PRESIDENT Rtn. Dr. N.V. Arulmozhi Varman

HoNoRARy SECRETARy Rtn. Dr. R. Chandrasekhar

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Rtn. A.S. Venkhat Ramani

PRESIDENT ELECT Rtn. P N Mohan

PRESIDENT NoMINEE Rtn. Ranjit Pratap

Asst. SECRETARy / BULLETIN EDIToR Rtn. Mohan Raman

DIRECToR CLUB ADMINISTRATIoN Rtn. R. Rajenderan

DIRECToR yoUTH SERVICE Rtn. M Sesha Sai

DIRECToR PUBLIC IMAGE AND FUND RAISING Rtn. Harish K. Murthi

DIRECToR RoTARy FoUNDATIoN & INTERNATIoNAL SERVICES Rtn. M. Balasubramaniam

DIRECToR SERVICE PRoJECT 1 Rtn. R. Ravishankar

DIRECToR SERVICE PRoJECT 2 Rtn. K.M. Vinod Kumar

DIRECToR VoCATIoNAL SERVICE Rtn. S. Ravi

TREASURER (CLUB FUNDS) Rtn. Hemant Chordia

TREASURER (CHARITABLE TRUST) Rtn. Nimish C. Tolia

TREASURER (SPECIAL PRoJECTS) Rtn. Kishor Dandeker

The LighthouseBulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras2016-2017 • Edition No.5

August 2, 2016 • 5 Pages

All those Rotarians who didn’t come to the farm of President Arul, wanting to spend a lazy Sunday instead, have

missed out on a lot of fun and frolic. Those of us who did make it, some with spouse and children, and the Rotractors from Jeppiar college had a very memorable day.

Starting with lip-smacking breakfast from Hotel Maris, courtesy Rtn.Anand Rengaswamy, all of us then joined a game of Housie conducted with great panache by Rtn. Dr.Parkavi, and by the time it ended, the 2 hour bus journey was over. The fellowship had well and truly begun.

On entering the Farm, we were first given tender coconut water. Then were divided in two groups and while one group was led by President himself, the other Group was led by his senior staff. The groups were first

taken to a Cow Shed and explained how not only the cow’s milk, but even its urine, was very useful and could generate revenue. The spotlessly clean cow shed made a Rotarian comment that she mistook the place as the canteen for workers in the Farm!

The groups were then escorted into a shed covered with green net, where green vegetables normally cultivated in hill stations were being grown. This was possible because of the heat being substantially reduced by the green nets. Then we were shown farm lands where different vegetables were cultivated, with all farming being done without the use of any chemical fertilizer. The entire farmland is being nurtured routinely through manure and compost, which is almost fully sourced from within the farm itself.

At many places we could spot rows of green

A visit to Dr. Arul’s Farm

Continued on next page

boxes, housing Bees. Our President explained the critical role being played by the Bees in pollination of plants, and hence we were able to appreciate their usefulness. From cultivation of rice, to turmeric, and trees of Coconut, Mango Guava, Cashew to Chickoo, the Farm had everything. We could overhear more than a couple of Rotarians remarking that they should also contemplate getting into Farming.

The Rotarians then assembled and planted a few Saplings to symbolically mark the commencement of Mega Tree Planting initiative. Dr.Arul’s farmhands then took over the task of planting the entire 500 saplings in a special area identified by the President. The enthusiasm amongst the Rotarians and

the Rotaractors to join the planting exercise, was a joy to witness.

From the lush green view of Farm lands, we were suddenly transported to a totally different scenario - one of high octane and adrenaline pumping activity. A group of flying enthusiasts were ready to give the visiting Rotarians a glimpse of their talent at operating remote-controlled planes and helicopters, For over an hour, we saw different types of aircrafts taking off, performing superb stunts in the air and landing perfectly. The highlight was a mini Jet plane which was flown for over 5 minutes, that enthralled all with its eye-popping stunts done at such high speed.

