The Rotary District 3230 GSE Team Blog

Farewell Rally

2010-06-10T23:59:00.000-07:00

Rotary Meetings

2010-06-09T00:07:00.000-07:00

Vignettes of our trip

2010-06-08T23:39:00.000-07:00

Straight from the Heart : A Rotarian speaks

2010-06-08T23:34:00.001-07:00

Blakes Cottage

Friday 21st May 2010

Dear Gary

I wanted to say how much Angie and I enjoyed our week of hosting one of the GSE team from Chennai.

If you are a person who believes that it is not the material things in life, the money you have or the possessions you own but it is the people who make the difference then this week has shown that to the full.

We, in Rotary, are service minded and I would like to think that most of us have joined to make a difference to people’s lives, it is not the raising of money or the personal giving but what, as a person you can give to help other people.

Through your life you meet many thousands of people but now and again you meet someone (and it is very few) who touch your soul, this week was one of those. We feel with Charitra we have made a friend for life, something to be treasured and cherished. Not that, that takes away the fun, enjoyment and pleasure that the rest of the team has also given us this week.

I would want to pass on to those who think about hosting, to open their doors, their arms and especially their hearts and minds to these young people who have so much to teach us about the modern world and especially their specific part of it. It is such a rewarding experience and should not be passed up lightly.

From both of us, please thank the team for everything they have given us this week, we wish them well for the future.

All the best

Angie and Dave

THE FOURTH AND FINAL WEEK

2010-06-08T23:30:00.000-07:00

We moved into our final host's homes on Saturday.

On Sunday we spent the day at Windsor Castel , the summer residence of the Queen.

The Castle is a fascinating place , especially the Dolls Museum and the State Rooms.

These Brits really know how to preserve History !!!.

I was invited to an informal Dinner meeting of my Hosts Rotary Club.

They seemed to be all Jolly old men and women.

The members were all very curious to know about our team . They were slightly disappointed that we could not address their formal meeting since they did not have one this week due to the Bank Holiday.

On Monday which was a Bank Holiday , I did some Rotary Work at Rugby with some Rotarians.

Monday night , I treated my hosts to an Indian Meal which they enjoyed very much.

Most Indian Restaurants are managed by Bangladeshis.

Tuesday was one of the most enjoyable days as we went to London to see the Parliament and the London Eye.

The Trio of Rotarians who came with us were very witty and we had a wonderful time , gently ribbing each other.

They really appreciate good natured ribbing : Healthy Disrespect as we can call it !!!!.

Wednesday was Vocational Visit day for the team and they went off to various locations.

Charitra was not terribly well , hence she stayed back but she was game enough to help me prepare the slides for my presentation for the evening.

Wednesday evening , i.e. Yesterday we had the Farewell Rally as they call it.

The hall was jampacked. Originally 50 Rotarians had given their consent to attend ( here consent has to be given and bookings for dinner are made accordingly ).

However, more than 60 people turned up and there was no seating room !!!!.

I am led to believe , its because we have become so popular. !!!!!.

The girls did a wonderful job with the audience made to do "steps" to Instant Bhangra in which the DG too joined in.

I rounded off the evening with a PPT which was based on Western Movies , which seemed to go down very well with the Audience.

We kept hearing repeatedly that we were the BEST team that they had seen .

There were a couple of Indians in the audience and they came and hugged us saying that we have done India Proud.

Infact , most of the Brits in the audience were again "shocked" that the girls could actually speak such Good English !!!.

Today the last day of the programme has been hectic for the team .

They had their vocational visits while I was taken to the Royal Albert Hall and the Victoria Museum.

Charitra did a programme with BBC Radio in their local edition and she enjoyed it thoroughly.

Rahuel went to TESCO , while Umashree went to a Staffing Agency to understand Customer Service.

Have not heard their exploits.

I am meeting them for a Group Dinner at an Indian Restaurant in the next one hour.

We are leaving early morning tomorrow.

