‘UDAAN’ is sponsored by one of the Leading Hospitals of Nagpur- Lata Mangeshkar Hospital, and is also supported by Department of Social Welfare-Zilla Parishad, Hotel Centre Point and 94.3 My FM. The Grand Crowd is expected to be of more than 1100 people.

All the members are requested to contribute at least 1 hour of their precious time to serve as volunteer in this noble project, kindly give your name to the chairpersons:

• Sanjay Sethi (9823077755)
• Rita Bhargava (9890384144)
• Neena Parikh (9823074112)
• Divya Dass (9890387018)

My Dear Rotarians,

The opportunity every month to write a message to club members and their families is a wonderful tradition. This gives me the opportunity to communicate with every one of you directly, for I sincerely believe that…. The Future of Rotary is in your hands. In Rotary everything we are and everything we aspire to become lies in your hands, in your spirit. If our club is congenial, our meetings well run, if we as members speak in one voice, if our service is carefully planned and competently carried out, if our members are qualified, honest and respected, sincere and true, then our club will thrive. The love of our club must bind us together and this love must be more powerful than anything that could dent our club for petty electoral gains or positions.

The Walkathon now in its 8 year in succession is gaining more momentum and has found a place in the city calendar. This year with more than 3500 registrations, its popularity is proved. January was Rotary Awareness month. The Walkathon is our club’s biggest public relations exercise and a novel addition to this year’s Walkathon was a photo gallery showcasing our clubs projects at the venue. It was an opportunity to enhance our public image and spread awareness.

Our annual pilgrimage to Hemalkasa was meticulously planned and superbly executed. It is truly a project which is close to each Rotarian who participates. The statistics in numbers of patients and surgeries performed are mind boggling, but the satisfaction and fulfilment of serving is immeasurable. A big thank you to all the Doctors, medical teams, volunteers and members who put in a lot of hard work which goes into making such a big exercise so seamless and well conducted.

Two recent instances exemplifying the power of the Rotary movement touched me and I wish to share it here. The Hemalkasa team of a few Rotarians was shopping for fruits at the Cotton Market. The unknown vendor generally enquired the purpose for such large purchases and was told that the fruits were for taking along to Hemelkasa and of the work done by Rotary there. This unknown fruit vendor refused to take payment. He said he knew of the Rotary Club of Nagpur and the selfless service it rendered. He too wished to contribute in a small way.

The second instance underlines the spirit of our club. The Walkathon team was required to pack 3000 snack boxes an evening before the event. The exercise was tougher than presumed. Just a few calls saw an army of Rotarians, spouses, children, drivers and personal staff of members take up the packing job. What looked difficult and near impossible was accomplished in a few hours. What seemed a chore became a happy and enjoyable get together. This reinforces my belief in the power of our clubs strength… our members.

Make dreams real, look within to serve humanity and my mantra would be “You may be just one person in the world, but you may be the world to someone.”

Yours in Rotary,

Rtn Tauby Bhagwagar


The most prestigious and the biggest PR event of our club calendar … WALKATHON was held on Sunday the 22nd January 2012. The theme for this year’s walkathon was ‘Walk for Heart’, with participants, especially the young, encouraged to make walking a daily routine to prevent heart diseases.

The early Sunday air blew with chilling effect but that did not deter Nagpurians from participating in walkathon, more than 3500 participants of all ages from 6 to 80 participated in large numbers in the event which promoted good health and healthy society.

Vice president Mahindra and Mahindra Mr. K.G Shenoy flagged off the 9 Km walk at 6.30 AM, 6 Km walk was flagged off by Dr Jaspal Arneja, Special citizen walk was flagged off by Ashish Deshmukh and 3Km walk was flagged off by President Tauby Bhagwagar. Refreshment was distributed to all participants. Prizes were given to winners and runners in all the category.

Like every year the special attraction for the walkathon was the 500 meters walk by physically challenged children. There were 150 kids from Jivodaya Special School, Matru Sewa Sangh, Deaf and Dumb School, Anganwadi, Koradi road and May Flower school participating with exuberance. These special citizens enjoyed every moment of the 500m walk. After the walk, refreshment were served and then the children were taken back in buses, on the way they toured some places of Nagpur city. More then 100 volunteers from Rotary club of Nagpur and 50 Rotractors oversaw the event.

The runaway success of the walkathon was in great measure due to the effort and attention to detail put in by the core team who worked on the project for over a period of one month.

The planning of the event started in the month of July 2011. To attract more participation bigger and longer publicity campaign was planned. It was decided that the project will be a publicized through hoardings in city and through informative posters in corporate companies.

