Talent Showcase by Specially-abled Children

RCBW’s Helping Hand in Enhancing Farm Productivity

On Wednesday, 19^th June, 2019, Rotary Club of Bombay West (RCBW) inaugurated a unique rural project which will support increase in farm productivity through practical training infrastructure for Krishi Vidyaan Kendra (KVK) at Village Kosbad, Tal.Dahanu in Palghar District.

The KVK Kosbad was hosted by Gokhale Education Society (GES) which celebrated its 90^th Anniversary recently.  GES  has on its rolls, 200,000+ students participating in its education institutions at 10 centres spread out in Mumbai, Nashik, Thane and Palghar regions with the help of 5000+ staff.  GES set up The Agriculture Institute, Kosbad in 1949 under leadership of renowned agri-experts.  In 1977, when Dr.M.S.Swaminathan, the pioneer of green revolution in India designed grass-root level vocational training centres viz. KVKs, The Agriculture Institute Kosbad was among the first ones to set up KVK Kosbad for Thane region.  Since then, KVK Kosbad has been rendering yeoman service to the farming community through its various on-site and offsite training programmes aimed at bridging gap between available technologies and their applications for increased productivity.

With a view to expand its reach and increase its capability to intake more number of students / farmers for onsite practical vocational training, a new spacious facility of 2800 sq.ft. has been constructed at a cost of Rs.25 lakhs by RCBW with major contributions from Past President Dr.Mohanbhai Patel, Ex-Sheriff of Bombay as well as from Gokhale Education Society.  Some members of RCBW too contributed in this noble endeavour which will annually benefit over 10000 small and marginal farmers and students.  The training facility is named Krishi Vigyaan Kendra’s Smt.Chandaben Mohanbhai Patel Rotary Farmers’ Training Centre. 

The Training Centre was inaugurated by Dr.Mohanbhai Patel in presence of Dr.Anand Gupta, President, RCBW, Shri P.A.Raut, Zonal Secretary, GES, Shri Vilas Jadhav, Head – KVK, Kosbad Hill and Smt.Nisha Sagar.  The function was attended by several agri-experts from the neighborhood as well as Past Presidents and Members of RCBW who had come in large numbers all the way from Mumbai.

RCBW has associated itself with GES since 2012 by supporting its various rural ashram shaalas in Palghar District to improve its infrastructure by building new classrooms, community halls, kitchens, toilet blocks and generally enhancing the learning environment with providing educational tools, e-Learning kits and sports kits. 

-          PP Rtn.Aslam Merchant

Celebrating 65 Glorious Years

RCBW – Celebrating 65 Glorious Years

Rotary Club of Bombay West turned 65 on 22^nd April, 2019!

To celebrate its Anniversary, a grand function was held on Wednesday 24^th April, 2019 at The Club, Andheri West, Mumbai  with the District Governor, Rtn.Shashi Sharma gracing the occasion and blessing the Club with many more years of service to humanity.  Over 150 members, spouses and invited guests attended the event which also saw felicitation of members who had devoted over 50 years in Rotary.

The evening began with a crisp welcome address by President Anand Gupta who then handed over the proceedings to the MC duo – PP Rtn.Chandramohan Saigal and Past Secretary Rtn.Dr.Usha Jayachandran.  Among the veterans who were felicitated were Past President & Ex-Sheriff of Mumbai Dr.Mohanbhai I Patel, Past District Governor Rtn.Sajjan Goenka, Rtn.Shrikant Sathe and Past President Rtn.Shashi Walawalkar.

An audio visual presentation of 15 minutes by Past President Rtn.Aslam Merchant took the audience down the memory lane.  The presentation highlighted the major milestones, community service projects and key initiatives of the Club to serve the neighborhood community through its 65 years of existence from 1954 to 2019.

Hasya Kavi Dr.Mukesh Gautam was invited to entertain the audience with his witty gags and funny stories.  His 45-minute performance left the audience in splits.

President Elect Rtn.Samapti Patel gave a hearty vote of thanks.

Guests then enjoyed the fellowship time with happy hours and sumptuous dinner sponsored by Rtn.Prashant Patel till in the night.

- Report by PP Rtn.Aslam Merchant

Link to Photographs of the Event

Ek Mulaqat, Hansaji Ke Saath - Celebrating International Women’s Day

Rotary Club of Bombay West in association with Inner Wheel Club of Bombay West, Rotary Club of Bombay Airport, its sponsored Rotaract Clubs and The Yoga Institute celebrated International Women’s Day in a unique way with Chief Guest, Dr.Hansaji Yogendra.

