WE MEET EVERY MONDAY AT THE SATURDAY CLUB AT 6.30 PM

TodayRegular Weekly Meeting at Ramakrishna Mission, Nimpith at 10.00am.

President: Rtn. Dr. Surinder K. Kapoor Secretary: Rtn. Sanjay Chowdhary Editor: Rtn. Udayendu Dass

Midt wneroThe BULLETIN OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF CALCUTTA MIDTOWN - DISTRICT 3291

2013 -

2014

Volume 39 Number 34 Sunday, 6th April 2014

Next MeetingNext RWM on Monday 14th April14 at 6.30pm at Saturday Club.

Domestic cats dislike citrus scents. Cats can jump up to 7 times their tail length. China manufacturers 70% of the worlds toys. The Great Wall of China is approximately

6,430 Km long (3,995 miles). Paper originated from China. The wheelbarrow is invented in China. The film 'Mary Poppins' was filmed entirely

indoors. Instant coffee was invented in 1901. The human body of a 70 kg person contains

0.2mg of gold. Rice is the staple food for 50% of the worlds

population. Pearls melt in vinegar. There is no butter in buttermilk. Giraffes and rats can last longer without

water than camels. The dot on top of the letter 'i' is called a

tittle. The electric chair was invented by a dentist. A crocodile can't stick out its tongue. Rubber bands last longer when kept

refrigerated. Women blink twice as much as men. Only female mosquitoes bite. Scotland has the most redheads. The past tense for the English word 'dare' is

'durst'. Hummingbirds can't walk. Bill Gates began programming computers at

the of age 13.

International NewsWATER PROJECT UNITESLEBANON CLUBS ACROSS ALL DIVIDES

6th April - Dr. Surinder Kapoor

A project to provide clean water to all of Lebanon’s schools is uniting leaders from many of the country’s diverse religious, cultural, and political divisions.In 2011, Rotary members in northern Lebanon decided to install new tanks and water filters in a few nearby schools with the help of a Rotary Foundation grant. The idea caught on and a few other clubs followed suit.Two years later, District 2452 Governor Jamil Mouawad and other district leaders saw the potential of creating one giant water project that could reach every school and involve all 24 of the country’s Rotary clubs. They formed a committee to handle publicity and gather technical knowledge, while each club was asked to provide volunteers, contribute funds, apply for grants, and secure contributions from outside organizations.“Every student has the right to drink clean water. It goes without saying that clean drinking water leads to less diseases, healthier students, and consequently, better education,” says Mouawad. “The bigger the challenge, the greater its positive impact on humanity.”While clean water is the main objective, the leaders also saw the effort as a means of helping heal Lebanon’s long history of sectarian strife. A civil war divided the country from 1975 to 1990, leaving an estimated 120,000 people dead. In recent years, Lebanon’s government is a shifting coalition of religions, political parties, and sects.Lina Shehayeb, president of the Rotary Club of Aley, is a Druze by faith. Shehayeb says working alongside club members who are Catholic, Maronite, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Muslim to promote the project has deepened her understanding of those with different religious or political views. “We are building peace and understanding,” she says. “There has never been anything quite like this in our country.”Even the distribution of club responsibilities is designed to foster peace. Each club is responsible for a certain number of schools, some in their area but some in a totally separate region. The clubs nominate a project coordinator, find qualified suppliers, arrange for sponsors, and allocate contributions from sponsors, district funds, and global grants to finance the installation of filters in the schools.“For example a club from Jounieh, a Christian resort town north of Beirut, might be assigned schools in the southern mountains near the Israeli border, an area that is considerably poorer and primarily Shia Muslim,” explains Mouawad. “After all, who — no matter what their political or religious views — could argue with providing clean water for children?”The effort could not have come at a better time. With the crisis in Syria, Lebanon’s population is ballooning with refugees, including many school-age children. By improving the schools these kids attend, Rotary members are laying the groundwork for future peace in the region.The committee is working in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, World Vision, UNICEF, and the Red Cross. Red Cross volunteers take water samples in each of the schools a few times a year and send those samples to the Lebanese Agricultural Laboratory Institute for testing.According to the committee’s technical team, it will cost roughly $2,500 a school to install water tanks, filters, and provide ongoing monitoring. About 200 schools have been covered so far. The goal is to reach all 1,535 schools within three years.