Bigger and longer publicity campaign meant more funds for the project. A marketing plan was made and was presented to Arneja heart institute. Arneja heart institute agreed to join the project as lead sponsorer.

20’ x 40’ hoardings were placed at various locations in Nagpur in the first week of November 2011. The hoardings were moved from one location to another regularly. Informative posters were made and distributed at various locations in MIDC / Software technology parks / banks/ WCL /NEERI/ESIC/Railway.

More then 50 rotractors helped in promoting the event in colleges. Rotractors also joined hand in promoting the event thru road shows. Registration booths were made and were placed early in the morning in the walking areas. 11 such locations were identified and registration booths were kept there for registration. Project was also promoted thru advertisements in newspapers, Radio mirchi 98.3 FM was official Radio partner. Radio mirchi helped in creating awareness and hype on the project.

This year edition of walkathon for the first time saw participation from corporate companies. Employees of Smart Data, Persistent Systems, Infocepts, NEERI, Bajaj Allianze, Devki Investments, Hotel Radisson BLU took part in the event. For the first time young Cadets of NCC also took part in the event.

It would be terribly amiss of me not to express my thanks and appreciation to all those who planned and worked for last fifteen days to make this event the success that it was. These were President Tauby Bhagwagar, Director Shabbar shakir, Secretary Dinesh Naidu, Past President Shabbir Shakir, Rotract Committee Chairperson Jatin sampat and one person who was the back bone of this project, one who was right there with me from conceptualization to final execution of the project, who would do all the work but let me take all the credit, Parag Paranjape.

One of most critical task of project is carefully bringing specially able children to the venue and taking them back and this was wonderfully managed by the team of Vivek Gupta, Tushar singhvi and Sapna Vastani. Media involvement by Vinita Chaturvedi was truly unprecedented. Venue prepration was taken care by Behram Patel and Reema Sial, marshals and judging procedures by Sunil Bhatia and Smita Bhargav ensured that there were no disputes. Frequent announcements made sure the participants were kept aware of activity, Rajiv Behal took control of the joggers park and PP Dr Sanjiv Chugh and PP Shiraz Gimi managed Race area. Nimish sutaria controlled the snack distribution area and water logistics was controlled by Kevinder Talwar. Add to this the many members and their spouses and children who worked as volunteers in packing the refreshment boxes and marshals on the last day and the numbers are too many to acknowledge individually.

The project was supported wholeheartedly by Pepsi, ITC, Cadbury, Vicoo Laboratories, Nimbu Pani, Hero Motor Corporation, Tauby’s, and our media partner TIMES OF INDIA.

A special word of thanks to the lead sponsors Arneja Heart Institute and especially to Devaki Investments who backed our event without batting an eyelid.

Manish Bhati

Check out complete Photo Coverage of Walkathon here.

Capt. M. S. Kohli India’s Padma Bhushan & Arjuna Award Winner & most honoured mountaineer & legendary Himalayan leader visited our club on Thursday Jan 19, 2012 & spoke zealously about his various adventures in the Himalayan ranges to conquer the highest peaks… Nanda Kot & Annapurna III in the early sixties & leading Teams of Mountaineers from India & US on several Everest Expeditions. The accolades received by him from Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi & his addressing both the Houses of Indian Parliament. His career in the Indian Navy, Indo-Tibetian Border Force, Director-Air India spanning over 42 years & President of Indian Mountaineering Foundation & setting up of the Himalayan Trekking Foundation pioneering Mountaineering in India, White Water Rafting, Aero Sports, Tourist Charters to Goa, Tourism in Lakshadweep & Andaman Islands while Authoring more than 28 Books. He mentioned his visits to various Rotary Clubs in India, Australia & Singapore & praised the Community Welfare Projects being undertaken by our Club.

His Mantras to Achieve the peaks in one’s life / career were extremely well said & kept simple for all to understand a) Physical Strength by regular exercises particularly in the mornings b) Mental strength to endure c) Power of the Faith by surrendering oneself to prayers, irrespective of which faith. He delved into details by using an elemenary formula.. X = Intelligence, Y = Deligence & Z = Force of Character ie X + Y + Z = Achieving the Heights in any Profession.

