since the world was thrown into a So I sought help from our ever so reliable and frenzy, When the virus from Wuhan spread it's tentacles knowledgeable Google master, and without exponentially. doubt they did have plenty of advice to offer. Before long, it was declared a pandemic, Anxiety, You were known as a soccer mom, badminton Apprehension, Concern, Doubt and Fear reigned supreme in mom till now they say, go on and live your own everyone's mind for almost the entire year. identity, But who's to tell them that my Sanitisers, soaps, social distancing, shields and masks children's mom I prefer to be! became essentials, in fact mandatory; Lockdowns, Develop a hobby, follow your passion, they Quarantine, Testing, Isolation, were part of every household say, go hone a new skill, Little do they dictionary. know that I only need a hobby if I have too With work from home and virtual meetings being the new much time to kill. norm, At home for coffee, breakfast, lunch and dinner, Your home, they say, will be quiet and clean No cups to clear, the attendance was in full bloom, which, before lockdown, no beds for tidying, No loud music or chatter for you to bear, was far thinner. but what's true is that the silence is deafening. With the vaccine reality round the corner and colleges, Once your kids are out on their own, I'm told, It's best you offices opening up in a staggered manner, We are slowly but downsize your entire household, And this advice I'll definitely surely inching closer to normalcy, in due time, if not sooner. take, to which, to ransom, my husband I'll hold. As I sat down and recalled the past, the present, in my mind I They'll soon find their own partners and will be on their way, began to ponder, What the future will be like, I slowly began And I with my old partner Will have to adjust and stay!! to wonder. But, I admit, it's the cycle of life, today it's my turn, tomorrow The prospect of children moving out of home in pursuit of theirs, acceptance is the key in order to have peace and it's work, higher studies or spouse, Which was on the back better to be prepared than be caught unawares. burner up until now, has risen again with full force. Ann Vinita Sivakumar Decoding Budget 20-21 On 11th February 2021, for our 33rd The last one is where I felt Mr.Doshi's meeting, we had Mr.Vikram Doshi as talk fell into, without in any way being the speaker. Mr.Doshi is a practicing boring of course –it was crisp, very chartered accountant, and a tax and informative and with a clear regulatory professional and is a subjective opinion voiced with facts partner at PwC India and was brought to back his reasoning. in by our Rtn N V Sivakumar at short The optimism that he exuded was notice. certainly not misplaced as was Sivakumar also introduced the evident by the reeling of facts and speaker to those physically present data for the next 45 odd minutes, and joining virtually. some of the highlights being the huge The topic of his talk was “Decoding proposed spend on Infrastructure the Budget 2021-22”. that will truly have a multiplier effect, the current positive I recall reading recently online on 4 types of budget analyses: trends already such as the high GST collections announced › Category 1 : The shallow skincare routine. Give a shallow just before the budget – up by 10%. The tech sector is sensational twist. Tell us the bottom line. Is this good, demonstrating its high resilience to the pandemic, and the bad or ugly? Forget the analysis. Loved by : Television real silver lining being the Agri-sector showing very promising media. growth. › Category 2 : This budget is awesome. With a quote by The talk was an unbiased assessment of our budget from his prominent CXO explaining why this budget is the best own personal perspective that scores 10 on 10 for him budget ever. Loved by : Corporate India. considering the backdrop in which it was announced, the › Category 3 : The creative one.