PRESIDENT Rtn. Dr. N.V. Arulmozhi Varman

HoNoRARy SECRETARy Rtn. Dr. R. Chandrasekhar

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Rtn. A.S. Venkhat Ramani

PRESIDENT ELECT Rtn. P N Mohan

PRESIDENT NoMINEE Rtn. Ranjit Pratap

Asst. SECRETARy / BULLETIN EDIToR Rtn. Mohan Raman

DIRECToR CLUB ADMINISTRATIoN Rtn. R. Rajenderan

DIRECToR yoUTH SERVICE Rtn. M Sesha Sai

DIRECToR PUBLIC IMAGE AND FUND RAISING Rtn. Harish K. Murthi

DIRECToR RoTARy FoUNDATIoN & INTERNATIoNAL SERVICES Rtn. M. Balasubramaniam

DIRECToR SERVICE PRoJECT 1 Rtn. R. Ravishankar

DIRECToR SERVICE PRoJECT 2 Rtn. K.M. Vinod Kumar

DIRECToR VoCATIoNAL SERVICE Rtn. S. Ravi

TREASURER (CLUB FUNDS) Rtn. Hemant Chordia

TREASURER (CHARITABLE TRUST) Rtn. Nimish C. Tolia

TREASURER (SPECIAL PRoJECTS) Rtn. Kishor Dandeker

The LighthouseBulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras

June 13, 2017 • 4 Pages

2016-2017 • Edition No.50

Our Tuesday meeting of 13th June saw an interesting panel of speakers - young tech wizards

not yet out of high school, who are entrepreneurs and teachers!

Raghav Mecheri, Samay Gambhir and Kunal Agarwal’s parents may be achievers well-known in the city’s social circles, but these boys have made a mark of their own with their learning centre for computer programming, called Coder Dojo.

Over the course of 20 mins, these boys made an impressive presentation to all of us, talking about their initiative of bringing CoderDojo, an international foundation originally founded by an Irishman, to Chennai and mentoring children between the ages of 7-17 years as they learn and experiment with computer programming in an open learning space; without any fees and only for the sake of passion and interest.

Apart from their spiffy presentation,

they also fielded an array of questions from our Rotarians; like what makes them good enough to be mentors, do they also follow guidelines on Internet security since young children are involved, how they devise the scheduling for every session, their connection with the children they are mentoring, how they juggle their extremely busy school work (they’re Class 12 students of Sishya School!) and so on.

Perhaps the biggest take away for many of us Rotarians as we watched and listened to these boys was their confidence in their manner and speech, their drive and focus and how well they handle being good mentors and icons for younger children.

Club Coder Dojo

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • June 13, 20172

minutes13th JUNE 2017

Sgt-at-arms of the day Rtn PP Indra Subramanyam collared Rtn PP VK Chandrakumar who is officiating on

behalf of Pres Rtn Dr Arulmozhi Varman.President of the day Rtn PP VK

Chandrakumar called the 49th meeting of RCM to order, followed by a silent invocation.

The minutes of the 6th June’17 meeting was duly confirmed.

Rtn PP VK Chandrakumar welcomed the speakers Raghav Mecheri, Kunal Agarwal, Samay Gambhir.

Today will be an interactive session with Raghav, Kunal & Samay, who will brief us on the Coder Dojo, a global network of free computer programming clubs for young people, moderated by Rtn Shakthi Girish.

The birthday / wedding anniversary wishes were extended by PP VK Chandrakumar to the respective Rotarians/spouses, who celebrate that week and thanked for the sunshine.

Rtn PP Indra Subramanyam reported on the District Assembly which was held on 21st May’17, for the club office-bearers 2017-18. Along with Rtn Nikhil Raj/Rtn Vikram Chesetty /Rtn S Ravi represented RCM. The Prelims was conducted in an organized manner, followed by a detailed seminar for the various avenues. Our Rtn M Balasubramanian lit the kuthuvilakku along with the chief guest PDG Suresh Chandrasekar. Rtn Srinivasan, DG 2017-18 did a neat job in maintaining punctuality & decorum in the district seminar.

Being the 100th year of TRF, at the RI Convention, Japan ($30 million), Canada ($100 million), European union ($60 million), Pakistan ($105 million), have agreed to contribute to TRF for polio eradication. Bill Gates will match with $

450 million.Our PP SN Srikanth will also address

on ODF & Polio Flame in the breakout session in RI Convention. This is an unusal thing that a club has been invited on stage at the RI and is a great honour for our club. PP SN Srikanth, PP NK Gopinath and Pres Dr Arulmozhi Varman will be called to the stage.

