PRESIDENT Rtn. Dr. N.V. Arulmozhi Varman

HoNoRARy SECRETARy Rtn. Dr. R. Chandrasekhar

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Rtn. A.S. Venkhat Ramani

PRESIDENT ELECT Rtn. P N Mohan

PRESIDENT NoMINEE Rtn. Ranjit Pratap

Asst. SECRETARy / BULLETIN EDIToR Rtn. Mohan Raman

DIRECToR CLUB ADMINISTRATIoN Rtn. R. Rajenderan

DIRECToR yoUTH SERVICE Rtn. M Sesha Sai

DIRECToR PUBLIC IMAGE AND FUND RAISING Rtn. Harish K. Murthi

DIRECToR RoTARy FoUNDATIoN & INTERNATIoNAL SERVICES Rtn. M. Balasubramaniam

DIRECToR SERVICE PRoJECT 1 Rtn. R. Ravishankar

DIRECToR SERVICE PRoJECT 2 Rtn. K.M. Vinod Kumar

DIRECToR VoCATIoNAL SERVICE Rtn. S. Ravi

TREASURER (CLUB FUNDS) Rtn. Hemant Chordia

TREASURER (CHARITABLE TRUST) Rtn. Nimish C. Tolia

TREASURER (SPECIAL PRoJECTS) Rtn. Kishor Dandeker

The LighthouseBulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras2016-2017 • Edition No.8

August 23, 2016 • 5 Pages

Chennai nee Madras is not one flavour to be captured in these by-

now, overused icons.For those of us who live here,

this city cannot be defined. I have never been able to explain to the brash Delhiwallah who asks me incredulously, why we people are so quiet. Or the enthu Mumbaiwallah who suspects that nothing goes on here, in this city beyond 9pm.

By now, those who do business with us know, that the unpreposing man in the white dhoti and shirt, carrying that yellow bag, could well be a millionaire realtor. Or that the quiet lady who

sits by you in economy on your flight could be a Kollywood star.

We are a charming mix of the loud and the quiet, the traditional and the modern, you can try to explain, but in vain...

When your auto driver is the quintessential cool dude with the trendy haircut and in Levis; on his windscreen is a poster of actor Vijay, his role model. He smiles and makes eye contact while he takes you on a jaunty ride.

The akka who makes those bajjis on the beach is also our namma Chennai lady, loud-mouthed and smiling, as

Wanna try define Chennai?- Rtn. Sandhya Sridhar

Not malli poo. Not filter kapi.Not the madisar maamis, nor the bus stop machis...

See next page

The pictures below are from the 1940 film ‘En Manaivi’ by AVM

The Marina Beach image has a set of Loud Speakers. It is interesting to note that the All India Radio used to broadcast for a few hours in the evening only. This used to be done through these speakers as most people did not own a

Radio. They used to land up in the Beach and listen to the Radio.

Egmore station

Connemara

War memorial

Marina beach

Chetpet station

Gemini Studio exterior

she tucks away wads of ten rupee notes in the folds of her saree pallu.

So on the birthday, would you box the city, draw circles and squares around it and try to define it? A bit difficult, as the lines would refuse to be straight and make the shapes you

want them to. For, just when you thought that

your girl next door was the chamathu Chennai ponnu, be prepared to bump into her in the newest hangout in that cute little dress.

Or that young boy you see on the

terrace, lifting weights and swinging heavy dumbbells, politely walks past you the next day, in veshti, sattai and the vibhuti on the forehead.

So would you try explain Chennai to someone from outside? I would say, don’t try...

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • August 23, 20162From previous page

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • August 23, 20163

In her life, rather like the lotus flower, Shoshana has risen above obstacles placed before her – and one could argue that she has faced more than her fair ‘share’ of obstacles – gang assault and cancer featuring amongst them.

She grew up in California, England and Israel, and moved to New York City to study musical theatre at Lee Strasberg’s New York Theatre Institute. Just three months after arriving in the city in the mid-1980s, she was mugged by a gang at gunpoint.

A petite woman, she did not let her spirit crumble, instead she vowed, as she was being attacked, to become the strongest woman in the world – and took up bodybuilding at the earliest opportunity, and started entering strength contests. Here we will look at Shoshana the body builder, the military trainer, and the yogi. We will not go into Shoshana the film maker along with the Spielbergs, as she did not dwell on this in

her talk!

Shoshana Treichel, the bodybuilderPhotos show a Shoshana, with tanned

skin and sculpted muscles – what we observed was her in a soft Indian kurta – no hint of the power that lay beneath!

She competed as a professional bodybuilder for 23 years, during which time she went through a divorce, the loss of a child and several moves, including a stint in Alaska, where she owned her own gym and trained world-class athletes and worked with the Special Olympics powerlifting program for years.

Shoshana, the Navy SealHaving gone on to study Medical stress

reduction through exercise and nutrition at Harvard University, discovered yoga and met Jake, her second husband, who works as an aeronautical engineer with the U.S. Coast Guard.

