The deluge on 29th August paralysed our city with many spending hours on the road or the night in their workplace. Many unfortunate ones never made it home as the fury of nature combined with missing or crumbling civic facilities wiped away several lives. A similar, if not as intense, situation hit the city again on 19th-20th September. Fortunately, though it was very windy and it rained a lot, the damage to life and property was not as bad as on the earlier occasion. These events however, brought out the true spirit of Mumbai and Mumbaikars. People opened up their homes and hearts to stranded friends and acquaintances and even strangers.
With the Exchange Students from Germany coming in October, Rtn Gargi Mukherjee and I spent time with the host students here planning the itinerary for the visitors. Their time in Mumbai has to have a right mix of educational, cultural and tourist exposure and fun for teenagers. On 25th September, Rtn. Jamsheed Patel, Sonali and I were guests at the Installation of the incoming Interact President at the Walsingham House School. It was sheer pleasure to meet disciplined and well spoken children with impeccable manners. The new Interact team has taken over and they showed a lot of enthusiasm for the year ahead.
After a long gap we enjoyed a Fellowship at Wodehouse Gymkhana on 6th September. It was a very nice evening with good food, a keyboard player and singer. Birthdays and anniversaries were celebrated with cake cutting. Rtn Kamlesh Sonawala turned 75 that very day and he was present to spend time with us. On 13th September, Mr. Sanjay Bhatia IAS, Chairman Mumbai Port Trust was the speaker. After a brief update on the plans of MbPT to change the face of the eastern seaboard of our city, he spoke about his journey into embracing of Heartfulness Meditation. He conducted a brief meditation session which left everyone stunned and calmed at the same time. It was the Rotary DG Prafull Sharma’s OCV to our Club on 20th September. The DG interacted with office bearers, Inner Wheel and other partners-in-service and members. The formal meeting had him appreciating the good systems we have in place and the great work being done by our Club. On 27th September, our meeting was a Know Your Member session. Rotarians Prafull Sabadra, Sujata Anandan, Jigisha Parikh and Jagar Thakur spoke about themselves for all of us to know them better.
My best wishes and greetings to you all on the occasion of Diwali and may the year ahead bring greater prosperity and happiness in your life.
Thank you.
Pres Rtn Manoj Jalan
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