Welcoming the gathering, Rtn.Anand Gupta, President of RC of Bombay West said that International Women’s day to him was the celebration of respect, appreciation, love and care towards women in our life and in the society.  He urged everyone to join together as partners – women and girls, men and boys – to make gender equality a reality for all.

Dr.Hansaji Yogendra, Director of the Yoga Institute, in a conversation with Dr.Kavita Rege, President of Inner Wheel Club of Bombay West, offered insights of Yoga philosophy, importance of Yoga in today’s world,  the need to control our mind for healthy being, food intake and diets, significance of proper rest and sleep, maintaining healthy family relationships, generation gap, etc.  Her easy solutions to complex life problems delivered in easy to understand language impressed the gathering of over 200 people from the community, students and teachers of the Yoga Classes conducted at Rotary and members of the host organizations.  Members from the audience too asked some pertinent questions to Dr.Hansaji which she replied with flair in plain and simple sentences.

Earlier, Dr.Hansaji Yogendra was introduced by her disciple and a Yoga Counselor, Rotary Ann Shahin Merchant.  Dr.Hansaji, an honorary member of RC of Bombay West, is Chairperson of Yoga Certification Council of Quality Council of India and President of International Board of Yoga.  Over the past five decades, Hansaji has made significant contributions in areas like yoga education, research, experiential learning and standardisation of yoga practices. She led the NCERT project of designing and formulating Yoga Education Syllabus for schools nationwide.  Shahin also gave details of Dr.Hansaji’s contribution to research work on treating various ailments through Yoga as well as the social initiatives undertaken by The Yoga Institute under her leadership.  To her students, Dr.Hansaji is not only a guru, but a true friend, a mentor and a guide.

Rtn.Suketu Jariwala proposed a well-structured vote of thanks which came straight from the heart.  The event was followed by a sumptuous dinner for all invited guests.

-          Report by Rtn.Aslam Merchant

Dr.Samir Bhargava honoured with Rotary Vocational Excellence Award

Rotary Vocational Excellence Award 2018-19 was conferred on Dr.Samir Krishnakant Bhargava, a renowned ENT Surgeon, at the Club’s meeting held on Wednesday, 20^th February, 2019.

Dr. Samir Krishnakant Bhargava is a gold medallist and first ranker in M.S. {ENT} and is a diploma holder in {D.O.R.L}.  He is currently associated with HBT Medical college and Cooper hospital as Professor and Hinduja hospital as consultant. He is President Elect of Association of Otolaryngologists of India.  His publication ‘A Short Text Book on ENT Diseases’ has been referred by over 2.5 lakh students.  He is a recipient of several awards and recognitions in his vocation as well as community service.  Dr.Samir is son of our senior member, Dr.Krishnakant Bhargava and an active Rotarian from Rotary Club of Bombay Seacoast.

Dr.Samir thanked President and members of our Club for the honour bestowed on him. Dr Samir said that almost a lakh of new born infants in India are deaf. However since certain tests are not mandatory,  by the time parents realise that their Child is hearing impaired, she/he is already 4-5 yrs old.  In 2020 when he takes over as President of Association of Otolaryngologists of India he plans to push for mandatory testing for hearing deficiencies at the time of birth.

Dr .Samir then made a presentation on “Sonoring – Not Funny, Not Hopeless” and gave us an insight into problems related to snoring.  Snoring can do a lot more harm than just annoy your partner – it can lead to poor sleep quality and quantity. Some of the people who snore loudly could be suffering from obstructive sleep apnea.  Sleep apnea is a serious condition causing a person to wake up in order to start breathing again.  Regular snoring doesn’t typically wake up a person.  Generally people in the middle or older age group tend to snore.  Percentage of male snorers is higher than females. Fatigue, mood swings, headaches are symptoms of sleep apnea.  This can lead to broken marriages, car accidents or feeling like a zombie in spite of sleeping for 7/8hrs as also serious health problems. There is no medicinal cure for sleep apnea. CPAP is a device which helps to keep airways openbut a large percentage of people are not comfortable using it.  To reduce snoring one should not sleep on the back but should sleep on the side. Weight loss, exercising and limiting consumption of alcohol and smoking should be followed. Each person would have different reason for snoring or for suffering from sleep apnea and hence there is no single solution to the problem.