President Tauby called the Meeting to Order, 2 minutes Silent Prayer was observed, Birthdays & Anniversary Greetings were read out by her. Rtn Dr. Shaunak Mokadam & Rtn. Mohan Anand read the Hemalkasa Project Report, Hon. Secretary Rtn. Dinesh Naidu made the Secretary & Treasurer’s announcements, Rtn. Deepesh Ajmera read Rotary News, Other Announcements were made by Rtn. Shailaja Pingle – Project Nutrition, Rtn. Parag Paranjape -Blood Donation, Rtn Ann. Nilima Jain – Senior Citizen Project, Rtn. Vikram Naidu – next week’s Programme , Rtn. Alok Goenka gave a vote of thanks. Meeting concluded with singing of the National Anthem.

Rtn. Vikram W. Naidu.

The 350 km long journey to our annual pilgrimage at Bhamragarh started after pooja and flag off by Mr. Shinoy, Vice-President Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., from our President Tauby’s residence on 5th January 2012. A team of nearly 55 Rotarian and non Rotarian doctors and dentists from S.V.M.M along with Residents & 10 Rotaractors from IGGMC were part of the medical team. They were ably assisted by 10 trained nursing staff from Care Hospital, Getwell Hospital, Suretech Hospital & Anjani Eye Hospital.

The enthusiasm with which this annual pilgrimage is undertaken was evident ,and though the unseasonable high temperatures, made the journey long, hot and tiring, everyone seemed to be in high gig and there was free flow of masti ,maja and music and it was made very enjoyable by the Rotractors in the bus with the ‘antakshri’. Enroute, we had brief stops at Sudhir Bhiwapurkar’s farm at Bhiwapur for hot ‘aloo poha n chai’, then for lunch at Shabbir Vali’s farm house at Gadchiroli and after a brief halt at Allapali for tea, we reached Hemalkasa at 6 pm.

On reaching our destination Dr. Surajit Hazra got busy scheduling the surgeries for the next day, Dr. Aarti Anand screened patients that needed radiological investigations and the Anaesthetists’ set up their apparatus in the O.T for the next day.

On the 6 th morning, in giant vessels tasty langar of rice with mixed vegetable curry was prepared to feed around 350 patients and their wards. Distribution was commenced at the hands of Shri Prakash & Mandatai Amte.

Our mini brigade of 13 surgeons, including urosurgeon, neurosurgeon, plastic surgeon and orthopaedic surgeon, 11 anaesthesiologists, 5 gynaecologists, 6 Ophthalmologists, 10 Dental Surgeons, 4 radiologists and 4 pathologists started on their respective duties and were kept busy on their toes till late evening of 7th January. Each one contributing to their best ability, till they were exhausted but satisfied……..yet unhappy to turn down few enlisted patients.

The Anaesthetist team headed by Dr. Bhau Rajurkar adminstered Epidural Anaesthesia which hastened the turn over and he was omnipresent in the O.T to prevent any mishaps. The radiological team headed by Dr. Aarti Anand and ably assisted by Dr. Manish Pithwa, Dr. Sachin Kumbhar and Dr. Ajit Karambelkar screened nearly 25 patients for Ultrasound and performed IVP too; specimen collection for Histopathology was done by Dr. Anne Wilkinson and Dr. Ruchi Bansal. Nearly 30 blood units were transfused at the camp and the services provided by Jeevan Jyoti Blood bank Technician is appreciated. Dr. Sheela Mundhada played a vital role in instructing IGGMC Rotaractors about post operative care and took the responsibility of overseeing this crucial aspect.,. .all the post operative patients have been discharged in healthy condition. The registration table was attended by Dr. Anne Wilkinson, Dr. Aarti Anand, Vijay Naidu, Reema Sial and Dr. Jerestin Watchmaker.

List of Surgical procedures done:

1. Hernioplasty 38
2. Congenital hernia corrections 15
3. Appendicectomy 7
4. Thyroid goiter / lobectomy 8
5. Kidney / ureteric / vesicular / gall bladder stone removals 8
6. Total Abdominal Hysterectomies 16
7. Plastic Burn contracture repairs 6
8. Orthopedic cases:
• TA lengthening and release 1
• Ganglion excision 1
9. Mastectomy 5
10. Minor surgeries including cyst removal, Fibroadenomas, vasovasotomy,epigastric,and mesentric hernia corrections 11
11. Ophthalmology cases
• Cataract with IOL implantation 120
• Pterygium Excisions 2
12. Dental Procedures 57

57 dental procedures as enlisted below were performed by the dental team headed by Dr. Anil Chaudhary.  Cleaning (14); Root canal opening (8);  Temporary filling (2); Extractions (11); Minor surgeries which include disimpaction(3) and biopsies (2) and special cases of AV malformation correction (1) and 16 cases of CA were screened.

