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EVOLUTION
OF MEMBERSHIP |
| It is a very interesting study to make on the evolution
of membership of our Club. The transformation during these six and
half decades gives us an insight into the public perception of our
movement in this part of the country. From a scrutiny of the list
of Charter Members, one would find that there is a majority of Government
functionaries, mostly the top level and some at the next level and
others were mainly executives in the various British and American
Merchant Houses. Individuals and representatives of the local merchant
community were hardly there and this situation continued for the first
two or decades. What was the reason? |
| It is possible that, that was a time when Government
Official did not have any reservation in joining Service Clubs. More
over, when the Diwan who was the chief executive of the State was
pioneering this effort it is but natural that many would like to join
the Bandwagon. It is surprising to know that even the political agent
who was a sort of a super Government in those days chose to join the
Rotary Club of Cochin. It may be because the colonial temperature
of the Club was suited for cultivating such inter personal relations. |
| When did this constitution of the club start changing?
Old times may say that the advent of independence and the departure
of expatriates both at the Government and the business institutional
level heralded this change. Was there excellent fellowship in those
days? Again, people from that period say yes, and most of them were
looking forward to Rotary meetings on Saturdays. While membership
of the Club mostly comprised of middle aged men till the 1970s, the
late 1980s and 1990s saw the entry of many young men, the entrepreneur
Manager who is keen to do his bit for the society, as also to make
friends with his peers. This shift is evident in the increasingly
large number of Rotarians attending District Assemblies and Conferences
and their keenness to organize picnics and games where members and
their families can participate. Today, fireside meetings are very
much on the increase and Rotarians look forward to such meetings.
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| Till the 1950s Community Service largely was limited
to contributing money to build comfort structures in and around the
city. The scenario changed substantially in 1960s and 1970s with the
emergence of changing leadership whose perception of service was different
from their predecessors. The new leadership believed in personal involvement
of the new Rotarians and this resulted in organising massive projects
like Community Eye Camps, Noon -Feeding of School Children, The Aginex
- Exhibition etc. This trend continued for a number of years. The
construction of the housing colony at Cheranellore, five year long
construction of Rotary Balbhavn were projects which necessitated contribution
of time, energy and money of individual Rotarians to a substantial
extent. |
| 1990s have seen a paradigm shift in this priority.
A large number of our Rotarians are busy, very busy attending to their
own professional demands, travelling far and wide. He is not able
to spend much time on projects or services. So the Club looks for
such activities which can be completed with minimum Rotarian participation
but maximum contribution of money. The young member of the club puts
in eight to ten hours every day. The mobile phone tinkles even during
Rotary Meetings and he is not free from tensions any time. He looks
to entertainment, enjoyment and an occasion to unwind himself. He
does not mind to contribute Rs. 10,000/- or 15,000/- for a worthwhile
cause. |
ROTARY
GROWS 70s, 80s AND 90s |
| The perceptions of service and related activities of
Rotary saw quite a few changes at the beginning of 1970s and these
changes continued till the late 1990s. A new generation of Rotarians
who were impatient to conquer much in a short time became members
of the Club and they spearheaded this change. This was a generation
that thought, envisioned and acted big and has the courage to take
risk in Rotary as a bid in their personal life. We see a K.M.K. Abdulla
who spontaneously demands an amount of Rs. 1,00,000/- to be contributed
from among members to aid the Bangladesh situation and achieving this
target in a few days time. An earlier generation would not have courage
to embark let alone try on those lines. The housing project at Cheranellore,
building about 45 houses and a vocational centre and handing it over
to local community through the Panchayat was a bold step of the members
of our club. It was during this period that we donated an ambulance
van - the first in Cochin City - to the authorities. Construction
of a women and children ward in the Mattancherry Hospital a much needed
facility was also achieved during this time. The maternity and child
welfare centre, built and donated to the Corporation authorities and
later converted as the Regional Cancer Detection Centre is also a
product of this era. The biggest and the best so far is the Aginex
Exhibition, an exhibition of massive dimensions running through weeks
in the beginning of 1979 in the Marine Drive at Ernakulam, was a nucleus
which generated funds for the Rotary Balbhavan. The Balbhavan project
conceived during the presidentship of PP M. Jairam, through as project
report prepared by L. Vishnudas came to stay and it is today the brightest
jewel in our chronicle of events. It is said that the initial project
report was prepared by Vishnudas, which had a financial outlay of
few lakhs of rupees. Members had real apprehension whether the club
will be able to raise that sort of money. Then came PP Jairam’s
statement that “ when we beg, beg decently”. Probably,
this call to beg decently inspired our members to go ahead with the
project and see it to its culmination, though various methods adopted
to raise funds for the project included the Aging – 79 Exhibition
under the Chairmanship of PP Madhavan Nayar which collected 4 lakhs
net. The amount we utilised to buy 50 cents of land for the Rotary
Balbhavan at Panampilly Nagar. Many Rotarians were involved round
the clock in organising and running of this exhibition to which PP
R. Madhavan Nayar gave leadership. It was during the presidentship
of Rtn. David T. Mookken. Rtns. Azad, Ramankutty, Siva, K.. Narayanaswamy,
K.N. Suryanarayan, L. Vishnudas, G.K. Pillay et- al work hard and
we are proud of what they have achieved during the few months of hard
toil. |
| The Presidentship of Rtn. N.R. Shankar in 1980-’81
saw the foundation stone of the Balbhavan being laid by the then District
Governor G. Varadaraj. Real work on the construction started only
during the period of presidetnship of Rtn. P. Kesavan when a small
committee with PP Madhavan Nayar as the Chairman, Rtn. Venugopal C.