Handedover the flag collected from RC Bangalore, our sister club and said that this ensuing year,all the 173 lakes in Bangalore has been taken for renovation, which is a mammoth plan for the club.

Rtn Prashant Kharche invited and reminded members on the full club fellowship on the 25th june’17 at the Crown Plaza @ 8 pm.He said that very interesting programs and different menu has been planned for the evening.

Rtn Shaan Katari Libby handedover the flags to PP VK Chandrakumar collected during her recent trip to RC London. She said it was good experience and well received by the club.

Rtn Shakthi Girish gave a brief note of todays program. In todays world there is a flurry of thoughts/confusion on the correct education & allied ones, to provide our children. One thing is of sure that technology is going to play a major role in our childrens future. How much is our schools nurture attitude in our children or how much is our children experiment on this.

Technology is rapidly changing the world we live in. Every day, new innovations are developed that further integrates technology into our everyday lives. We don’t know what the world will look like in 10 years, but we know that world will be powered by code!

CoderDojo believes that an understanding of programming languages is increasingly important in the modern world, that it’s both better and easier to learn these skills early, and that nobody should be denied the opportunity to do so! Any young person aged 7 – 17 can join and attend a Dojo for FREE! At a Dojo they will learn skills such as building a website, creating an app or a game, and explore technology in an informal, creative, and social environment. It is a community of volunteers led free programming clubs and spreads free learning.

Raghav, Kunal & Samay spoke in turns about CoderDojo, with a help of a PPT. An interactive session had questions posted by the floor and the moderator Rtn Shakthi.

PP VK Chandrakumar presented mementos to the speakers Kunal, Raghav & Samay on behalf of RCM.

The next regular weekly meeting is on the 20the June’17 at the same time same place. Speaker: Mr. Hemant Srivatsa, partner at Murray & Co.

Topic : AuctionsThe meeting was then adjourned.

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • June 13, 20173

Dear Fellow RCMers and friends,Indeed time flies. This is the 50th Issue being brought out by this Lighthouse

Team. The year has been a great one for all of us especially me. I have had more fun in Rotary and made deeper friendships thanks to the year on the RCM Board. For that and for giving me total editorial freedom I must thank President Arul and the rest of the RCM Board. Not even once did anyone call and ask me to slant the issue any one way – as a responsible writer/Rotarian I too did not use this freedom to either use this medium to promote myself or any of my personal / Rotary views.

Several times I have had to travel BUT NOT A SINGLE ISSUE WAS DESPATCHED LATE. In a few cases we had less than two days to get an issue ready as the meeting was on a Friday/Saturday and the next meeting on the following Tuesday.

This achievement has been possible due to great Teamwork. The Lighthouse editorial team who always chipped in and the duo of Sridhar (RCM Office) and Venkat (The designer). What many may not know is that between Sridhar and Venkat they have brought out 550 issues of Lighthouse. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to all of them. Any such publication needs to be bankrolled. Our generous advertisers have always stood up. I must mention Nalli, who, at the beginning of each year pay the entire year’s Advertisement charges in advance. I have thanked all the advertisers and those who contributed articles to the magazine separately (see next page). The editorial team as mentioned always stepped in and covered the speech, drew cartoons and in every possible manner helped the year go smoothly. In Sridhar and Venkat I found two gentlemen who I can say will be of the greatest support to any Editor. They took care of it all.

Many have written to me asking me if we could revert back to the printed format. I am told that despite last year’s profit (which may not be the case this year) we do not have the funds. It is also going against the grain of what the World is doing ie going paperless. However, I have made some enquiries and found out that a small quantity can be colour printed and posted (not couriered) for a minimal charge. It will be my suggestion to Rtn. Shaan Libby Katari the incoming editor to consider this possibility. This may probably cost around 20-25 Rs per issue. Rotarians desirous of obtaining a printed copy may subscribe for the same. I am hopeful that the incoming Board will find this a viable proposition. Couriering entails a very high cost and therefore the first look will be an e copy and the issue will come to you by regular Postal Service.

Lighthouse has been sent to you through the Yahoo group mail. Thank you Moderator Rtn. Aditya for always promptly releasing the issue. It has also been sent to you directly as an email through the kind offices of Rtn. Rajesh Somasundaram. The latter includes many non RCMers in the mailing list. Spouses, District Officials, Other Club officials etc. I am of the opinion that both avenues must continue. I have tried to keep it light but not frivolous, informative not boring, colourful not garish and above all a magazine that has a tradition of Class to live up to. Any lapse is entirely mine while all credit must go only to the full Light House Team.

Thank you all. Au Revoir.

Editor’s Farewell~ Rtn. Mohan Raman

t h a n k y o u . . .