Rt’ann. Sadhana Paliwal and her dedicated team conducted the vocational training activities like drawing & Rangoli competition, mala making etc., at the Ashram shala, involving children from std. I to std. XII. Training in General Repairs & Maintenance of Sewing Machines was given to a group of five ladies of the prakalp and some machines were also repaired & overhauled.

A mini-Sports event was organised with 26 events and prizes were awarded to 3 students for each event.The prize distribution was held at the hands of Mrs and Mr Shinoy of Mahindra and Mahindra, Mandatai and Aniket Amte. School uniforms and food packets were also distributed for the entire 660 students of the Prakalp school at their hands. The Project Roshni committee donated 50 solar lights to villagers having no electricity. The function concluded with Mr Shinoy’s heart-warming and emotional speech to the students of the Ashram Shala.

Purchasing, collection and packing of medical stock was done by Dr. Jerestin Watchmaker and Dr. Shaunak Mokadam at Anjani Eye Hospital. A generous donation of Disposable gowns, masks , was received from M/S PSI Amravati through efforts of Rtn Atul Shah.

The camp was supported by a major grant from Mahindra & Mahindra ESOPS; and other philanthropists, and of course the members of Rotary Club of Nagpur.

All the photos from Surgical Camp can be viewed here.

Dear Rotarians,

It’s the time to reflect on the year gone by. To assess where we reached, where we failed, to be grateful for all that we received and all that we could give. In a few days we will open a new book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day. Once more each of us will have the opportunity to right some wrongs, to banish worry, doubt and fear, the opportunity to love laugh and give, to grow and try to be our highest and our best.

This is also the time of the year when families get together. It’s the Family where everything begins; it’s the core of all the love we get and give. The importance of family and the time we should give to the family has been the emphasis of this Rotary Year. RI President Kalyan Banerjee says that Family should always come First. Importantly even Rotary should never, ever come between the Rotarian and the Family. In fact Rotary service should be something that brings the family together. Make family, your first priority. Experience the joy of your children as they grow. Become their best buddies when they turn into their teens. Feel the warmth and love of your parents and grandparents. Say sorry to your estranged relative.

There’s yet another aspect I wish to dwell upon. Our Club is something which makes us very proud, but let’s not get over swayed with making each event or project better, bigger, and grander than the last. Let’s refrain from over using terms like “raising the bench mark”, “scaling greater heights”, and “better that before”. We are not competing with any one, least ourselves. I only wish, you put in your best, undertake whatever you do with honesty, sincerity and dedication, do it with love, and lastly do it because it brings you satisfaction and fulfilment.

Our annual pilgrimage to Hemalkasa in the first week of January was a great success as ever. Going to Hemalkasa is an experience which never fails to touch you deep within. It’s when we see suffering and misery at close quarters that we realise just how fortunate we are. On 22nd January is our Walkathon. This is another club event which requires a lot of work and involvement. Please do come forth and ask how you can help.

For me personally it has been a fulfilling and wonderful year. For that I need to thank my family and each one of you… part of my extended Rotary family. The Club and all of you have given me much more love, much more support, much more warmth and just so much satisfaction that my life becomes so much more purposeful.

Wishing all a wonderful and purposeful 2012,

Yours in Rotary,

Tauby Bhagwagar

The atmosphere at the sprawling campus of S. B. Jain Institute of Technology on Katol Road was absolutely serene. However, the building housing their ‘Electronics and Telecommunication’ department was bustling with activity. The blood donation camp organized there on Saturday, 17th December, was the second camp to be conducted the same month. Indeed, the spirit of service displayed by students there was noteworthy.

The camp began at 1.30 in the afternoon and was well coordinated by the staff. Dr. Narendra Bawane, Principal, was too contented to have his college students donate blood in quick succession and was eager to offer help in other projects as well. Vice-Principal Dr. Sanjay Badjate also visited the venue with his staff to encourage students and appreciate their efforts. Staff from Jeevan Jyoti Blood Bank was as efficient as ever. The camp closed at 4.00 PM. It was attended by Rtn. Bharat Parekh and Rtn. Prashant Rajurkar and saw a collection of 25 units.

Dear Rotarians,

Our club bulletin and web site are a source of motivation for members, to better your involvement when you see the kind of services being done during the month in print. Credits given to achievers should be a further inspiration for the others who are yet to be fully involved in our clubs activities. We are doing well, but as in all matters we need to seek constant and never-ending improvement.

