ROTARACT CLUB

I was asked to revive the Rotaract Club of Madras Central in 1986. It turned out to be a wonderful opportunity as it helped me gain confidence in public speaking. It helped me get the organising skills as i had the opportunity of organising meetings, conferences and events. It also helped me move out of the CA circle and get aquainted with people from different walks of life.

I was the President of the Club and organised several events and programmes. The most memorable ones are the "Arts Competition" for school children and the "Bank Audit" Seminar.

The Arts Competition for school children was held in St.Louis School for Deaf and Dum in Adyar. There were 800 school children in that competition and nearly 500 of those children were physically challenged. It was a wonderful event which was very well organised and went through very smoothly without any glitches or hurdles.

The "Bank Audit" seminar was another big event that we organised. The day before the seminar i met with an accident. I was riding my TVS 50 with Sathyamurthy as my pillion. I skidded and fell and was injured very badly with bruises all over my body. With that pain i managed to conduct the Bank Audit Seminar successfully. The highlights of that Seminar were (1) We introduced the topic "Expectations of the Banker" for the first time and (2) I presented a paper.

We used to have the Rotaract Club Meetings in "Childrens Garden School". It was great fun to have those meetings and address the club members. We had Sabareeswaran of OMS Motors, my brother T.P.Ashok from I.O.B. and so many others in the club as active members.

I had one of the meetings in my office when i was working in Sterling Resorts and one of our members Shridhar Sampath walked through the Glass door in the reception. He literally and physically walked through the glass and brought down the entire glass with huge thunderous noise. The entire staff including the Management came to the reception because of the huge noise. To our surprise and shock Shridhar Sampath was standing there as if nothing had happened.

I used to go to Semmanchery Village on ECR on my TVS 50 to meet the villagers and help them through the community service programmes of our parent club. We used to regularly go to Mr.Kannan's house in West CIT Nagar to do "reading for the Blind". We did a programme on putting the "Bulls Eye" sticker on Motorcyles in Chennai. I went to Police Commissioner's Office to get the permission.

We had the support and guidance of Rotarian Jeyakumar of Raj Paris Civil Constructions - a wonderful person to deal with.

I still remember the meetings we used to have for the Rotaract Club with D.Sriram, Arvind, Sam, Karthik, Shridhar, Ashok, Sabareeswaran being very active and major contributors in the community service and other programmes. My memory is fading and i am not able to recollect all the members and all the programmes....

The two years that i spent with Rotaract Club was filled with lot of activity, responsibility, challenges, experience and thrill. It was a very rewarding and wonderful experience. I cherish those memories and feel proud to have got that experience at the right age...

T.P.Anand
Dubai.
16th December 2010

Ocean Receding Day

It was a lovely Sunday morning and as usual there was general laziness all over the house.

There was no hurry for anything as is normal for a holiday. Children were also relaxed as they were not having college. We all got up around 9 a.m. and I lazily settled down with my cup of coffee and “The Hindu” on my lap. The Hindu carried an interesting news on Ocean Receding Day. It was to happen on that night at 3 a.m.
I had been reading about Economic Recession for almost one year and this was the first time I got to read something on the great Ocean receding.

As a resident of Chennai I always admired the Bay of Bengal. A walk along the seashore is an experience one would relish everyday day after day for ever.
I told my wife and children about the Ocean Receding Day an that we should be there at the Beach that night to watch the “never before seen” great event at 3 a.m. I had office next day and my children had to catch their college bus at 7.15 in the morning. Still, there cannot be anything more important than watching that great event on the seashore.

We all went out for lunch and as usual we went for a long drive along the East Coast Road up to Mamallapuram.

It was very pleasant drive all along the sea coast. We came back home around 5 p.m. in the evening.

All through this time, I kept on thinking about the Ocean Receding Day. After dinner we went to sleep after setting the alarm to ring at 2 a.m. so that we would have ample time to reach the beach to watch the spectacle.
I could not sleep in the night as I was wondering about the Ocean Receding. It appeared mysterious to me especially since it was unheard of before. I could not wait till 3 a.m. to unravel the mystery.

I was restless and somehow managed to get some sleep around 11 p.m. Even before the alarm sounded I woke up at 2 a.m. and felt very fresh though I had slept only for 3 hours. I took a nice cool shower and then woke up my family members.
We all set out at 2.30 a.m. and reached the Marina Beach at 2.45 a.m.
It was a startling sight as the beach was full of men, women and children.
I had never seen such a huge crowd even during Pongal holidays in the last four decades. Everybody was watching the sea.

I stood there with my wife and children and it was very soothing and pleasant to look at the sea. When I looked at my watch it was 2.55 a.m. and I suddenly felt that the waves were becoming slow. Within the next couple of minutes the waves stopped and I felt as though I was standing in front of a lake and not Bay of Bengal.

