CROSSROADSRotary Club of Singapore Vol. 48 / 31

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“Maximise Your Memory Power”SPEAKER: Mr. Nishant KasibhatlaLunch meeting of the 29h February 2012

Speech and pictures of the World Understanding and Peace Day Fellowship Dinner http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_Images&token=983440278212%3A340865183&_requestid=106087

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Joke of the week“Women don’t make fools of men – most of them are the do-it-yourself type” From the book of Humour compiled by Rewa MirpuriHAVE MANY LAUGHS AND HELP THE NEEDYhttp://www.rotary.org.sg/bookofhumour.html

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Introductory remarks

President Tapan Rao opened the meeting and warmly welcomed members and our Guest Speaker, Mr. Nishant Kasibhatia.President Tapan announced that the meeting of 29th February was a historical meeting. He advised that the next Rotary meeting which would fall on a Wednesday, on 29th February would be in the year 2040! In honour of this special date – President Tapan extended the fellowship time of the meeting!

Deepest condolences

President Tapan informed members of the passing away of previous member, Dr. Lee Fook Hong on 19th February 2012. Dr. Lee was a member of the Club for 33 years till his resignation in 2005. He served on the Board as the Club’s Honorary Treasurer during the Rotary year 2002/2003. President Tapan called on members to join him in observing a minute of silence in memory of our deceased member, Dr. Lee Fook Hong.

Toast

President Tapan informed members of the passing away of previous member, Dr. Lee Fook Hong on 19 th February 2012. Dr. Lee was a member of the Club for 33 years till his resignation in 2005. He served on the Board as the Club’s Honorary Treasurer during the Rotary year 2002/2003. President Tapan called on members to join him in observing a minute of silence in memory of our deceased member, Dr. Lee Fook Hong.

Welcome of visiting Rotarians and guests

Rtn. Laveen Daryani welcomed our guests and visiting Rotarians

- Guests :Mrs. Sharma (Rtn. Shalini’s mother)Dr. Rupesh AgrawalMr. Guillaume Mabine ; Mr. Clement Savelon ; Mr. Maxime Ducroux ; Rotary Exchange StudentsMr. John SeahMr. Justus Krause-HarderMr. Ken MuldoonMr. Laurent Low

Visiting Rotarians :Ron Albert – Sausalito, California, USA

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Speaker of the week

Rtn. Kavita Singh was called upon by President Tapan to introduce our Guest Speaker, Mr. Nishant Kasibhatla. Mr. Kasibhatla helps executives, managers and leaders to attain peak mental performance and boost their productivity. He is a Guinness World Record Holder and the only Grand Master of Memory in Singapore. Mr. Kasibhatla is an author of 4 books on memory and learning. He is a popular speaker with over 15 years’ experience in conducting training in 11 countries across 4 continents. Mr. Kasibhatla is a past President of Asia Professional Speakers, Singapore. He is the youngest Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) in Singapore.Mr. Kasibhatla gave a very entertaining presentation on the myths, steps and tips to maximize memory power. He debunked the claims of loss of memory power due to ageing. He added that mental fitness might decrease but this could be reversed by taking action. Mr. Kasibhatla stated that certain food/pills did not improve memory but could improve the health of the brain. He also spoke of the capacity of the brain to remember. He highlighted three steps to maximize memory power through visualization, association and pleasure.

Mr. Kasibhatla added that to improve one’s memory power required practice and gave the following 3 top tips:- Say “I have a great memory!” every day;- Do not use the “F” word – “Forget”;- Give work to your memory muscle every day.To conclude, Mr. Kasibhatla performed a memory presentation. He called for a volunteer to write 30 digits on the flip chart, whilst he left the room. Director Koh Juay Meng took on this task and upon Mr. Kasibhatla’s return, recited the 30 digits to him. Mr. Kasibhatla memorized these digits as they were announced, after which he repeated them and even recited the numbers backwards! As a matter of interest, Mr. Kasibhatla advised that one of his achievements included memorizing the sequence of 7 decks of playing cards.Mr. Kasibhatla’s final message to members was that everyone could have a fantastic memory, and in fact already have a fantastic memory, so just use your memory and, hopefully one day, his world record would be broken!