The President had arranged for chilled Beverages and a mocktail of mango /

ginger / lime to cool down the Group, after the air show. While most in the Group got busy with the fellowship, some enjoyed rides in a two horse carriage and some in a 4 wheel drive Willy’s Jeep. Lip smacking non-vegetarian food from a popular restaurant and delicious vegetarian food, cooked at the farm itself, was served to the Rotarians, under the watchful eyes of the President and First Lady who ensured that each guest was well fed.

When Rtn. Ravishankar thanked President and First Lady for hosting the Rotarians in their Farm and their exceptional hospitality, one could see happiness in every participants face, which matched that of the Hosts. A truly wonderful day of fellowship indeed.

- Rtn. Ravishankar

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • August 2, 20162From previous page

President read out a letter sent by DG of our District: You are aware that the election pilot program governing the election process for DGN Election is withdrawn by RI and RI has advised me to seek a referendum from all clubs

in RI District 3230, seeking their opinion/voting, whether to have a nominating committee procedure which is on for several years or have a direct voting without a nominating committee.

Hence I am calling for a referendum as advised by RI, details are hereunder: This has to be announced in a club regular meeting and the ballot to be ticked by President/ Secretary.

President stated that the matter will be circulated to all and also discussed by the board and then voted on at the next regular weekly meeting.

reFerenDum

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • August 2, 20163

Sgt-at-arms Rtn M Srinivasan collared President Rtn Dr Arulmozhi Varman who called the

5th meeting of RCM to order, followed by a silent invocation.

The minutes of the 26th July’16 was duly confirmed.

President welcomed the speaker of the day Mr Ananthanarayanan, Founder & Mentor of reStore, who will address us on ‘Food & Sustainable Agriculture’.

President welcomed visiting Rotarian PP DS Reddy, guests introduced by members.

President also welcomed Rtn Ariya Ori of Mumbai who wants to do a project with RCM on water purification plant.

President then extended birthday & wedding anniversary wishes to the respective Rotarians/spouses who celebrate that week and thanked for their sunshine.

Rtn Mohan Raman requested Rtn

Biswajit Babu, Cartoonist of our bulletin to hand over the picture to Rtn Markand Deasi and in turn Rtn Markand announced a donation of Rs 2000 towards corpus.

Rtn Vijay Kumar Kadel reported on the visit to President Dr Arul’s farm on Sunday 31st July. He said it was a good family get together, where 50 rotarians joined with families. All enjoyed the trip as various interesting activities like tree planting, horse riding, remote control flights etc were arranged. He requested more members to join in such occasions to have more bonding with families.

Rtn IPP AS Venkhat Ramani gave an overview of the Global Grant applied and the returns to our Club received to the tune of $1.58 lacs. Thanked Rtn Markand & Rtn Dr Anuradha Ganesan for their term gift which has yielded good returns for our club. This will be utilized for the building of the toilets at Panaiyur, Periya pulliyur villages and making of 2 wells, which will benefit the community in a huge way. He thanked

the team for their efforts in getting the global grant.

Rishab of Bangalore boarding school said the he could raise funds for the Chennai flood relief for 7 lacs which is used to produce paper products by the mentally challenged. He requested RCM to buy the products for their sustainable living.

Rtn Arya Ori of Bombay interestingly showed a video about her project in creating communal water plant in Mumbai. The basic idea is to install community water plants in rural areas and urban slums, where there is no

access to clean drinking water. Once the plant is installed, the local women community is engaged to run the plant.The income is re-used towards running of the plant again. Thus the plant becomes self-sustainable. The clippings gave an idea of the plant. President said that the feasibility of this plant can be tried in our Rotary Nagar.

President was pleased to announce that Rtn Capt Ramaswamy has been conferred Doctorate by AMET University this month 7th.

Secy Rtn Dr R Chandrasekhar announced that the next weekly regular meeting is on the 9th August ’16 and the speaker will be Mr Alok Srivatsava who will speak on ‘Stem Cells’.

