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 Madras2016-2017 • Edition No.13

September 27, 2016 • 4 Pages

AGM of Rotary Club of Madas

Sgt-at-arms Rtn M Srinivasan collared President Rtn Dr Arulmozhi Varman who called the 12th meeting of RCM

to order, followed by a silent invocation.The 13th weekly meeting of this year

was held on 27th September 2016 at Hyatt. It was a closed door meeting.

The meeting began with the collaring of the President followed by a silent invocation. Birthday and anniversary greeting were tendered. This week know your Rotarian featured Rtns Suniel Lulla and Ranjit Bakshi. The Secretary announced that the next weekly meeting would be held on Tuesday, 4th October.

The speaker is Mr Rom Whittaker and the topic is 40yrs of Crocodile bank in Chennai.

This was followed by the AGM of RCM CT and RCM BTS wherein the audited accounts of 2015-2016 of both RCM-CT and RCM-BTS were passed by the General body and M/s. SNS associates were retained as chartered accountants for the year 2016-2017.

This was followed by the EGM of RCM wherein an amendment to a byelaw was proposed and passed by the General body. The President then closed the meeting.

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • September 27, 20162

minutes27th SEPTEMBER 2016

Sgt-at-arms Rtn M Srinivasan collared President Dr Arulmozhi Varman, who called the 13th meeting of RCM to order, this was followed by a silent invocation

The minutes of the 20th Sept’16 was duly confirmed.President welcomed members for the AGM meeting of RCMCT & RCMBTS,

Probus Club members, Rotaract Club of Chennai.President then extended birthday/wedding anniversary wishes to the

respective Rotarians who celebrate that week and thanked them for their sunshine.

President urged members to participate in our first fund raiser the Dandiya Nite which is on the 30th sept’16 and make it a great success. He also informed that members can also join for the dandiya dance practice session from 3 to 5 pm on wed/Thursday at the Hyatt.

Rtr Sasikumar, Rotaract Club of Chennai invited members to their Glitz program,a fund raiser for the 9th year.This year the proceeds will be utilized to provide RO purification system to 5 underpriviliged schools.Requested RCM to support for their event.

Rtn. Ranjit Bhakshi and Rtn. Suniel U Lulla were in the Know your Rotarian segment.

Secy Prob. Ram Mohan of Probus invited all for their Elders day celebrations at the Russian Culture Centre on 3rd Oct’16 at 3 pm.Pres Dr Arul will receive the first copy of their annual publication from the chief guest

Secy Rtn Dr R Chandrasekhar announced that the next weekly meeting will be on the 4th Oct’15 at the same venue same time

Speaker will be Rom Whitaker who will talk on ‘40 years of crocodile bank in Chennai’.

President requested non-members to retire from the hall, as AGM of RCMCT & RCMBTS would commence. President convened the AGM and then the meeting was adjourned.

Elected office-bearers RCMBTS for the ensuing year 2016-17.

Chairman Pres Dr Arulmozhi Varman Secretary Rtn Nimish C Tolia Two members Rtn PP V K Chandrakumar Rtn PP C S Devapragasam

SNS Associates has been re-appointed as Auditor for RCM for 2016-17.In the AGM of RCMCT and RCM BTS The respective accounts for the Year

were passed after discussion. The Current Auditors were retained.In the EGM of RCM an amendment to the Bye Laws was proposed. THIS

AMENDMENT STATED THAT A MEMBER OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF MADRAS BECOMES AN AUTOMATIC MEMBER OF RCM-CT AND RCM-BTS AND WILL ALSO HAVE TO PAY THE SUBSCRIPTION FIXED FOR RCM-CT AND RCM-BTS. This was discussed and passed by the General Body.

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • September 27, 20163

This is the first of hopefully many Rotarians sharing their Hobby /Passion/

Heirloom . Rtn. Rajesh and his family are the proud owners of this lovely 1912 Benz. We can see what condition it was before the restorer C.S. Ananth took on the Job. Here is more

from Rtn. Rajesh.This 1912 Benz Model 8/20

PS Runabout Tourer car was purchased from Benz &Cie in 1914. The original invoice, which is in possession by the car’s owner bears the details of the commission number and Engine number that is still

affixed to the car. The car was acquired by Rao Bahadur P.C. Muthu Chettiar (1877-1940), Madura, Madras Presidency (now Tamil Nadu) and has remained with the PCM family of Madurai for over a hundred years.

The PCM family of Madurai are the promoters of Pandyan Hotel, Madurai’s first luxury hotel that has been in operation since 1968 and is currently branded as Fortune Pandiyan Hotel, member ITC’s hotel group (www.fortunepandiyanhotel.com).

