No. 06/2019-20 Service Above Self December 2019

President Rtn M C Srikanth - 97909 63327 Secretary Rtn R Rajanbabu - 80561 00500

Rotary Club of Madras South

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Dear Southerner,

We started the year with the slogan

“Save, Conserve, Recharge”. Our first

Rain Water Harves�ng project for the

year was completed at NKT Girls Higher

Secondary School, Triplicane. The

facility consis�ng of eight wells that will

recharge at least 15 lakh litres of water

per year was handed over to the School

on 29th November 2019. It was a

memorable occasion well a�ended by

our members, school authori�es and

students. Thanks to all the donors and

members for suppor�ng this project.

'Caring for Li�le Hearts' project under Global Grant 2 was launched last

month. A cheque for Rs 50 lakh, favouring TRF being our club's share in the

contribu�on was handed over to District Founda�on Chairman

Rtn. M. Ambalavanan in the presence of members, donors and guests at a

grand event. The project will save the lives of 230 Children and help their

families. Thanks to all donors and some of our members who came in

spontaneously at the last minute to bridge the gap in funding. It once again

displayed the large heartedness of Southerners.

On 17th December, we have our closed door mee�ng for elec�on of office

bearers for RY 2020-21. Advance congratula�ons to Rtn Sujeesh, who is

proposed as President and all the office bearers.

We are all geared for the family par�cipa�on event on 14th December -

Padalam Vango - Musical Nite at The Park. It will also be the occasion to

know more about the Grand Gala Diamond Jubilee celebra�on planned

from 27th to 29th February 2020.

I visited Srilanka along with District 3232 team from 21st to 24th Nov 2019

for Dhanvantri Project. It was a memorable occasion which included signing

of sister club agreement with RC Nuwaraeliya. More details are in the

bulle�n.

The fuel for a Rotary club's success is its membership strength. Last month

we added one member to the RCMS family and we have three more in the

pipeline. Request all to refer more members to keep up our club's vibrancy.

Founda�on contribu�on under '2 dollar 2 drops' for polio eradica�on is the

other key area which requires members' a�en�on.

December is the month of celebra�on, happiness and introspec�on. It is

also the month of Margazhi musical season, and Christmas gala. Advance

Happy New Year 2020 to all of you!!

Yours in Rotary

Rtn M.C. Srikanth

On November 19th, the func�on to launch the second phase

of “Caring for Li�le Hearts”, one of the flagship projects of

RCMS, started with a warm welcome by President

MC Srikanth. Project Chairman, IPP Rtn Saravanan

presented a moving video that gave insights into the project

with details of several children who have benefi�ed from

the first Global Grant.

Our partners - Sooriya Hospital, our funding support

partners - Ford, CAMS, Tagros Chemicals, Indian Terrain,

various well-wishers and our own RCMS Rotarians,

R I District 3232, Rotary Interna�onal and Dr Prashant Shah

were instrumental in the First Global Grant being executed

successfully. The members of RC Pasadena (USA) have

remained a pillar of support for both the phases of the

project.

Rtn M Ambalavanan (Chairman of the District Rotary

Founda�on Commi�ee) who spoke on the occasion lauded

RCMS for the fantas�c project and also informed that this

was one of the best projects that he had worked on. He

complemented the team for providing addi�onal details

that were not mandatory while applying for Global Grant 2

(The team had a�ached a social audit report with the

applica�on). He was a happy supporter of this noble cause.

Our PDG Rtn Nagoji complemented the core team of the

club led by Rtn Saravanan for their efforts in ge�ng the

Global Grant 2 approved. He thanked all the sponsors who

had not only supported Phase 1 but also Phase 2 of the

project. He urged the club members to focus on con�nuing

the efforts to contribute to the Rotary Founda�on.

Project “Caring for Li�le Hearts” is all set to resume. Kudos

to the en�re RCMS team!

Rtn R Srikanth

CFLH PHASE 2 LAUNCHED

RAINWATER HARVESTING FACILITY INAUGURATED

The Rainwater Harves�ng facility launched in October 2019

with a bhoomi puja at the NKT Girls Higher Sec School,

Triplicane was inaugurated at the school premises by PDG

Rtn N Nagoji, who was the chief guest. The facility consis�ng

of 8 wells will recharge atleast 15 lakh litres of water per year.

BASIC IT SKILLS COURSE - VALEDICTORY

The cer�ficate distribu�on for the successful students of the

Basic IT Skills course conducted by ANEW was held on 13th

November. Our club had sponsored five students thanks to

the support from CAMS. Mr Manikandan of CAMS was the

chief guest.

'SAFE TOUCH' WORKSHOP AND VISIT TO SCIENCE LABRtn Anuradha Uberoi, who has been

organising a series of mini events as

a part of our club's diamond jubilee

celebra�on this year arranged a

three hour workshop on 'safe

touch' for students of Corpora�on

School at Eldams Road on 18th

November.

As a part of this series around 40 students from the same school visited a science lab at

Ramakrishna Mission School at T Nagar on 21st November.