Rtn Sumit Kumar Kalra introduced the speaker Mr Ananthanarayanan by reading out his profile. Currently he is working on the social issues predominantly on safe sustainable food & Agriculture. He works with few farmers for his retail outlet on sustainable farming and runs his non profitable firm reStore, mainly to take organic food especially to the middle class.

Speaker Mr Ananthanarayan spoke interestingly on Food & Sustainable Agriculture with a help of visual slides. Later took questions from the floor.

President presented a memento and our 80 year history book ‘A Timeless legacy’ to the speaker on behalf of RCM.

Rtn Gooch Kumar thanked the speaker for sharing his thoughts on the food we take and his passion for his work & research.

The meeting was then adjourned.

minutes2nd AUGUST 2016

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • August 2, 20164He coordinates and convenes the

market related activities and work towards setting up an organic market for organic produce from small farmers across the nation. He is also working with cotton farmers to help them grow cotton organically, procure it, hand spin, hand weave, natural dye, manually stitch and sell the garments and plough the profits back to their livelihoods.

Ananthoo quoted a a great farm critic Wendell Berry ‘Eating is an agricultural act’ which implies that we think of ourselves as just consumers. He said that it is very much essential for all of us to understand the food we consume in terms of its production/processing & packaging. Our food is produced by farmers and ends up in our plates. The food products changes hands in between and there is a possibility of external and unnatural materials being added to the food in the production and post production processes which is quite high in terms of pesticides of different kinds, use of genetically modified seeds, chemicals, flavours etc. These controversial products are added in the name of either increasing yields, faster growth, ripening etc. These products that are added to our crops & foods are indeed a cause of concern. The presence of toxic pesticide residue in food is a great threat to our health as they may cause various diseases like cancer, affects the immune system etc.

Ananthoo showed a clipping of a cancer train which runs from Punjab to Rajasthan and the cancer in Punjab is being correlated to the use of harmful pesticides. He pointed out that more than 3 lacs farmers had committed suicide in India due to economic reasons. This is due to the

high input costs of farming and the low procurement price all of which disturbs the livelihood of the farmers and for this the govt/society are also to be blamed.

He gave a camparison between sugar and jaggery, as both are sweeteners but are produced differently. Jaggery is safe with iron & enzymes suitable for our body, but sugar has glucose and is nothing but bad for our body as it has got sulphur and other bleaching agents to make it white which is harmful for our health. The more alkaline the food the better was his observation. Unlike food like jiggery all the white food products sugar/salt trigger cancer cells. Similarly he referred to refined oils which are not properly extracted and processed as a result heart ailments have increased considerably especially after the introduction package oil. Also one must be knowing the ingredients used in milk shakes like strawberry/mango, chemicals used in cosmetics, as all are invariably detrimental to health. Ananthoo said that using of “til” oil is better & safe as per Ayurveda.

He advised all to run if you see these words: Hydrogentated or Fractionated Oils, high fructose corn syrup, Artificial Flavors, Potassium Benzoate and Sodium Benzoate, Artificial Coloring, Aspartame (nutrasweet, equal etc) or any artificial sweeteners; sucralose, saccharin.. BHA and BHT (Butylated hydroxyanisole & butylated hydrozyttoluene –cancer-causing ), Propyl Gallate, Potassium Sorbate, Soy Lecithin, Polysorbate 80, corn, sugar, canola oil, Potassium Bromate, Natural raspberry flavor, Soy Lecithin.

His message was – Know what you are eating.

KnOWWHAT

YOu eAT

Mr. Anantha Narayanan a Telecom Engineer by profession now works only on social causes

predominantly on safe Food and sustainable

agriculture. Ananthoo as he is better known is also

the coordinator of Safe Food Alliance - a group of volunteers and consumers

who promote safe and organic food.

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • August 2, 20165President A P J Kalam remembered By Our rotary nagar Children

Installation of Interact Club of Adharsh Vdiyalaya

The Installation of Interact Club of Adharsh Vidyalaya at Royapettah was held at the

school premises. It was a simple and warm function and almost 80 students attended.

The Go green project was explained well by Rtn. Jayashree Srdihar.