Govind, Rtn. G.K. Pillay and Rtn. A.K. Azad as members started functioning.
From then on till the Balbhavan was inaugurated on the 27th of May,
1986 by Shri P. Chidambaram, Hon’ble Minister of State for Personnal
Attention and Grievances, a hectic period of four years when the above
Rotarians and many others chipped in their maximum in time, energy
and money to see the birth of this dream child of the club. Some other
names that stand out while reminisce about the construction of Balbhavan
are PP N.T. Joseph, PDG Venugopal C. Govind, PDG S.R. Govindaraj etc.
This project in those days and even now continues to be a shining
example of International co-operation because Rotary Club of Brace
Bridge, Canadian International Development Agency and the Rotary Foundation
had contributed money for this project. The club on its part apart
from Aginex – ’79 had many fund raising projects. Two
souvenirs were brought out by the members of the Rotary Club of Cochin
in 1982 and 1985. Another exhibition called Homex ’86 was held
in 1986, a benefit performance was held all of which collected money
substantially to meet the needs of this project. |
| Kumbalam a remote island, which till late 1980s was
not connected by Road came to our attention during the Presidentship
of Rtn. N.R. Shankar. Rtne. Annamma Chackola ran a small tailoring
and vocational class in her house in Thevara which employed a few
poor women of Kumbalam village. This was identified by Rtn. Thomas
John and President Shankar and Rtn. Thomas John ferried to Kumbalam
island and after holding detailed discussion with the Parish Priest
and one teacher and social worker of the locality decided to have
a free clinic functioning there from one of the rooms attached to
the Mission School. This was inaugurated in 1981 December by Rtn.
Gov. G. Varadaaraj and many facilities were added to it in subsequent
years. During the period of Pres. Kesavan Governor Ratnam visited
the place and added some more facility. During the presidentship of
the present writer a Dental Chair was donated to the clinic. This
was arranged by Rtn. PP N.T. Joseph and was donated to the clinic
by Governor Gopal during his official visit to the club. Next year
when Rtn. Joseph P. Kurien was the president, was the year we celebrated
the Golden Jubilee, the first Rotary Village Corps in Asia, a new
concept promoted by the then Rotary International President MAT Caparas
– was inaugurated in Kumbalam by MAT Caparas himself during
his visit to our club, the first ever by a Rotary International President,
in January 1987. That was the year when A.K. Azad was the District
Governor and this visit was arranged by Azad himself during his visit
to International Assembly earlier. The club also completed a hospital
in nearby Panangad village and handed it over to the authorities.
This hospital, the construction of which was initiated by Panangad
Panchayat was lacking funds to complete and after being identified
by our club the construction progressed and the work completed, was
inaugurated by MAT Caparas the R.I. President and was handed over
to the Government immediately. It is a matter of pride to all of us
that this health centre is functioning well even today. |
| A tailoring centre was also started in Panamgad during
the same period where a set of sewing machines were handed over to
the inmates of the convent to run a centre which will provide occupation
to the poor women of the locality. The efforts put in by Rtn. T.K.
Varkey and Rtn. K.N. Suryanarayan in this direction are worth mentioning. |
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