The girls are staying abck and will be back on 10th June.

The arrangements have been made to take care of them for the next few days.

The DG was very happy with the way the programme had gone on and she has given me special gifts to be given to Anand and Meena.

In conclusion, it has indeed been a life changing programme for all of us.

The lessons we have learnt will enrich our life.

The satisfaction is that the Brits, atleast the Rotarians of 1260 have a new found respect for India.

I must mention the stupendous work done by GSE Chair Gary Eastman who was so helpful all through the programme. He was very well liked by all of us , especially the GIRLS !!!.

He has a great sense of humour and took all our barbs very graciously.

PDG Charles Chaney was also of great help. He drove Rahuel 4 hours to Oxford and Back for a seminar very willingly.

Sandy ,the current DG and Amanda the incoming DG were always there to help us out.

Then there were Rotarians like David, Paul, Eddie, the Steves, Mike, Mark Manning,The Andys and countless other Rotarians who really showed all of us what Rotary is really all about : SERVICE ABOVE SELF .

Thanks to everyone in RID 1260 . We will never forget you and your hospitality.

Thanks to everyone back home in RID 3230 who helped us in our mission here.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED !!!!!.

Vijay Sambrani

THE THIRD WEEK

2010-06-08T23:17:00.000-07:00

We started off from Bath, having had a successful conference on Sunday afternoon.

We were all at our respective hosts by the evening at an area called Hitchin/Stevenage.

While all the members were hosted by members of RC Hitchin, I was hosted by a member of RC Stevenage,Eddie Veale .

Eddie is avery busy man, typical first generation Entrepreneur. he has no time even for food.

he works very hard and it shows : the world's biggest musicians take his help and advice in designing studios.

his wife Lynda is a very cheerful woman who specially cooked a delicious Indian meal for me based on Pt. Ravi Shankar son's receipe .

While the first two weeks went off like a dream , we were a little unsure about the third week because the schedule of the week was changing by the minute !!!.

However Gary and members of the various clubs in Hitchin sat together and sorted it out to everyone's satisfaction.

One more example of how Rotarians can solve ticklish issues in a smooth manner.

The first day we had a presentation at RC Hitchin at lunch time. This club is an old man's club with the average age being above 70 !!!.

We enlivened the proceedings by reciting a Limerick about their club which they all enjoyed.

The President, Lee, has promised to put the limerick in his monthly bulletin.

During the week we went to Cambridge and also visited the Cambridge Evening News paper offices and printing press.

One of the club members: Steve took us flying in his airplane !!!.

It was a breathtaking experience and we had a bird's eye view of Cambridge .

Hitchin has 4 clubs. The oldest club has the old members. The newest Club : RC Hitchin Tilehouse is the home club of the DG for 2010-11 .

Tile House is a dynamic club . We did a presentation to them on Friday which was very well received. Gary Eastman was there and he remarked that we spoke from our hearts.Mark Manning , the President conducted the proceedings smoothly.

The group had its share of Vocational Visits to BBC , Lloyds, The Guardian etc.

They also arranged some extra Vocational Visits to some of of us who did not have enough the previous week.

The final day,they hosted a party which went on late in the night.

On Saturday we changed hosts for the final time.

However, since RIBI was hosting the finals of the Talent Contest for Young Musicians ,

RC Hitchin Tile House Members, led by Maggie and Steve had arranged a special van and took us to watch the finals.

It was a very nice gesture by them.

Now we have settled with our new hosts.

My host is Peter Wilkinson, a retired Bureaucrat with his adorable wife : Isabella who is an excellent golfer and a very good cook.

She made some special Indian Dishes for me.

On Sunday they took us to visit Windsor Castle.

Today , Monday is a Bank Holiday , hence we did not do much. I met a few Rotarian's from Rugby.

Actually, today was the FIRST REST DAY we got in our entire tour.

The strain is quite huge since we have been up at 7 am every morning and coming back at around 10 PM.

Also 4 of us are Vegetarians !!!.