Our past president spoke very well and inspired the students.

The Incoming President Interactor Banu, is the apt president, as she had donated her hair for the cause of the cancer patients.

The Programme ended with cultural programme.

On 28th July 2016 the children of our Rotary Nagar project had a touchingl

function to commemorate the first death anniversary of Presdient APJ Kalam. The students mentioned some highlights of his life, recalled his affection for students. and also recited some of his popular quotes. A small skit was also enacted by them.

The costing of the package is as follows:-Per adult sharing in a double or triple room: - USD 1,849 equivalent Indian Rs.127600/-Per adult in a single room: - USD 2,334 equivalent Indian Rs.161100/-**ROE is subject to change at the time of confirmation****Full transportation will be by road**

Prices include:- Transportation in 4x4 land cruiser with pop-up roof ideal for game viewing and sightseeing.- Services of a trained and experienced English speaking driver/guide- Full board accommodation in the lodge as mentioned

- bed & breakfast in the city hotels - Gala dinner in Nairobi - Bottled water 02x300ml per person per day during the safari- Game drives In national parks & reserves - Park entrance fees - return airport transfers- Safari starts / ends in Nairobi Prices Exclude: - Drinks- Flights - Expenses of a personal nature e.g. laundry etc- Any extras incurred at the lodge- Tips and porter age- Any extras not in the inclusions above- Any deviation in sightseeing or itinerary

TOTAL COSTING:

FULL PACKAGE BY ROAD + AIRFARE + VISA CHARGES

Double / Triple Room:Rs.1,27,600/- + Rs.52,500/- + Rs.5,000/- = Rs.1,85,100/-

Single Room:Rs.1,61,100/- + Rs.52,500/- + Rs.5,000/- = Rs.2,18,600/-

6 nights / 7 Days Kenya Safari

Our congratulations to Rtn. Capt. Ramasamy on being awarded an Honorary Doctorate on 3rd of August at the 6th Convocation of AMET university.

Safari program at a glance: Day 1: Ol-Pejeta Day 2: Ol-Pejeta Day 3: Nairobi Day 4: Masai Mara Day 5: Masai Mara Day 6: Masai Mara Day 7: Departure from International airport

9th Aug – Rtn Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali Azimjah9th Aug – PP SN Srikanth9th Aug – Rtn Sunil Kumar11th Aug – Rtn MCt P Chidambaram11th Aug – Rtn N R Gupta13th Aug – Rtn Hemu Ramaiah14th Aug – Rtn Harish Dhingra15th Aug – Rtn R Baba Shankar15th Aug – Rtn G Chella Krishna15th Aug – Rtn Sarath Naru15th Aug – Rtn Dr Nitesh Jain11th Aug – Ann.Abirami (Rtn Jawahar Vadivelu)12th Aug – Ann.Lalitha (Rtn M Balasubramanain)14th Aug – Ann Sheetal (Rtn Rajit Mhetras)12th Aug – Ann.Chandrika (Rtn M Ct P Chidambaram)15th Aug – Ann.Rupal (Rtn Sanjay V Parikh)15th Aug – Ann.Dr Rekha (Rtn N Ramachandran)

Rtn PP S Gunashekar – `5000Rtn S Ravi – ` 15,000 (RCMBTS)Rtn Dr Gauthamadas Udipi - $100 (TRF)Rtn Ravee Malhotra – `1000Secy Rtn Dr R Chandrasekar – `1000Rtn R Rajenderan – `1000Rtn Markand Desai – `2000

(Corpus )

9th Aug – Rtn Ashok Bajaj - Ann.Jyothi10th Aug – Rtn L Gopinath - Ann.Anitha15th Aug – Rtn Iqbal Sait - Ann.Mahvash

Birthday

Wedding

Sunshine

EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY: Rtn. Asst. Secretary, Rotary Club of Madras, ‘Rayala Towers’, 2nd Mezzanine Floor, 158, Anna Salai, Chennai - 2, Ph: 28591020.Contact the editor at: lighthouse201516@gmail.com. Design: www.studiodescience.com