The meeting ended with Rtn.G.S.R.K.Rao giving vote of thanks.

-          R/Ann Geeta Mohan Joshi

   

District Legal Seminar : Family Disputes on Succession of Properties & Will

A Legal Seminar Family Disputes on Succession of Properties & Will was organized by the District Team led by Chief Group Avenue Head Rtn.Virendra Widge and Avenue Chair Rtn.Ashok Shetty (Convener) at Rotary  Service Centre, Juhu on Saturday, 5^th January, 2019.  Rotary Club of Bombay West were the Lead Host Club of this district event.

Keynote Guest Speakers CA Akshay Shah and Adv Vipul Shah – both considered to the expert on the subject with warehouse of practical knowledge – made brilliant presentations to the 100+ participants, mainly from the neighborhood community and members of various Rotary Clubs from District 3141.  The  lucid and well-structured talk on a very complicated though important subject which impacts every individual in the society was suitably appreciated by the audience. This was followed by a very active Q&A Session where several queries were posed by the participants to the experts on the dais.  

The Q&A Session was moderated by Adv Rtn.Hiralal Suthar, member of Rotary Club of Bombay West, who also summarized the learnings and gave his closing remarks.  Handouts on key provisions related to a Will, Useful tips on preparation of a Will and highlights of Hindu Succession Act, 1956 were distributed to the participants as takeaways.

Rtn.Ashok Shetty thanked both the Guest Speakers for sharing their knowledge with the audience and hoped that the free advice rendered by them would be followed and derive benefits from it.  He also thanked the 8 (eight) co-host Clubs viz. Rotary Club of Bombay, Bombay Airport, Bandra, Bandra BKC, Mumbai Juhu, Greencity, Parleshwar & Iconic for supporting the event.  Certificates of Appreciation were handed over to the representatives from these co-host Clubs by Rtn.Virendra Widge.

Earlier, Rtn.Anand Gupta, President – Rotary Club of Bombay West welcomed the gathering.  PP Rtn.Aslam Merchant for Bombay West proposed a formal vote of thanks.

The awesome feedback received from the participants post the Seminar was indeed encouraging.

-          Report by Rtn.Aslam Merchant, RC of Bombay West

Achieving Success in Stock Market Is Simple – Shri Ramesh Damani

Rotary Club of Bombay West was delighted to have Shri Ramesh Damani, the Ace Investor and Member of BSE, as a Guest Speaker at its Meeting held on Wednesday, 2^nd January, 2019.

In his presentation 20/20 Looking Back, Looking Forward made to a jam-packed hall at Rotary Service Centre, Juhu, Shri Damani stressed on starting early the journey of investment in Stock Markets.  The compounding effect for those who start early is huge as compared to those who decide to splurge their income when they are young and start investments much later in their career.  During the decades since he started investing in Indian Stock Markets in 1984, so many unsolicited events, scandals, disasters have occurred leading to markets crashing - like the assassination of Prime Ministers, Communal Riots, Bomb Blasts, War, Tech Meltdown, Tsunami, Demonetisation, GST to name a few.  To quote Shri Damani, “India Grows at Night”.  Despite all this, the index has seen steady rise over this period giving a decent Y-o-Y returns to the Investors like no other investment product.  India growth story is intact and he was bullish on the long term prospects.  According to him, Indian markets offer greater opportunities to the investors in the next 20-25 years as compared to the last 20-25 years.

Becoming rich through Stock Market Investments is Simple.  All one needs to do is, as mentioned earlier, start early,  identify businesses which will do well over the next decade and beyond and spot for specific stocks within that space.  Ofcourse, he added that it requires a lot of hard work to do your own research and pick the winners.

Some of the potential winners in coming years would come from stocks in Liquor, Tobacco, Gaming, Real Estate, Clean Energy, Quick Service Restaurants, Airlines, Tech NBFCs, Logistics, Entertainment & Content and Algorithms, AI, Robots, Data, Curators.  While the potential losers would belong to Auto, Auto Ancillary, Auto Insurance, Refining, Textiles, Conventional Banking, Pharma and Heavy Labour Industries.

His final advise was stay invested for longer term. The Presentation ended with a quote - “Financial winners don’t run sprints, they run marathons. They don’t rush.  They do step by step over time.”

-          Report by Rtn.Aslam Merchant