JOIN USThe installation ceremony of Rotary Bangalore Cantonment (RBC), held at The Atria Hotel, was indeed a refreshing one. It was made interesting, thanks to the sense of humour and the energy of the new president Rotarian Balan Velan. The members were seen chuckling and laughing at his jokes.
The chief guest was Past District Governor Rotarian A Subramaniam, who had come in especially from Chennai, to be a part of the ceremony. The outgoing president DC Shivdev addressed the gathering for the last time as a president. “Now that my term is over, I am all set to pass on the mantle to another Rotarian. The Rotary wheels move on and what a memorable journey it has been. I did not want to make any drastic changes when I had joined but wanted to improve the projects and launch new ones,” he said.
“We have accomplished most targets and some projects like the ‘Joy Project’ have been the highlight of the year. We have had several programmes, where we have given vocational training to the youth and underprivileged women, supported low-cost housing schemes etc. However, we have to get past and break the 20-80 per cent syndrome, where only a few work and others don’t contribute,” he said.
He then passed on the baton to the incoming president Balan Velan in a ceremonial manner and welcomed him. The highlight of the evening was the acceptance speech by the new president. His enthusiasm made his vision for the upcoming year quite clear. Energetic and upbeat about his new role, he was quite an entertainer on the dais. “There are three types of Rotarians — good Rotarians, dead Rotarians and deadly Rotarians.
Good Rotarians are those who attend meetings on a regular basis, dead Rotarians are those who are dormant and deadly Rotarians are the ones who comment on everything that is happening in the club. RBC has good Rotarians but with a twist. My vision is to make everyone participate and that will be my mantra,” he said.
Later, he launched the new theme of the year ‘Energise, Engage and Act’ and welcomed the new board of directors. He also started a new tradition where the board of directors had to take the oath of office. A special effort was made by the president to make the installation ceremony an entertaining and an interesting one for the members. As he introduced the board of directors in his style, the others had a hearty laugh and the evening had the makings of a memorable one.