Visit: www.rotarymadras.in Contact club secretariat at: office@rotarymadras.in

archivesFrom theRtn. PP. N.K. Gopinath

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • August 2, 20166

EDITORIAL COMMITTEEAdvisors: Rtn. PP N.K. Gopinath,

Rtn. Sunita SureshChairman: Rtn. Mohan Raman

Rtn. Shaan Katari Libby, Rtn. Bhaswar Mukherjee, Rtn. Shakthi Girish,

Rtn. Biswajit Babu, Rtn. Sandhya Sridhar, Rtn. R. Ravishankar, Rtn. Hiren B. Shah,

P.S. Sridharan

Greetings to the Executive and members of the Rotary Club Of Madras. As requested by Mr Gopinath, it is my pleasure to write a few words concerning my Grandfather Gustav Dilger, a charter member of your branch of Rotary.

Gustav Dilger was my maternal grandfather. He was born in Winterthur Switzerland on 2nd August 1891, the second child of Gustav Theophil Dilger (Master Bookbinder) and Elisabetha Dilger nee Muller. Following an education in Winterthur (Switzerland), he was employed by the shipping company Volkart Brothers, initially in Switzerland, and prior to the First World War, he was transferred to the company’s branch office in Bombay( Mumbai). With the onset of war, and as required by the Swiss Government, he enlisted in the British Indian army’s Home Defence Regiment but did not see any active service. At the time of the end of the war, as a member of the Swiss Club of Bombay, he was involved in entertaining Australian Army Nursing sisters involved in the nursing of evacuees from Europe at the Gerard Freeman Thomas War Hospital in Mumbai. It was thus that he met my grandmother Kathleen Harvey, an Australian Army Nurse working at the Freeman Thomas Hospital. After a period of courting, my grandmother had to return to Melbourne to be discharged from the Royal Australian Army Nursing Service, following which, she returned to India and my grandparents were married in Colombo on 27th March 1920. Following the birth of my mother Joan, their only child, in November 1920, my Grandfather was made the manager of the Madras office of Volkart Bros., and the family moved to Madras. In Madras, in addition to managing the Volkart branch, he acted as local representative for the Swiss Consul in Bombay. I believe my grandparents were members of the Madras Club. My grandfather was also a great believer in the principals of the Rotary Movement, and of ethical behavior in business and together with a number of other members of the business community, was

involved in the chartering of the Madras Branch of Rotary. Around 1930, for reasons unknown to me, my Grandparents considered migration to Australia, and as my grandmother’s family were mainly in Melbourne, they made a trip to Australia to decide whether they would be happy with this move. I suspect that both the Depression and the developing problems in Europe played a role in decision making . They must have agreed on Australia as the preferable option, as they moved to Melbourne in 1933 where My Grandfather resided until his sudden untimely death in November 1946. My grandmother deceased in November 1950.

Their only daughter Joan, my mother, married my father, RAAF Pilot Officer Frederick Robilliard in August 1941, and of the marriage, I am the second son and one of six children.There are several grandchildren and great grandchildren here in Australia.

I feel an enormous gratitude to my late Grandfather and Grandmother for the foresight to provide the means for education for myself and my siblings, and we have them to thank for the education that we have received. I believe that my Grandfather and Grandmother would be proud of their achievements not only in a family context but also in regard to the success and ongoing good deeds of the Rotary Club of Madras .May I thank you for the invitation extended by Mr.Gopinath to me to attend on the occasion of Charter Night . I must apologise for not being able to be with you , but unfortunately, I will be in Europe attending the Graduation of my Daughter at Warwick University as a Doctor of Philosophy .My wife and I hope to visit Chennai in the not too distant future to see in real time that which I have for all of my life, only seen in small black and white photographs. Congratulations, and once again, my apology for not being able to be with you for Charter Night.

David RobilliardMelbourne/Australia.

Gustav Emile Dilger, Charter Member of Rotary Club of Madras.