Attendance in meetings though not sacrosanct should certainly be taken seriously. Change and improvement should be in how you as a member perceive your role in this club. Change in timings at this point of time is certainly not under consideration, changes in the meeting format will be set in so as to appeal to a larger section of members. Rotary is all about interaction, fellowship, and commitment and stretching yourself just a little bit to find the time, find the interest in being truly involved. Do not take your membership in this glorious club for granted. To be serious about your membership you have to respect the Rotary movement. If you are not serious but just play to be with “the winning side” others will perceive this intrinsic quiddity of you almost by instinct.

At this point of time practices for the charter night celebrations are going on at full steam. Almost 60+ members, spouses and children are involved. The practices span over three weeks and this is another opportunity to have a lot of fun and more importantly to get to know each other better. All the daily practices will culminate to a perfect show. But that’s not the point; the real reward is that each participant is integrated more with the Rotary spirit. There are many of you who have not experienced this joy, I urge you to come forward and participate in our future events.

Projects for the month continued unabated. The Slum Soccer and the Mobile Computer Bus projects were hugely successful, well executed and a much enjoyed event. The committee specially the ladies were truly involved and struck an emotional bond with the slum children. RYLA camp provided valuable training for the youth. Senior citizens from the slums were taken for a picnic at Dragon Palace temple. These were amongst the many projects executed to near perfection by the respective committees.

Service is measured not by the amount of money you have spent or the efforts put in by you. It should be measured by the satisfaction you have gained, relief provided and burden eased. I trust you are enjoying your Rotary experience as much as I have been, Season’s Greetings, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Yours in Rotary,

Tauby Bhagwagar

A WONDERFUL EVENT FOR WONDERFUL PEOPLE

More than 100 specially abled children were the beneficiaries of the Benefactor & Sponserer our own Rtn. HIRA MULANI who donated a WATER COOLER to fulfill the 14^th October commitment of the Rotary team to the DIVYA JYOTI school management.

On the occasion of CHILDREN’S DAY 14^th November 2011 at 2.00 pm a water cooler was donated to DIVYA JYOTI SCHOOL, a residential & non- residential school for especially abled children located at Gumthi village on Koradi Road. The donation was made by MULANIS’ in the memory of Smt. Saraswati Devi Mulani. The chilled water from the water cooler shall add to the smiles of these TAARE ZAMEEN PAR.

The event was also marked by distribution of school Kits and uniforms to the special children whose smiles showed how much they valued the special gifts from the Rotary team. These children hailing from financially weak communities would now attend school with dignity and lot more Zeal.

‘Be HAPPY & try to LEARN as much as possible’ was President Tauby Bhagwagar’s simple message to the special children who cheered her recognized voice & face. Secretary Dinesh Naidu’s special interest towards the project & the cause was highly appreciated by all. The donors & the Rotary team were welcomed by these children with flowers & bouquets. Dr. Neena Parikh & Heera Mulani took special interest in understanding the special needs of these special children by giving a special ear to the schools problems. Dr. Neena Parikh advised the school on the rightful use of Audiometry technics. Director Shahrukh Cassad signed the visit report on behalf of all.

Mrs.Sangita Khera & Ms.Sanya Khera special guests along with Rtn.Gogi Singh Basin distributed Ice-creams & sweets to the children.

Under the guidance of the Divya Jyoti school founder member Suryabhan More the  welcome note was delivered by Mrs.Kalpana Panpatte and the vote of thanks by Mrs.Late Wajurkar. The event was co-ordinated by Chairpersons Rita Bhargava, Dr.Neena Parikh and Sanjay Sethi, from Rotary and Mrs.Yashomati & Mr.Sagar from Divya Jyoti School.

 Sanjay Sethi

On the occasion of Children’s Day the Welfare for Specially Abled Committee of Rotary Club of Nagpur donated a Physiotherapy Unit to the Govt. Deaf & Dumb and Physically Handicapped Rehabilitation School, Mangalwari Sadar Nagpur.

This School is one of the oldest residential schools of the city but is in a very pathetic condition and does not have even basic necessities to train the students. Rotary Club of Nagpur has even provided this institution with a state of art speech hearing unit last year.

Dr. Kiran Belsare was instrumental in gathering the sponsorship for this noble cause.

The team of Rotarians also celebrated the childrens day with the Physically and Mentally challenged kids by giving them gift hampers and distributing snacks and Ice creams.

President Tauby Bhagwagar, Secretary Dinesh Naidu, Chairpersons Rita Bhargava, Sanjay Sethi, Neena Parikh, Dr. Iqbal Khan,Dr. Rajesh Singvi & Ritika Singhvi were present.

Dinesh Naidu