JUL - OCT 2020

District GovernorRTN SUNNIL MEHRA

Club PresidentRTN SNEHA PATHAK

R.I. PresidentRTN HOLGER KNAACK

Rotary Club of MumbaiQueen’s Necklace

From the President's Desk

As Samvat 2077 sets in, our club gets set to reopen, rejig and reconfigure the way we meet!!! Since March, Zoom (a word that most of us thought meant something to do with fast cars or bikes) has become a part of our lives that we could never have imagined. Indeed, it has served us well for the last many months for assessing and doing projects, holding speaker meetings, hosting virtual firesides, launching a Satellite club and even letting our hair down and having fun !!

When I promised a “Hatke” year, even I did not imagine that it would be so hatke. The first four months of the year have flown by in the blink of an eye. This bulletin helps recapture and bring to life some of the vignettes of those months.

This time the bulletin is also little hatke – the digital version is embedded with videos so you can watch them all over again and reminisce and have a good laugh. From the innovative way the Board of Directors was introduced in the Installation to the super fun videos recorded for Apne Sitare – enjoy reliving the moments !!

The season of “Paankhar” ie Autumn is upon us. A quote by someone that I read strikes me as being particularly relevant to our lockdown driven situation today – “Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead has never watched them dancing on a windy day”. We at RCMQN shall not just dance in the wind, but will continue to bring the rich shades of autumn colours to people's lives !!!

QUEEN’S GAZETTE

www.rotaryqueensnecklace.org QUEEN’S GAZETTE JUL - OCT 2020

A big fillip to our club's strength has been the creation of the Satellite Club of Queen's Necklace Heirloom. This Satellite club which was conceptualized mainly to imbibe the children of our club members into the Rotary fold has grown from strength to strength and in a short span of two months since inception has added more than 40 members to its roster. The members are already deeply involved in service projects and have had a couple of speaker meetings already and a cycling event.

An interesting but very effective way to connect the old and new members this year has been the that have been Virtual Firesides hosted by Rtn PP Gaurav & Priti Patel, Rtn Nikunj & Kanan Jhaveri, Rtn Amit & Rujuta Dalal, Rtn PP Sanjiv & Heena Mehta, Rtn PP Kalpesh & Preeti Shah, Rtn Amit & Sonal Shah. These have been fun and engaging sessions of four to five couples on Zoom who have been able to bond big time despite the lockdown limitations.

A is one of the cornerstones of any healthy growth in membershipclub's progress. This year our club has taken remarkable strides in

Membership growth under the Directorship of Rtn Nikunj Jhaveri. We have grown from a count of 174 members to 180 with 6 very worthy and diverse new members being added – Rima & Nimesh Shah, Asif &

Nilsin Porbanderwalla, Sarosh and Sonal Mody, Gopal & Radhika Vasudev, Sapan & Shalini Choksi and Harish and Bina Shah.

“LIFE STARTS ALL OVER AGAIN WHEN IT GETS CRISP IN THE FALL.”

www.rotaryqueensnecklace.org QUEEN’S GAZETTE JUL - OCT 2020

The pandemic brought with it new challenges for the NGOs that we support. Many new opportunities for Seva opened up as resources became scarce for the NGOs. Our club has tried to step in where required. Some of the projects that

have been undertaken are highlighted here

“AUTUMN DRESSES UP IN GOLD. THE RICHEST SEASON OF THE SOUL”

We donated two ECG Machines, Defibrillator, NST machine X Ray Machine and a mobile to Masina Hospital

The long awaited was donated Cardiac Ambulanceto GT Hospital.

We completed surgeries so far 65 Paediatric Heartat the SRCC Children's Hospital.

Under the Street Children Project we distributed 200 ration kits to the street children and their families at Thane and Kalwa being cared for by the Salaam Baalak Trust. Distribution of 10,000 cooked meals per day was done for the underprivileged and poor people under the District Annapoorna Project.

Solar Panels were set up in a joint project with Innerwheel Club of Bombay Queen's Necklace to provide lighting in 4 villages near Karjat which till now had no electricity.