And how long can we eat Bread !!!!.

We have had Indian food a couple of times.

This week we are rounding off with 2 vocational visits for the group.

Tuesday we go to London.

Wednesday and Thursday are the vocational visit days.

Wednesday is also our Farewell Rally where we would talk about our experiences.

On Friday early morning Rahuel and I will be on the plane back to Chennai to reach here early Saturday morning.

The girls would be staying till the 10th of June.

They have made concrete arrangements and there should be no problem.

As of today, the team has held well together and I hope the next few days would be incident free.

Vijay Sambrani

THE DISTRICT CONFERENCE

2010-06-08T23:12:00.001-07:00

LEADING TO THE CONFERENCE ..............

2010-06-08T23:07:00.000-07:00

The second week was very enjoyable.

We had three formal presentations in a row , i.e. Monday , Tuesday and Wednesday and we also visited Wimbledon , Silver stone ( F1 racing track) and then we drove off to the Conference at Bath.

On the way to Bath, we visited Stonehenge .

Bath is a lovely city . Its almost like Paris.

The District Conference was a relaxed affair .

Here Dist Conferences are social events with fun and games competitions. Once in a while , some Rotary Work is done !!!!.

We had our presentation this morning.

And what a reception we got. We had the audience in splits with witty slides of each of us.

The applause was deafening.

After the event , we were besieged with Rotarians Congratulating us .

One of the Rotarians , an Indian Born : Guru Guruswamy became very emotional and mentioned that he had been attending GSE presentations at the Conference for 26 years and he felt ours was THE BEST.

He said that he felt proud to be an INDIAN !!!!.

Can you believe it. I had tears in my eyes when he said that.

We have well and truly broken the stereotype of what Indians , especially the Indian women are capable of.

It makes me so proud of the girls who are really stealing the show.

They were also amazed that Rahuel was the president of Loyola Rotaract which has 600 members while their entire district has not more tha 20 members !!!!.

After the event Gary Eastman who is the GSE Chair came and told us that we have had a "profound impact" on the district. These were his exact words " profound impact" .

This week we have three club meetings but only informal presentations since they are either breakfast or lunch clubs.

Many clubs want us to come and present , but since the schedule is tight , I don't think we will be able to.

I will also forward you a mail sent by the president of Ware RC which is self explanatory.

Another mail of another PP also was received by Gary which was very sweet.

I will forward that mail as soon as I receive from Gary.

We had wonderful hosts last week and this is my first evening with my new hosts.

My last host was the Mayor of the town.

My new Host is the audio engineer for The Beatles and Pt. Ravi Shankar !!!!!.

When he mentioned this to me in passing , I almost fell off my chair.

I told him that Ravi Shankar was like a God to us and The Beatles were definitely Gods, he smiled and said: " I was only doing my duty".

What a humble man !!!!.

Incidentally today , the PDG and the incoming DG carried my bags to the car !!!!!.

And they never felt embarrassed about it.

People join Rotary here more for fun and fellowship .

My new host has promised me to show the Sound Studios in London this week end.

I am really privileged to get such hosts .

Beginning tomorrow again we are likely to be busy.

We are going to Cambridge this week apart from our Vocational Visits. There are 2 of them arranged.

INNER WHEEL

2010-06-08T23:01:00.000-07:00

THE SECOND WEEK

2010-06-08T22:58:00.000-07:00

Now we are in the second week and the pace has become more hectic.

Except Rahuel everyone of us being vegetarian we don't have too much choice for food , but whatever food we get , is tasty.

In the last few days of the first week we attended the District Assembly.

It was very well conducted and it good good attendance.

Its interesting to see that a PDG was managing the Rotary food counter.

We had some informal presentations in the first week , before we were transferred to the new hosts.

This area is quite vast and we are all well separated.

However we meet everyday .

Saturday was free but the hosts took me to the INNER WHEEL CHARTER NITE and it was an enjoyable affair, this being my first attendance at any inner wheel club.