Director Peter-Paul Nijsten warmly thanked Mr. Kasibhatla for his very impressive presentation and cheekily requested for an appointment to meet with him at the casino!

DG Haji Zainie Abdul Aucasa's speechat the World Understanding & Peace Day Fellowship Dinner

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ORGANIZING CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT TAPAN RAO AND FIRST LADY PRABA, DISTINGUISHEDGUESTS AND MY FELLOW ROTARIANS.Today around the world Rotarians and friends of Rotary are celebrating 23rd february, the birthday of Rotary, the 107th anniversary of the first clubmeeting of Rotary, the Rotary club of Chicago.On this day in 1905 Paul Harris and his 3 other friends Gustavus Loehr,Hiram Shorey and Silvester Sohiele met, on a cold evening at Room 711, UnityBuilding, North Dearborne Street, Downtown Chicago, to talk about their personal and professional experiences. Paul Harris then unfolded his general plan for a club. Out of this simple beginning sprang the first world‘s international service organization called Rotary International and after years of most exciting and tortuous times it now has 1.2 million members in more than 33,000.00 clubs in about 200 countries and geographical areas.This birthday of Rotary is called by different names. In some countries the week of 23rd February is celebrated as a" week of Rotary movement". In our District here in Singapore, like in many other Rotary Districts, it is celebrated as a World Understanding and Peace Day. In other parts of our own District, it is celebrated as an International Night. But whatever name it is being celebrated, this day marks another historical milestone in the history of this great organization of ours. Over the 107 years Rotary has not only seen the materialistic and economic achievements of the world but also its nightmares of social and humanity regress. But Rotary not only survives, it also thrives because we are multi-national,we come from different vocations and are the best in our professions, we are from different races and we are from different religions. We are unity in diversity, because in our hearts there is but one common purpose and objective and that is "Service Above Self". Our mission is to help, develop and to dignify the human race and we do this not by commanding,demanding and punishing but by sheer act of motivating and persuasion. We do it with a smile and open arms and whatever we touch, we add values. We have the infrastructure to reach the grassroots level, because we are the grassroots. We are able to survive and established ourselves and grow in these times of development and conflict because our founders and those great Rotarians before us have great vision and excellent leadership to enable us to serve mankind well.The programs that we carry on together over these years all over the world is a clear demonstration of the power of Rotary International and the devotion and the generosity of Rotarians of wanting to do more. A famous Doctor once said: "the greater reward for doing is the opportunity to do more".At this juncture, I wish to thank all those Rotarians, those unsung and unseen heroes at club and District levels who have done so much of service to mankind. And, for those Rotarians and friends of Rotary for their support to Rotary Foundation in the forms of Paul Harris Fellow, Major Donor, members of the Arch. D Klumph Society and other givings to enable Rotary International to finance its many community projects worldwide.I am proud to announce here tonight that a fellow Rotarian from our District will soon be honored to the next level in Arch C Klumph Society Status- the Chair's circle level for donation reaching to USD$500,000. And, this generous Rotarian is no other than Past President Dato Dr.Tan Huan-Tsin and his spouse Dr. Tan Tsao Sui-Lan, both of whom are here tonight with us. Dato Dr. Tan and Dr. Tan, kindly be upstanding, please to be recognized.Distinguished guests, my Fellow Rotarians. In these 107 years of our existence "serving mankind has been and will continue to be our business". Rotary remains dedicated to improving communities, relations between peoples, and world peace and understanding. Today, Rotary is one of the most prestigious non governmental organizations in the world. Everyday we receive appeals,calls and requests from different segments of our society all over the world for help to serve their purposes. We are able to answer these calls for help because we are the only non-governmental organization(through the network of our 33,000 Rotary clubs) capable of meeting more than 33,000 different communities worldwide everyday towards improving the lives of these communities, the lives of the people and towards better understanding and world peace. In 1985, Rotary International together with its partners the World Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the UNICEF launched PolioPlus, an ambitious program to immunize the world against the deadly disease polio.As a result of this partnership's efforts, polio cases have dropped by 99% since 1988 and the world stands on the threshold of eradicating the disease. We heard recently of the good news from India...no new cases in the last 12 months. We are told of how successful we are in meeting the USD 200.0 million challenge by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation well before the deadline of July this year. So happy is the Gates Foundation with Rotary International that another USD 50.0 million was made available for polio eradication but this time not as a challenge. My fellow Rotarians, with all these recent achievements and those achievements of the past, we have earned ourselves such reputation seen bymany Governments, business entities and non-governmental organizations as desirable partners to do more good things in the world. We have since 1996 been a partner of UNESC0 where Rotary is only one of three organizations in the world that has been accorded the status to perform on operational basis with UNESCO worldwide. We need to capitalize on this reputation. Build on it to become stronger and stay relevant for years to come. And, if we do that, instead of describing Rotary as "an organization of 1.2 million Rotarians in 33,000 clubs"....we should be saying, in the near distance future, that Rotary is an organization of more than 1.5 million Rotarians in over 55,000 clubs.... Why not my, Fellow Rotarians? We should all work on achieving this!. And I believe we can!.HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROTARY INTERNATIONAL. Thank you