An exciting phase followed where she helped train and became a part of the Navy Seals. They used to have fixed 8 week assignments diving and doing land warfare – all simulated on islands re-created to look like Iraq or Afghanistan so that soldiers were familiar with the lay of the land before they left US soil. Although the weapons were blanks – rubber pellets – they did still result in the occasional dislocated finger, she told us in an offhand manner!

One very highly valued individual was involved in a training they did, and it was only later that she realized that the team they were training later went in and killed Osama Bin Laden.

Shoshana the YogiShoshana Treichel has a new Above

and Beyond Hot Yoga studio having made a name for herself at Sterling Hot Yoga Works in midtown Mobile, where she was known for providing ice-cold, lavender-scented towels to her sweat-drenched students at the end of each class taught in 100-degree-plus heat. Her classes were so popular that she was voted Best Yoga Instructor in Lagniappe’s 2015 Nappie Awards.

The studio will offer hot yoga as well as a variety of other classes, including restorative yoga, power yoga, Tai Chi and, eventually, yoga for children. “It will be one-stop shopping for yoga and strength training,” Shoshana said.

She is also earning an advanced degree in yoga therapy in Chennai, India at the Krishnamacharia Yoga Mandaram. She spends a few months here every year, and hopes to graduate in June 2017.

Her InspirationsMs.Treichel’s mother went blind and

yet raised four children, proceeded to get a degree in education, and became a well-known civil rights activist. Shoshana’s father is a decorated World War II veteran. These two people are her inspiration for showing her that what matters is what is on the inside of a person, and that gender, disability, and religion are all irrelevant to what a person can achieve.

With her strength training background and years of experience in studying and teaching yoga, Shoshana calls herself “a body whisperer.” “I can also tell what the mind needs,” she said.

“I love helping women protect and empower themselves,” she said, “yet find an inner light and peace”. “Normal is”, as her Mum put it “a setting on a dryer sweety”. Shoshana wishes to teach passionate free thinking women to raise passionate free thinking children who can never be manipulated. Her talk was inspiring to say the least – and left me with goosebumps.

A Woman of Steel- Rtn. Shaan Katari Libby

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • August 23, 20164

Sgt-at-arms Rtn M Srinivasan collared President Rtn Dr Arulmozhi Varman, who called the 8th meeting of RCM to

order, followed by a silent invocation.The minutes of the independence day

meeting at Gummidipoondi was duly confirmed.

President welcomed the guest speaker Ms Shoshana Treichel, an American World Women’s Body Building Champion, who will talk to us on ‘How the Worlds female body building champion helped in one of USAs most covert military operations’.

President welcomed visiting Rotarians / probus club members / spouses / rotaractors who had come for the meeting.

Then President extended birthday/wedding anniversary wishes to the respective Rotarians/spouses who celebrate that week and thanked for their sunshine.

This time the know your rotarian segment was featured by Rtn PP S Gunashekar & Rtn Sunil Sudhakar Shanker, where many aspects about them were shown. President thanked Rtn Shakthi Girish for the visuals.

Rtn Linesh Sanatkumar, Fellowship Committee Chairman informed members that the full club fellowship is planned on 18th sept’16 at the AVM Mandapam from 12 noon, hosted by Rtn M Balasubramanian. The program is titled as ‘kalyana samayal satham’ with lot of entertainment (Rtn Anil Srinivasan & Rtn Mohan Raman) and exquisite lunch.

Dandiya is scheduled on the 30th Sept’16, Friday night at Hyatt Ball Room. This time it will be a different one, Rtn Suresh kumar and team has got many interesting programs. Requested members to mark the above events/dates and be present in large numbers.

Rtn R Rajenderan Director Club Service said that the first outstation trip to Kodai is on the 3rd Nov to 6th Nov’16. 12 check-ins are already there but requested for more check-ins. The fellowship team is working out to make the trip interesting (Rtns Jagdish/EMC Palaniappan/Hemant/Jacob ). More details will follow for this golf cum get together trip.

Rtn Dr Parkavi M, Rotaract Chair invited members for the installation of Rotaract Club of Madras on 27th Aug’16 at Courtyard

Marriot, Teynampet at 4 pm. She said that the oldest club is revived once again and will do community projects.

Rtn PP NK Gopinath reported on the independence day celebrations at RCMBT Gummidipoondi. He sequenced the programs inaugurated on that day and the flag hoisting done by President (opening of the the PHC, Arch &land donor name plaque, Name board for boys home & industrial school, Ground-breaking ceremony for water & sanitation project, mega tree planting). Then the RCM formal meeting was held at RCMBT, where the chief guest was Mr Ragavan, CEO Equitas. Boys gave an yoga demo and overall it was a well spent day and heart-warming to see the upcoming projects. President added that ponds/wells have been planned in Gummidipoondi and also building of toilets making the district ODF. Earlier flag hoisting was also done at Rotary Nagar with teachers and the students actively participating for the independence day celebrations.

Rtn Radhakrishnan of RCM Mid City invited members to participate in the District event ‘Vyapaar’, where one can showcase their products and also see the other products displayed.’This time it is in hotel Hilton at 7.30 pm tomorrow.