51 mobile phones were donated to Canossa Convent School for creating a Mobile Phone Bank.

We started a he Community Fridge project with tfirst one being installed at St Joseph's Convent at Bandra. Many more are in the pipeline.

www.rotaryqueensnecklace.org QUEEN’S GAZETTE JUL - OCT 2020

“AUTUMN PAINTS IN COLORS THAT SUMMER HAS NEVER SEEN”

We started the year in July with noted industrialist Mr. Ajay Piramal who addressed the club on “Values Create Value”. In his characteristic soft spoken style he left us all in awe of his clarity of thoughts and commitment to the values he lives by. The other speakers in July were & Mr. Deep Khira Mr. Param Gandhi Mr. Sujay Kantawala and , eminent lawyer.

August brought with it celebrity chef Mr. Rahul Akerkar Sneha Shah and who spoke on “The Business of Art”. One of the highlights of August was , easily one of the best speakers Mr. Aditya Guptawe had so far, with an absolutely fascinating audio-visual talk on his climb of Mt Everest. Click to watch feedback received from members.

In September we started with an absolute dynamo of a speaker – – one of India's Ms. Rupal Bhansalimost famous exports to Wall Street. Her conversation with kept the viewers Rtn Amit Dalalglued to their screens and the talk went down in the history of the club as being a smashing success. Click to watch feedback received from the members to this talk. Other September speakers included Mr. Kumaar Bagrodia Mr. Mahesh Karande and .

In October as part of a joint initiative with Ascent Foundation we had a talk by on “Embracing Constant Change”. , the Mr. Unnikrishnan Mr. Raj Nayakmedia maverick enthralled the members with his take on the concept of “Happyness”.

www.rotaryqueensnecklace.org QUEEN’S GAZETTE JUL - OCT 2020

“EVERY LEAF SPEAKS BLISS TO ME, FLUTTERING FROM THE AUTUMN TREE”

Vaibhavi Doshi's melodious voice made sure our evening on 17th October was spent enjoying old and new music

Who knew the Club had such a treasure trove of talent? Old and new members alike had super fun taking part in Apne Sitare, an in-house entertainment program. From foot tapping Musical Medleys to Mandolin recitals and Maverick magicians to the Beer drinkers, everyone put their best foot forward. The Dancing Divas put on a performance that would put any dance troupe to shame. Watch videos of performance

The installation of the Board of Directors took place virtually in a ceremony on 5th July 2020 with record attendance. The “Hatke” way of introducing the Board was loved by the members.Watch video of BOD introduction

On 25th July, educated Rtn PP Chaitanya Mehtamembers about the “Importance of Making Wills and Nominations”

On 26th September Rtn PP Rajen Shah & Rtn Falguni Mehta took us into the fascinating world of Gems and Jewellery.

On 29th August our new member Rtn Sapan Choksi conducted a session on “Internet Safety” for the benefit of our members which was particularly relevant as lots of us have been new entrants to the cyber space during the lockdown.

This year we started organizing workshops where our own members conduct knowledge sharing sessions. The “For the Rotarians By the Rotarians”

workshops have been well accepted.

JUL - OCT 2020

“AUTUMN PASSES AND ONE REMEMBERS ONE'S REVERENCE”

This year the Club has made great inroads into keeping the buzzing social mediawith its activities. We are now active on Facebook and Instagram. Check out our posts and like them

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFdpIsigzSR/?igshid=hzlmufpergap

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGeItj_g-7W/?igshid=1rewaemvplbx9

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CH29MgbgL-_/?igshid=v6via0jj0byc

Another innovative step this Rotary year – reliving the terms of Past Presidents and recapping the great work done by them. We called them as they #footprintsleft their indelible prints in the sands of time.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFvrzObgVX5/?igshid=166cy1wnq3tdp

https://www.facebook.com/421407274571461/posts/3693390157373140/

https://www.facebook.com/421407274571461/posts/3734017473310408/

Board of Directors 2020-21