ALERTATHON

A few Southerners par�cipated in ALERTATHON 2019 on

10th November organised by ALERT, an NGO managed by

Ann Kala Balasundaram and her team. The event consisted

of 5/10 km relay race, walk, jog or run at the Besant Nagar

beach. RCMS was one of the lead clubs sponsoring the event.

Jai Aswani, a 12th standard student and a member of the Interact Club of ASAN Memorial School, who is passionate about saving the environment, gave an interes�ng talk to their students at the school auditorium on 15th November which mo�vated the students to form a club called 'Born to Win' to tackle environmental pollu�on.

TALK ON 'NO PLASTICS'

ANNETTES MEET

PP Rtn Magdoom, Chairman - Membership Development, came

up with the idea of ge�ng some of our club's eligible Anne�es

together to form a New Genera�on club. He organised the first

mee�ng of around 7 Anne�es at the Madras Boat Club on 8th

November. PDG Rtn N Nagoji, Rtn R V Rajan and Rtn Asha

Marina also a�ended the mee�ng which ended with much

enthusiasm among the Anne�es to proceed with the club

forma�on. Watch this space for more news on the club in

future.

PRESIDENT VISITS SRILANKA

President Srikanth joined the District 3232 team which

visited Srilanka from 21st to 24th November as a part of the

Dhanavantri project. During his visit he also signed a sister

club agreement with RC Nuwaraeliya.

NEW MEMBER INDUCTED

Dr D Venkatasubramniam, a Consultant Urologist, was

inducted into our club as a member at the weekly mee�ng

held on 12th November. His wife Ms Lakshmi was also

present. Southerners welcome Dr Venkat into the Rotary

family and wish him an enjoyable innings as a rotarian.

ACCOLADES FOR ANNETTE KAVYA

Anne�e Kavya Rajanbabu

won many accolades at the

Tournament of Champions in

the World Scholars Cup

conducted at Yale University,

USA where a total of 1602

students from 60 different

countries par�cipated. She

p a r � c i p ate d i n s eve ra l

rounds of compe��on which

comprises of Team Debate,

C o l l a b o r a � v e W r i � n g ,

Scholars Bowl, Scholars

Challenge, etc. It's indeed a

p r o u d m o m e n t f o r

Southerners that Kavya won

individually the gold medal in

Collabora�ve Wri�ng and Scholars Bowl, silver medal in Scholars

Challenge and Team Debate.

AWARD FOR R V RAJAN

The Chennai chapter of Dignity Founda�on, an

NGO working for the welfare of senior ci�zens,

conferred the 'Sindhanai Sigaram' award to

PP Rtn R V Rajan for his contribu�on to literature

at a func�on in Chennai on 27th November.

Southerners congratulate Rtn Rajan for this

recogni�on.

Editor Rtn. PP R Seshadri | rtnsesh@gmail.com

WEEKLY MEETINGS IN NOVEMBER

Date : 5th November, 2019

Speaker : Dr V Mohan

Topic : What's new in diabetes?

Date : 12th November, 2019

Speaker : Mr. Ashok Vardhan She�y

Topic : Rethinking water management

Date : 26th November, 2019

Speaker : Mr L V Navaneeth

Topic : Simple management solu�ons to complex problems

(Joint mee�ng with RC Chennai Sewak, RC Chennai Symphony)

A r o u n d 1 5

Southerners saw

the Hindi movie

BALA on 17th

November at the

PVR Mul�plex in

V R Mall, Anna

Nagar as a part of

our club's family

p a r � c i p a � o n

events.

MOVIE FELLOWSHIP

A WARM FIRESIDE MEET

Rotarians who celebrated their birthdays in October and November were invited to the fireside get-together hosted by IPP Rtn Saravanan and Ann Srividhya at the Madras Boat Club on 24th November. In the words of PP Rtn Madhu, “it was a most enjoyable get-together. The warmth and conviviality were wonderful to experience. Everyone - from elder statesman Rtn Jayaraman who came with his US based family to Rtn Elumperiyar's young kids - had a great �me.” The anthakshari and tambola games provided the entertainment. Thanks to the gracious hosts for a memorable evening.

President Srikanth is seen here

with PRIP Rtn K R Ravindran

and other Rotary officials at the

Interna�onal Evening held in

Negombo, Srilanka on 23rd

N o v e m b e r. D u r i n g t h e

occasion, 47 clubs from R I Dist.

3 2 3 2 s i g n e d s i s t e r c l u b

agreements with 47 clubs of

R I Dist. 3220. The gala event was a�ended by 170 Rotarians and Anns from R I dist.3232

and 120 Rotarians and Anns from R I Dist. 3220.

INTERNATIONAL EVENING AT SRILANKA

PP Rtn R V Rajan was a guest speaker at the

regular mee�ng of RC Madras Coromandel on

17th November. He spoke on the interes�ng

topic of 'Thinking out of the box'!

SOUTHERNER AS GUEST SPEAKER