Sunday we went to Stratford on Avon and Coventry.

On Monday we went to the Open University and a large country house.

We had a formal presentation in the evening.

While the crowd enjoyed it , we felt we could do better.

Hence we worked on our presentation today.

This morning we had gone to Oxford University and it was a wonderful experience.

This evening the DG had made a surprise visit to the joint club meeting where we made our presentation.

Gary Eastman , the GSE Chair was also present.

Today's presentation was the best we did since we began.

All the hard work seems to be paying off.

Everyone felt that we were the best GSE team in their experience.

They were very impressed the way the GIRLS presented.

They never thought Indian Women could express so well.

The girls are a HIT ITEM .

Everyone loves them

Charitra and Nandita keep the audiences in splits with their quick wit.

Uma is quietly confident.

We will be visiting Wimbledon tomorrow and we also have another presentation lined up in the evening.

Thursday we are off to Silver stone F1 Race Track.

On Friday we start for the conference at Bath .

All arrangements have been made.

We have a presentation ready for the conference.

Frankly , all our hard work in Chennai and the feedback and help we got from all of you was worth it .

It is showing in the way we are going about it.

We can always improve and we are trying to do so everyday.

I hardly get time to send anything by mail.

This morning , I got up at 5 am and after a full day I am typing in this report at is 12: 30 AM !!!!!.

I need to sleep now and again get up at 5 am , so just 4 and half hour sleep.

WELCOME RALLY

2010-06-08T22:23:00.000-07:00

THE FIRST WEEK

2010-06-08T22:12:00.000-07:00

The flight into Heathrow was largely uneventful , actually it was very comfortable.

Everyone was refreshed after a long flight, except me, of course because the airline had misplaced my baggage !!!!,

At the airport DG Sandy, her husband David , Paul Manning and PDG Charles Chaney received us.

Rahuel and me are staying with Paul. The other girls are separated from us by about 15 minute drive.

Saturday was the briefing session at Paul's home.

early Sunday morning Paul and me went cycling to the other hosts homes to check on the girls.

They all seemed to be OK, except for slight jet lag.

Later that day we went to Knebworth Castle.

Dinner was at one of the hosts homes , Indian , especially for us.

Monday was a tour of Hitchin . we saw the local museum and the Fire Station.

That evening was our first presentation at the welcome rally .

It was attended by nearly 100 people and it was a roaring success.

Both the DG and the Club president said it was the BEST GSE presentation they had EVER SEEN !!!!

All the team members presented very well.

Tuesday was a VOCATIONAL visit Day.

Wednesday, we attended two club meetings.

That evening, we again had a formal presentation for 4 clubs.

A couple of the members had already seen our presentation and they had spread the word around, about how good our Team was !!!! .

The hall was full and we were in full flow.

They were mightily amused by our light hearted banter which was a deliberate part of our presentation.

We are wondering whether our jokes are getting "stale", but the audience is new every time and they are having a jolly good time !!!!,

Paul is a great host and he has left his home free for us ,and Rahuel has taken the role of a cook.

Margaret ,. Paul's wife is a very sweet woman .

Yesterday they became proud grandparents for a second time.

Their daughter Victoria gave birth to a second baby girl . The first one is Macy who is very very cute.

Al of us are doing great.

It is cold but there has been no rain mercifully.

THE TEAM : GROUP PHOTO

2010-05-02T08:19:00.000-07:00

Standing(L to R) : Vijay , Charitra and Rahuel.
Sitting (L & R ): Umashree and Nandita

THE TEAM

2010-05-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

The team going to RID1260 , UK , is made up of Rtn. Vijay Sambrani, Ms. Charitra Parthasarathy, Ms.Nandita Sridhar, Mr.Rahuel Stone and Ms.Umashree Goda.
The team will visit RID1260 which consists of the areas of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.
The team will be in the UK between 8th May 2010 and 4th June 2010.
The team hopes to have a wonderful experience and share it with the world through these columns