My association with Rotary, as Rotary Anne, started in 2000 at the Rotary club of Bangalore. My husband, Ashok and I got pretty much absorbed in Rotary activity — I recall our frequent presence in several Pulse Polio camps in several Bangalore localities with our children also joining. My own journey in service commenced with Inner Wheel movement, first in Bangalore followed by Calcutta, Mumbai, Colombo and back in Calcutta.

Two marquee projects that I take great pride in having initiated are Mobile Mammography Camps and Upkeep of Prisoners’ Children.

The centenary year of the Rotary Club of Calcutta has been an unparalleled zenith. I had the privilege of participating in two overseas associations. To begin with, we attended the Hamburg international conference, an eyeopener into the Rotary universe. For me it was also an opportunity to learn a lot about RC Calcutta and its projects.

First Lady Sucharita and I spoke about our projects to many callers at our booth. We met members of foreign partner clubs. They all rang our centenary Bell! It was such a great delight when some of them visited Kolkata during our Centenary functions. The I WC Hamburg invited me to talk in their Installation meeting. And then we visited Sri Lanka for two unique events — a public discussion anchored by the Rotary Club of Battaramulla on the politics of the environment — that I participated in, followed by the formalisation of the Sister Club Agreement between RC Calcutta and the RC Battaramulla.

A high point of RC Calcutta and IWC Calcutta collaboration was the repurposing in Navanir Senior Citizens Home to accommodate two extra residents. IWC Calcutta also got an opportunity to extend their service footprint with Stars and Dara RCCs of RCC Calcutta. Pre Covid, IWC Calcutta did several camps in Stars for candle making, and it was a delight to see them display their wares during the Centenary events. As post Amphan support, IWC Calcutta distributed mosquito nets in Dara.

Thanks for the opportunity to serve, RCC Calcutta. May the I WC RCC collaboration extend and enhance in Century II !!!