I saw the water receding rapidly and within couple of minutes the water had gone back by a couple of miles – far away. There was pin drop silence in the Marina Beach with so many children, men and women standing absolutely dazed at the sight of the beach receding by a few miles. In that beautiful moonlight i saw a nice lovely Blue Castle which was glittering in the moonlight.

I felt that blue marble structure should have been built several centuries ago and would have got submerged in the sea. But why nothing had been written about this structure by historians all these years? I was amazed by the sight of such a huge Castle just few meters away from the Marina beach in Chennai.

I looked at my wife and children and they were also standing there with their eyes wide open not able to comprehend the whole scene. We were standing at Marina Beach and instead of the usual sight of the never ending waves on the sea we were witnessing a large stretch of land, almost like a valley, and in the middle right in front of our eyes was the magnificent Blue Castle. Where from did they get that blue marble? Or did it get the blue color because of all those years under the blue sea?

I kept looking at the blue marble Castle – what a spectacle it was. Huge Castle in the middle of the sea and now clearly visible under the moonlight because of the Ocean Receding.

Suddenly the thought of “what goes would come back” came to my mind. I felt the chillness all over my body at the very thought of the Sea coming back to its old position.

The sea will come back and it would come back with a huge force. I also dreaded the thought of the Castle again getting covered by the Sea. That would be a great disappointment. But, sea coming back with a hugeforce sent shivers down my spine. We had to run from the place rapidly. Thoughts of Tsunami came to my mind.

The mixed feelings of fear and disappointment ran in my mind.

I had to do something immediately. My mind started working out possibilities.
And I got up with a jolt to find myself in my bedroom in Dubai and it was exactly 3 a.m. in the morning.

….. T P Anand, Dubai
30th June 2009

முதல் ஓட்டு அனுபவம்

நான் என்னுடய முதல் ஓட்டு பதிவை நினைவு கூர்ந்து பார்க்கிறேன்.

என் தந்தை என் பாட்டியிடம்: ”நாங்க எல்லாரும் ஓட்டு போட்டாச்சு நீயும் ஆனந்தும் போய் ஓட்டு போட்டுட்டு வாங்க. ஹெச்.வி. ஹாண்டேக்கு ஓட்டு போடும்மா அவர் நல்லவர் அதுவும் அவர் ஒரு ப்ராமணர் செரியா?”
உடனே என் பாட்டி : ”யாருடா அது ஹாண்டெ?”

என் தந்தை: ”அவர்தாம்மா போன வாரம் வந்து நம்ப தெருவிலே ஓட்டு கேட்டாரே நம்ப ஆத்து வாசல்ல நின்னு கண்டிப்பா எனக்கு ஓட்டு போடுங்கோன்னு கேட்டாரே ஞாபகம் இருக்கா?”

என் பாட்டி: ”என்னமோ போடா எனக்கு சரிபடலே”

என் தந்தை: ”அம்மா உனக்கு புரியாது பேசாம போ ஹெச்.வி. ஹாண்டேக்கு ஓட்டு போடு.” (என் பாட்டியிடம்) “அம்மா! தேர்தல் சீட்டுல பேரு தேட கஷ்டமா இருக்கும் அதனால சேவல் சின்னத்த பார்த்து ஓட்டு போடு” (என்னை பார்த்து) ”டேய் ஆனந்த் பாட்டி கூட போய் ஓட்டு போடு”.

என் பாட்டி: ”நன்னா இருக்கு நீ சொல்லரது – சேவலும் வேண்டாம் கோழியும் வேண்டாம் நான் போய் சூரியன்ல ஓட்டு போட்டுட்டு வரேன். நீ வாடா ஆனந்த் நம்போ ரெண்டு பேரும் போய் ஓட்டு போட்டுட்டு வரலாம்”

நானும் ஏதோ பிரமை பிடித்தவன் போல என் பாட்டி கூடவே போய் ஓட்டு போட்டேன்.
என் பாட்டிக்கு 80 வயதுக்கு மேலிருக்கும் அப்போது (கிட்டத்தட்ட 23 வருடங்களுக்கு முன்னால்). இப்படித்தான் இந்தியர்களில் பெரும்பாலோர் ஏன், எதற்கு, யாருக்கு என்று தெரியாமலே, யோசிக்காமலே வாக்களிக்கிறார்கள்.

என் பாட்டி சொன்னதால் சூரியனுக்கு வாக்களித்த அந்த முதல் வாக்குக்கு பிறகு, இன்றுவரை நான் என் வாக்குரிமையை பயன்படுத்தவில்லை. இதில் பெரும்பாலும் வெளிநாட்டில் இருந்தது என்பது, பல காரணங்களில் ஒரு காரணம்.

ஆனந்த்
April 2009