The Benz Model 8/20 PS was in continuous use until the 1960s when the car was garaged due to wear and difficulty with obtaining spare parts. The car averaged

35,000 miles per year at its peak. In 2013 the PCM family decided to restore this piece of Indian motoring heritage and engaged the expertise of well-known vintage car restorer C.S.Ananth of Team CSA. The restoration brief was to deliver a roadworthy car close to its original specifications. The restoration of this pre-World War I car was an incredible challenge with very little documentation available. The restoration work, over a 30-month period, involved extensive research, interesting debates, incredible learning, lots of hard work by talented

technicians, a lot of stress and fun, a pot of money and incredible passion to restore this piece of motoring heritage. The PCM family’s restored 100 years-owned Benz car Model 8/20 PS Runabout Tourer is apparently the oldest recorded Mercedes-Benz car in India and one of only four in existence worldwide.

This Benz Model 8/20 PS Runabout Tourer car was manufactured by Benz & Cie, Mannheim, Germany, a company founded by Carl Benz (1844-1929), inventor of the gasoline propelled automobile in 1886 whose patent is recognized as the “birth certificate” of the automobile.

The Benz model 8/20 PS was first introduced in 1912

as a robust and economical automobile that was mass produced and started the era of what was popularly known as “Brass era” cars. The model was in continuous production throughout World War I period and was discontinued in 1921. The period after World War I was difficult for luxury goods businesses such as passenger cars.

In 1926 Benz & Cie merged with its competitor Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) to form Daimler-Benz AG and the launch of brand Mercedes-Benz.

A “Family” heirloom

9th Oct – Ann.Marlene (Rtn PDG JB Kamdar )10th Oct – Ann. R Deepam (Rtn G Ravindran)

Rtn. Vidya Amarnath – ` 1500Rtn. Dr S Ramachandran – ` 1000Rtn. NK Bhatia – ` 5100

(scholarship)Rtn. Ahmar Siddiqui – ` 1000Rtn. TK Raman – ` 1000

8th Oct – Rtn Anil Mulchandani Ann. Devdatta10th Oct – Rtn PDG R Benjamin Cherian Ann. Valsa

Birthday

Wedding

Sunshine

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 • September 27, 20164

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

Secy Rtn Dr R Chandrasekhar announced that the next weekly meeting will be on the 4th Oct’15 at the same venue same time

Speaker will be Rom Whitaker who will talk on ‘40 years of crocodile bank in Chennai’.

president’smessage

RIJohn F GermPRESIDENT 2016-17 OCTOBER 2016

Dear Fellow RotariansIn 1979, James Bomar Jr., the president of Rotary at the time,

travelled to the Philippines as part of Rotary’s earliest work to immunise children against polio. After he had put drops of vaccine into one baby’s mouth, he felt a child’s hand tugging on his trouser leg to get his attention. Bomar looked down and saw the baby’s brother looking up at him, saying earnestly, “Thank you, thank you, Rotary.”

Before Rotary took on the task of polio eradication, 350,000 people — nearly all of them children — were paralysed by polio every year. That child in the Philippines knew exactly what polio was and understood exactly what Rotary had just done for his baby brother. Today, 31 years after the launch of PolioPlus, the children of the Philippines — and of nearly every other country in the world — are growing up without that knowledge, and that fear, of polio. Instead of 1,000 new cases of polio every day, we are averaging less than one per week. But as the fear of polio wanes, so does awareness of the disease. Now more than ever, it is vitally important to keep that awareness high and to push polio eradication to the top of the public agenda and our governments’ priorities. We need to make sure the world knows that our work to eradicate polio isn’t over yet, but that Rotary is in it to end it.

On 24 October, Rotary will mark World Polio Day to help raise the awareness and the funding we need to reach full eradication. I ask all of you to take part by holding an event in your club, in your community, or online. Ideas and materials are available for download in all Rotary languages at endpolio.org/worldpolioday, and you can register your event with Rotary at the same link. You can also join me and tens of thousands of your fellow Rotarians for a live-streamed global status update at 6 p.m. Eastern time at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. I’ll be there along with CDC Director Tom Frieden, other experts, and inspirational presenters, sharing an inside look at the science, partnerships, and human stories of polio eradication.

It is an incredibly exciting time to be a Rotarian. We are gathering momentum for the final race to the finish: to the end of PolioPlus and the beginning of a polio-free world. It is truly a once-in-a-lifetime chance to End Polio Now, through Rotary Serving Humanity.

John F GermPresident, Rotary International

Fellow Rotarians,As part of the 1929 group fellowship between Rotary Clubs of

Colombo, Bombay, and ourselves it is proposed to visit Colombo between February 22-26, 2017. Spouses are very welcome and essential.

Our hosts will be arranging a comprehensive programme with sightseeing, sports like golf, shopping, visits to projects and probably one formal meeting.

The last visit to Mumbai was very enjoyable, and we are sure to have an excellent time.

We would appreciate getting immediate indications of interest so that we can tie up the best deals for travel & accomodation.

The full programme, costs etc will be conveyed shortly, and this is just so you block your dates.”Rtn. PP. Ravi Katari Chairman International Fellowship & Group of 1929

The race to the finish