On February 5, 2022, RBA turned five. You might be curious to know how our club came to be formed. Let us take you behind the scenes to learn how the caterpillar changed into a butterfly.
Zarir
I wanted to do something different during my presidency in 2017-18. Rotary has been good to everyone; why exclude the differently abled community from reaping the benefits I thought. The disabled could do even more than others, I was convinced.
When I put it in front of the board, there was silence. I didn’t know how to interpret this. I didn’t dispute anything during the board meeting. Subbu Chitur, who was our treasurer elect remained silent During the meeting, but came to me after the meeting, and offered his unconditional support. He knew me very well; we worked well with each other. In fact our birthdays follow one another. He was born on April 26th while my birthday is on April 27th.
Prakash was very supportive in the initial days, which was a positive sign. But within the board, one or 2 members were still skeptical. We however continued to lay the groundwork for the formation of a new club.
During the PETS of that year, I spoke with PDG Asha Prasanna, who was the DG-elect. She was also very welcoming about the idea and offered any assistance from the district. PDG SR Yogananda was also encouraging and helped the process along. Srinivas Murthy V. helped us get the Chartered certificate on time.
One day, while Subbu and I were having a chat, he mentioned that he happened to know Justin. We had a conference call with him and explained our idea. Justin took up the challenge and promised to find other like-minded individuals. So in April 2017, all of us gathered at the Rotary House of Friendship to get to know each other a bit better.
Justin
In 1997, I had joined toastmasters to improve my communication and leadership skills. Subbu Chittur was the person who brought the concept of Toastmasters to India in 1992. He had known about Toastmasters while he was working in the gulf. Anyway one day, he called me along with Zarir and told me about the idea of Rotary among the differently abled. I thought about it and found it to be an interesting idea worth persuing. I invited a few of my known contacts (AnanthSai, Priya, Rajdeep, Ravishankar, L. Subramani, and others to a meeting. With enthusiasm we agreed to invite other like-minded individuals to subsequent meetings. The initial days were painfully slow. By December, we were able to get the support of 20 members, which meant that our club could be chartered. In the early days, our projects were mostly related to disability awareness and sensitization, GAAD, and accessibility related.
Over time, RBA became well known in every area of service. We had many a memorable fellowship, car and bike rally for the blind, IDPD awards, GAAD events, tree plantation drives, classes in Spoken English, computers, and CLAP, timely assistance provided during the pandemic, World MS Day, accessible public ramps, and countless other projects. Whenever the DG makes a request, our club is one of the first to respond. Our club is a 100%-giving club to the TRF. Presidents Nagaraj and Aravind, by doing so many projects, not only brought laurels to the club, but have enhanced the visibility of our club. We have constantly strived to promote the value of service in our community.
Subramani’s reign as the president was notable for the car rally and the art exhibition.
When Anandhi was the president, IDPD and GAAD were among the few highlights executed during the tenure.
CLAP, tree plantation, and sensitization programs were the milestone projects that Nagaraj executed while being the president. CLAP, in fact, received the Shrestotam award from the district under Vocational Services.
Aravind, as the president, accomplished the wheelchair project for the spinal injury rehabilitation center, solar bulb project for a tribal village in Magadi taluk, district grant project supplying water filters and racks to schools, and also a global grant project distributing the Annie braille device to a needy school.
Kranthi, during this term as the president, gets the credit for hosting RBA’s first-ever, district-supported event when our club ran the Global Grant Seminar for 2022-23. The club also supplied relief material to the people affected by the rain deluge around Ramanagara hinterland recently.
RBA is in the limelight in District 3190 especially due to the IDPD awards. The district strives to recognize the Unsung Heroes who stand out or serve the differently abled community. In the first edition of the awards, there was a spontaneous outpouring of generous funds (over 4 lakhs), which was distributed among the winners of the award that year. In subsequent years, more than 40 clubs joined hands together to execute this project, building bonds of friendship and service. By recognizing even LGBTQ members among the award winners, RBA has set the bars high in the DEI arena.
"Strength lies in differences, not in similarities" --Stephen R. Covey
RBA will continue to strive for diversity among its members. So far, we have had members who are visually impaired, persons suffering from MS, and autism. Anyone who wishes to make a positive difference in the community is welcome to join our club.
And the road ahead is going to be filled with wins and even more frustrations. We need to remind ourselves this quote from Nick Vujicic:
"When God doesn’t grant your miracles, remember you are the miracle he sent for somebody else."
And we, the saints go marching on:
We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.
Martin Luther King, Jr.