Published by: Rtn Sanjay Chowdhary, Hon Secretary, RC Calcutta Midtownwww.rotarymidtownkol.org

Minutes of the 1854th Regular Weekly Meeting held atThe Saturday Club on Monday 31st March'14 at 6.30 pm

Acting President Rtn. Sudhir Chand declared the meeting open and welcomed members, Anns and guests.National Anthem was sung by all present.1853rd RWM minutes were confirmed.Rtn Dr Kalyan Sarkar attended the Mother & Child Health Care camp at Navneer Centre on Saturday 29th March 2014.Next Mother & Child Health Care camp along with RC Madhaymgram at Nirmala Kennedy Centre will be held on Sunday 13th April'14, members to attend.Urology Camp under the leadership of Rtn. Dr. Kalyan Sarkar will be held on Sunday 6th April'14 at Sri Ramkrishna Ashram, Nimpith. It has been planned to conduct the regular weekly meeting during the camp, subject to quorum. Vehicles will leave around 6:30am from Belvedere Estates. Camp will start at 10.00am and finish after lunch at 3pm. Rtns David, Debojit Haldar, Sudhir Chand and Bhupesh Kapur confirmed their presence. Rtns Sitha and Biman da would inform by tomorrow. Rtn Debojit informed that 4 Rotaractors will be also joining the camp.Rotary Leadership Institute Part 1 training will be held on 6th April. Members were requested to attend.Pulse Polio camp is scheduled for 6th April 2014.Rtn Davis Das spoke on proposal of Sustainable Green Initiative of planting trees esp. fruit bearing trees in urban and semi urban areas like schools and old age homes to sustain the ecology and alleviate hunger, malnutrition and poverty.Rtn Vikram Podar informed of a joint meeting with Rotary Renaissance. Further details will be given by him.Rtn Sitaraman informed that Rtn Hiranandani had an operation on 25th March and is on his way to recovery.Acting Secretary Rtn. Ravi Dhawan made following announcements : a. Wedding Anniversary greetings - None.b. Birthday wishes - Rtn Rakesh Khanna on 5th April.c.The Sunshine box collection was Rs. 620.00 over and above the usual. d. The meeting was attended by 10 of 41 and 8 being exempted; the attendance came to 33%.President thanked all and declared the meeting closed at 8.00pm.

This bulletin is courtesy

Rtn. Samir Prasad

Rotary International President’smessage for April 2014

Like attending a Rotary club meeting, reading Rotary magazines is an essential part of the shared experience of being a Rotarian. When you pick up a Rotary publication, whether it's Rotary Down Under in Australia and New Zealand, or The Rotary-No-Tomo in Japan, you'll find that every single one does just what it's meant to do: It informs, and it inspires. It keeps you up to date with Rotary news, brings you new ideas for your Rotary service, and tells stories that are relevant and meaningful to you. To me, these publications around the world are a tangible representation of Rotary's greatest strength: that each club is a local, community-based entity, engaged in a truly global network.This organization is incredibly large and diverse, and as much as we all have in common in Rotary, we are not a place where one size fits all. Our expectations of a magazine, both culturally and linguistically, are naturally going to be different. With our regional publications, Rotarians in Bulgaria can find out what's going on in Rotary in Bulgaria, and what's going on elsewhere in the Rotary world, along with the latest news from Evanston. Because each one of our Rotary publications belongs to the family of Rotary magazines – each one is, like every Rotary club, both fully local and fully part of our international identity.One of the greatest privileges of being RI president is the ability to speak directly, every month, to every one of our 1.2 million Rotarians. It's awe-inspiring to me, as I write this, to think of all of you, sitting down in your living rooms or at the breakfast table or maybe on the train to work, reading these words, and then turning the page to find out what's new in Rotary. And overwhelmingly, that is exactly what each of you does. Not just because your Rotary magazine turns up in the mailbox, or because you feel you have to – but because Rotary magazines are good magazines. I hope that when you pick up your publication – whichever one you're reading right now – you get the same feeling of pride, and ambition, that I do.Rotary magazines remind us that as Rotarians, we are all part of something larger than ourselves. They show us just how much we can achieve through Rotary. Through them, we see what our Foundation dollars do, we see what our fellow Rotarians are doing, and we are inspired to Engage Rotary, Change Lives even more.

The Rotary Club of Eagle River Area in Alaska experienced a 50 p e r c e n t i n c r e a s e i n membership after building a playground designed for children with disabilities to p l a y a l o n g s i d e t h e i r classmates. Former club president Tonya Gamble says the club is always looking for ways to increase membership, but it wasn't until they took on the park project that the club saw its membership rise from 29 to 43 members. Rotary members helped raise funds and assemble the park equipment."When children get together and play, they realize they have more in common than differences," Gamble says. "That concept is what the community really liked."Club members sent fundraising letters to local businesses, held a community meeting, spoke at the chamber of commerce, and had their project featured in the local newspaper. Thomas Wilder was one of those people who responded to the publicity. After retiring and settling down in Eagle River in 2008, he started looking for a place where he could make a difference among friends.The idea to build the first all-inclusive playground in the state came out of the club's five-year plan, which Gamble says was essential in determining their club's overall goals. Finding what members deemed a "signature community project" would help the club fulfill its goal of working to build healthy communities.As a new member, Wilder says he enjoyed having an immediate effect on the community. In addition to helping construct the playground, he secured a grant that helped pay for it.“It's bigger than myself, something that makes a positive impact," Wilder adds.

Alaskan Rotarians See MembershipHike While Uniting To Build Park