OARSPEAKIn House Magazine | May 2016

BOAT CLUB NEWS

PRESIDENTMR.M.R.RAVINDRA

CAPTAIN OF BOATSMR ABRAHAM KANDATHIL

HONORARY SECRETARYMR.SANJEEV KESU

HONORARY TREASURER MR.ASHISH GUPTA

MIC - HOUSEMR. VIKRAM MURTHY

MIC - GYM, SwIMMING POOlMR.G.V.SUBBA RAO

MIC - ENTERTAINMENT, ITMR.J.CHANDRAMOULI

MIC - CORPORATE AFFAIRS MR.CA THEAGARAJAN

COMMITEE MEMBERMR.S.SHANKAR

MIC - BAR MR.J.H.KUMAR

MIC - CATERINGMR.MURALI NATARAJAN

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE & PORTFOLIOS (2015-16)

MADRAS BOAT CLUB 2. 3rd Avenue , R.A.Puram,Chennai-28

website : www.madrasboatclub.com

Contact Nos: 2435 3190 / 24354751/ 24339289

General Email : madrasboatclub@gmail.com

Chambers : mbc1867@gmail.com

Party Booking: mbcparty1867@gmail.com

General Manager: Mr G.N.Anban Ph:9840175947

Managing Editor : Sanjeev Kesu

Editorial Team : R. Krishnamohan,Sumana Narayanan

Content coordinator : S.Muralikrishnan

Publisher : Rays Publications Pvt Ltd

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CONTENTS

From the committee 5

From the Captain’s Desk 7

The Art of Mentoring 8

Walk through india With mangoes 10

Invite from the British parliament U.K London 12

Mangalgiri Sarees 16

Summer camp 18

His name was Prince ! 20

Row from the past - " Republic Day 2015" 21

Notice board 22

(Club Elite News)

(Club Elite News)

From the committee

Dear Member,

The Annual Rowing Summer Camp is a much looked forward to event at the club and brings our water front alive every summer. Over the years several talented rowers have emerged from these camps and gone on to represent the club and state. This year too we are sure there will be many participants who will get absorbed as student members after the camp concludes and form the talent pool of the club for the next few years.

This year’s camp has received a very encouraging response and at the half way mark the participants are making good progress. Our member volunteers are putting in their best effort to make each day of the camp a memorable one for the participants as they slowly but surely take their first strokes on the water; one can sense the excitement building up as the young ones get their respective boats in motion! This year, thanks to some improvisation by the Rowing administration we have a stationary coxed four that enables newcomers to get the actual feel of a boat from day one and thereby graduate to the waters very quickly. What is more is that this year we have the Captain and Vice Captain ( James Joseph – an India Color),who are among the most experienced hands, themselves supervising the camp, thus ensuring the kids get it right from the word go.

The swimming camps have also seen good attendance with the last two batches running to full capacity. Swimming being a life skill has always been a popular summer activity and it is no different this time. The final camp concludes on 30 th May.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate one of our senior lawn members Mr P.S .Rajagopal , who at 60+ decided to take up Rowing and has successfully completed the Rowing criteria, which included competing in the Club Regattas, with rowers half his age! To the best of our knowledge he is the first lawn member to do this and by virtue of doing so has been recently elected as a full Rowing member. Our congratulations to him and we hope his feat will inspire many other members to take to the sport. Rowing is a great leisure / fitness activity and neither age nor gender has a bearing on one’s ability to row. It is often said that what a man can do, a woman can do better! So spouses of members out there are also welcome and should any of you wish to make a start, just come by and meet the Captain or Vice Captain who will be most happy to help you take up the challenge! As members of one of the oldest Rowing Clubs in India, we believe that there should be at least one member from every family who has tried rowing on the River Adyar!

Away from waters, we recently connected with the Managements of the Club fraternity in Chennai in an initiative taken by the Presidency Club and followed up by our neighbor, the Alumini Club. All the Presidents and Secretaries of several prominent Clubs in Chennai have met twice so far to bring about better networking between the clubs for mutual benefit.. All of us face similar challenges when it comes to running a club and by sharing each other’s experiences, we were able to gather some useful information during the interaction. We look forward to playing host to one of the forthcoming meetings and reciprocating the hospitality of the other clubs.

15th May 2016

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MBC MEMBERS WHO WISH TO ADVERTISE IN OARSPEAK MAY CONTACT CLUB ELITERAYS PUBLICATIONS PVT.LTD

98409 01257, 9962476658, 044-65186009MARKETING OFFICE: NO.8/3, 13TH STREET, NANDANAM EXTENSION

(BEHIND VENKATESHWARA HOSPITAL). CHENNAI - 600 035

Meanwhile another financial year has gone by and a new one has begun. There is bound to be some impact on the club’s balance sheet, arising out of the disruption in our operations due to the floods. We are awaiting the final settlement of our insurance claim, though we are still not sure what we will finally receive in relation to what we will spend to replace the lost/damaged assets. The replacement cost is obviously going to be higher. Unless one has a policy that reinstates value, the claim is unlikely to cover the entire loss. Our policies are unfortunately not on reinstatement basis and we have as a first step sought professional help to reevaluate our covers and recommend remedial measures wherever necessary in the light of our recent experience. Our total claim amount is likely to be over a crore based on replacement cost and we hope we will get a reasonable compensation so that the deficit is kept to the minimum.