President thanked Rtn Usha Umapathi for her contribution of 1000 US dollars to the TRF.

Secy Rtn Dr R Chandrasekhar announced that the next week luncheon meeting will be on the 30/8/16 at the same place same time.

Speaker : Mr SasikumarTopic: Income Disclosure scheme

Rtn Ashish Gupta introduced the guest speaker Ms Shoshana Treichel , an American

World Women’s Body Building Champion. Currently a personal trainer with her own yoga studio in the United States, Shoshana helps her clients shed thousands of pounds of fat, help improve their self-esteem and feel empowered! She is a popular public speaker who helps inspire women with her own personal story of breaking through adversity and defying so many odds! In recent years, she has also worked extensively with the US military in specialized covert training operations and today she shared her life’s journey with absorbing clippings.

President presented a memento and our clubs 80 year history book A Timeless Legacy to Ms Shoshana, on behalf of RCM.

Rtn Ravi Moorthy thanked Shoshana for her interesting talk and ended with a passage ‘The lotus flower is one of the most potent symbols in India’. Though it grows in murky, slimy water, it opens with the sunshine and closes with the dark. The water rolls off of

its leaves, which ‘indicates detachment from the material world,’ and. ‘It rises above all obstacles and shows us how to rise above and beyond the ordinary, which is what we hope will happen.’

The meeting was then adjourned.

minutes23rd AUGUST 2016

1st Sept – Rtn Harish K Murthi2nd Sept – Rtn PP PS Govindachari5th Sept – Rtn J Kishor Dandeker5th Sept – Rtn KM Vinod Kumar30th Aug – Ann. Sakunthala (Rtn S Ramamurthy)31st Aug – Ann. Archana Kalyanasundar (Rtn Anil Srinivasan)31st Aug – Ann. Valsa (Rtn PDG Benjamin Cherian)1st Sept – Ann. Aarti (Rtn Manish Kawlra)2nd Sept – Ann.Sudha (Rt SB Goenka)3rd Sept – Ann SL Ratnam (PP Rtn K Gopal Ratnam)4th Sept – Ann. Indraprabha (Rtn Mahul H Shah)4th Sept – Ann.Rama (Rtn PP L Rajagopalan)5th Sept – Ann.Mohana (Rtn PC Shyam Sunder)

Rtn Mukund Subramanian – ` 1000Rtn Antony Lobo – `1000Rtn Dr Prashant Kekre – ` 1000Rtn Sanjay Parikh – `1000Rtn Usha Umapathi – `1000Rtn Nihkil Raj – `1000Secy Rtn Dr R Chandrasekhar – `500Rtn Nalini Radhakrishnan – `1000Rtn Hemant Chordia – `2000Rtn Nimish C Tolia – `15,000 (RCMBTS)Rtn Mohan Raman – `1000

30th Aug – Rtn Capt G Ramaswamy Ann. Kaushalya30th Aug – Rtn Mohan Kumar Subramanyam Ann. Meena1st Sept – Rtn J Venkataramana Ann. Dr J Sarada2nd Sept – Rtn Ranjit Bakshi - Ann. Preeti4th Sept – Rtn PP S Gunashekar Ann. Padmavathy5th Sept – Rtn V Raja - Ann. Revathy

Birthday

Wedding

Sunshine

EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY: Rtn. Asst. Secretary, Rotary Club of Madras, ‘Rayala Towers’, 2nd Mezzanine Floor, 158, Anna Salai, Chennai - 2, Ph: 28591020.Contact the editor at: mohanraman@gmail.com. Design: www.studiodescience.com

Visit: www.rotarymadras.in Contact club secretariat at: office@rotarymadras.in

archivesFrom the Rtn. PP. N.K. Gopinath

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • August 23, 20165

EDITORIAL COMMITTEEAdvisors: Rtn. PP N.K. Gopinath,

Rtn. Sunita SureshChairman: Rtn. Mohan Raman

Rtn. Shaan Katari Libby, Rtn. Bhaswar Mukherjee, Rtn. Shakthi Girish,

Rtn. Biswajit Babu, Rtn. Sandhya Sridhar, Rtn. R. Ravishankar, Rtn. Hiren B. Shah,

P.S. Sridharan

25th to 30th of July, 2016. A group of 19 incl Rotarians from

our club and a few other clubs from Chennai, trekked in the Spiti Valley region and were fortunate enough to visit Chandratal Lake & Rohtang Pass.

We began our trek from Setaan, near Manali, and headed toward Hampta Pass. After one night of camping at Chikka, our group leader decided that it was best we turn around due to the thunder storm that we got caught in. Unfortunately we were unable to proceed further to Hampta Pass, but our proactive guide and team helped us evacuate safely and smoothly, and changed the route to head directly toward Spiti Valley.

Our group was transported to paradise, where the sights were not only breathtaking but also clearer, and the air felt fresher. Amongst our group there were a few Rotarians which made the whole experience more personal and gratifying.

Rtn. F.E. James