Rtn. Shaan Katari Rtn. Sandhya Sridhar

Rtn. Sunita Suresh Rtn. Biswajit Babu Rtn. N.K. Gopinath

Rtn. Hiren B. Shah Rtn. R. Ravishankar Rtn. Shakthi Girish

Rtn. Bhaswar Mukherjee

P.S. Shridharan S. Venkatesh Venkat (Designer)

The Lighthouse weekly newsletter of our Club would not be possible but for the contributions of the sponsors and well wishers (see box).

A special thanks to Rtn Bhaswar Mukherjee & Rtn Shaan Katari Libby & PP Gopal Ratnam & Rtn. Biswajit Babu, Rtn Sandhya Sridhar & Ann.Rajashree for their contribution apart from project/event reports from Director/chairman of various avenues )

- Rtn P.V.Mohan Raman,Asst.Secy/Editor

SponSor rotarianNalli Nalli Kuppuswami ChettiGodrej interio K M Vinod KumarArun Excello P SureshSisco Ashok BajajAVM Productions M BalasubramanianMehta Jewellery Abhay MehtaAllovedi Health Care Dr Srinath YeshwanthUma Eye Clinic President Dr ArulRaj WaterScape PP George B CherianEhrlich Laboratory & Diagnostics PP Indra SubramanyamEuropa N.Raghunath

A Big Thank U

EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY: Rtn. Asst. Secretary, Rotary Club of Madras, ‘Rayala Towers’, 2nd Mezzanine Floor, 158, Anna Salai, Chennai - 2, Ph: 28591020.Contact the editor at: mohanraman@gmail.com. Design: www.studiodescience.com

Visit: www.rotarymadras.in Contact club secretariat at: office@rotarymadras.in

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • June 13, 20174Birthday20th June – Rtn PP KK Raman21st June – Rtn M Srinivasan22nd June – Rtn Lala Mathai25th June – Rtn PP KN Raja26th June – Rtn Prabha Srinivasan20th June – Ann. Swetha (Rtn Chella Krishna G)20th June – Ann. TC Sharmila (Rtn Dr TS Chandrasekar)21st June – Ann. Dr Rubia (Rtn Shoukath Sherif)26th June – Ann. Madhubala (Rtn Mahendra Parmar)26th June – Ann. Dolly (Rtn Rajiv Khanna)

EDITORIAL COMMITTEEAdvisors: Rtn. PP N.K. Gopinath,

Rtn. Sunita SureshChairman: Rtn. Mohan Raman

Rtn. Shaan Katari Libby, Rtn. Bhaswar Mukherjee, Rtn. Shakthi Girish,

Rtn. Biswajit Babu, Rtn. Sandhya Sridhar, Rtn. R. Ravishankar, Rtn. Hiren B. Shah,

P.S. Sridharan

SunshineRtn Hiren B Shah – `2500Rtn Sudha Shivkumar – `2000Rtn Girdhar Hemdev – `1000Rtn A Namasivayam – `2000

Wedding20th June – Rtn G Chella Krishna Ann. Swetha21st June – Rtn MCt P Chidambaram Ann. Chandrika22nd June – Rtn Harish Dhingra Ann. Ritika24th June – Rtn Mahendra Parmar Ann. Madhubala25th June – Rtn R Baba Shankar Ann. Bhanumathi25th June – Rtn PP KK Raman Ann. Meenakshi

The next regular weekly meeting is on the 20th

June’17, at the Hyatt 1pmSpeaker: Mr. Hemant Srivatsa,

partner at Murray & CoTopic : Auctions

~ Rtn. Sandhya Sridhar ~The Real Man

(or the Reel?)

It’s a familiar face. So familiar that while on the equator in Africa, someone goes to him

and says, “Sir, sir! Please can I have a selfie with you.” He smilingly obliges.

Often, one sees him on screen, garbed in black, in a courtroom scene. That’s Mohan Raman for you, defined in one colour. A dyed-in-the-wool gift-of-the-gabber (I take this language liberty), it is in his genes. If anything, it adds colour impetus to his questioning (not questionable’, I clarify) ways.

But genial he is, smiling and full of joi de vivre – the quintessential back-bencher with

a wicked sense of humour. It’s not just the humour, it is also a head full of all-sorts-of-things-that-you-need-to-know-and-may-also-not-need-to-know about everything ever about films and the industry that makes it tick.

He brings all this to the table when he steps back from the arc lights and wipes off the stardust, and turns corporate trainer.

Who is the real Mohan? Now, that’s a bit difficult to answer.

Here he is, as the editor of the Lighthouse, in yet another avatar.

Let the reel take over! Phew!

Love the way Biswajit has used my role in the film “Chennai Express” - Mohan Raman