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The Guide to Daily LivingBefore doing the things we want to do, consider first, the precept of the guide. Ask ourselves these 4 questions and act upon them:First: Have I spent some time in self-examination?Second: Have I spent quality time with my family?Third: Have I given my best to my work?Fourth: Have I given some time to someone near and far?The Guide, in fact, encompasses the 4 parts of the Object of Rotary.

MARK YOUR DIARYBirthday celebrantsRC wishes Happy Birthday to celebrants this week:March 5 – Kannan KrishnanMarch 7– Marco BardelliMarch 8 – Colin MilesMarch 12 – Marcel Schobinger

Anniversary CelebrantsRC sends best wishes to Wedding Anniversary celebrants: March 4 – PP Stan & Dolores LowMarch 5 – PN Dr. Shahul Hameed & MichelleMarch 10 – PP Dr. Yap Lip Kee & Rachael

This weekMarch 7th 2012

Reception Desk duty: PP Stan Low, Kannan KrishnanSunshine Box duty: Goh Bock Seng, PP Paliath Mohandas

Speaker: Our very own member, Rtn. Jeremy HanTopic: “21st Century Implications on Educating our Next Generations”

Vocational Service Date: Thursday, 8th MarchTime: 7.30pmVenue: Senior Police Officers’ Mess, 153 Mt. Pleasant Road, S296153Hosts: Rtns. Alan Tan, Suresh Keerthi, Dr. Christopher Teo

Next week March 14th 2012

Reception Desk duty: Bharat Mandloi, Jamshid MedoraSunshine Box duty: PP Philip Leong, PP J K OngSpeaker: Mr. Jeffrey Lee, Ministry of Education CounselorTopic: “Overfed but Underdeveloped”

International Service Date: Thursday, 15th MarchTime: 7.30pmVenue: Moghul Mahal Restaurant, 177A River Valley Road, Novotel Hotel, Liang Court Shopping Centre, 6th floor, S179031Hosts: Rtns. Atul Merchant, Kavita Singh, Ghani Mahtani and Dr. Thomas Perkmann

COMING ROTARY EVENTS

MarchMarch 22nd – 25thDistrict Assembly and PETS at Grand Paragon Hotel, Johor Bahru

AprilMagazine Month

MayCommunity Service MonthMay 6th – 9th Rotary International Convention in Bangkok

JuneRotary Fellowships Month

Queries, comments and articles request can be sent to Jean-Philippe Lionnetbulletin@rotary.org.sg

The Four-Way TestOf the Things we think, say or do:* Is it the truth?* Is it fair to all concerned?* Will it build goodwill and better friendship?* Will it be beneficial to all concerned?