Meanwhile we would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the good work put in by the OASPEAK team last year, before the magazine was withdrawn. A lot of effort goes into producing the magazine for the members and it was unfortunate that the very last issue that they put together was not circulated. In the process some articles contributed by our member’s did not see the light of day .We have carried one of those contributions in this issue, by Arun Krishnan, titled the “Art of mentoring”, which we hope will inspire many more to take up mentorship in their areas of expertise. We invite more such contributions for OARSPEAK, now that the silence has been broken! Members are also welcome to share any special achievements or awards in their families, which deserve a mention. Email your contributions to iluv2row@gmail.com.

We would also like members to write in with their ideas and suggestions on what they think the committee can still do to enhance their experience at the club. It could be to do with the cuisine, an activity, a facility or a certain kind entertainment program they are interested in. We will be most happy to take in suggestions and implement them if feasible. We look forward to hearing from you at the email ID mentioned earlier.

That concludes the news and updates from our side this month and we hope to share a lot more positive developments with our members in the issues to come. Till then stay healthy and keep smiling!

Best wishes,

Sanjeev Kesu

Honorary Secretary

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Dear Member,

At the peak of summer, even with the sun beating down at its merciless best or should I say worst - there are a group of around 10 of our members who brave the sun and take the summer camp new comers out on the water between 6 and 8 am ,to teach them the basics of Rowing - giving them an introduction and a feel of the sport. About 63 kids and 8 adults registered this year making it a record turnout for the Summer Rowing Camp. The camp itself is driven by the collective efforts of a team of members who coordinated the planning of the event down to the last detail.

Meanwhile Indian athletes and teams who qualified for the Rio Olympic Games , which includes Rowing, are in the final stages of their training and preparation, will board their flights to Rio, for the actual games itself – hoping to bring glory to the Nation and themselves . Simultaneously government sports bodies in the country are already drawing up training plans for the 2020 and even the 2024 Olympic games .

Will any of these efforts pay off and result in a better medal tally for India for future Olympics , is the million dollar question – The answer however - is unfortunately a depressing- NO! (Unless, perhaps, radical changes are made in our entire sports management system). While I will admit that there has been improvement and progress in some sports in the ‘Thinking , Planning and Execution’ of the training programs – many sports in India, are yet entrenched in the feudal system of sport management - where the athlete does not even get a free and fair selection trial.

In the Sport of Rowing - the RFI (Rowing Federation of India) had notified that the Sub Junior Nationals (SJN)& the Challenger Sprint Nationals will be held this year in the SRWSC in Porur – a Rowing Center which has a water stretch of 500 meters and opened just about a year ago – – The SRWSC has been chosen over MBC which is a 150 year old Rowing Club, as the venue for this event on the recommendation of TARA .

TARA while announcing the SJN meet called a meeting in SRWSC and informed our MBC Sub Junior Rowers and Challenger Sprint Rowers that they have to come to Porur for training in SRWSC everyday to qualify for selection !!!

In other words according to this august body in the Sport - it is not enough if one is the best in their category of the sport – But if this directive of TARA is to be taken seriously - it is obedience to a meaningless instruction which in reality displaces the Rowers, uprooting them from training in their home club, and travelling 30 minutes each way every day , to row in a 500m water body without the help of the regular coaches, all of which will actually bring down their current standard of Rowing - which will be criteria to qualify and represent the state in their event !!?

I go on record to express my strong displeasure to our rowers being instructed by outside agencies inimical to our club – as to where and how they should Row – as it is simply not feasible to maintain decorum, discipline or organized training in MBC in these circumstances.

Can the Sport of Rowing in a country where this kind of parochial, meaningless thinking, which is affecting athletes even at the lowest levels, still exists, ever hope to produce a medal at the highest level like the Olympics in the future ? This is a question to ponder over. Or will it just end with press reports like the recent article on Dattu – the sculler who has qualified to Row in the Rio Olympics – where the reporter wishfully visualizes Dattu on the Olympic Podium ??

With the Summer Camp coming to an end on the 28th of this month – more hands on the deck will certainly be of help in the next couple of weeks – The Junior /Club cum PUC Rowing meet which was postponed will now be held on the 4th of June. I look forward to seeing you between 6 and 8 am to help in the summer camp and for the Regatta on the 4th of June .

Best Regards

Abraham Kandathil

Captain of Boats

From the Captain’s Desk

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8 | Club ElitE | May 2016 Club Pages Continues on Page no -17

At the outset, the reader must be fully aware that being a mentor does not give one the license to pour forth unsolicited advice. Therefore the first condition to be fulfilled is that the Mentor should respond only to requests for guidance as opposed to the crashing bore who willfully collarsunwilling subjects and harangues them on theleast appealing of topics; which comes as no small wonder since the favorite topic which is dear to hearts of most bores; is themselves!

The winter years of one’s life, is probably the best time to be a Mentor as the person would have by then, travelled many a road, many of them, unpaved and thereby have a plethora of experiences to share, and lessons learnt the hard wayfrom the numerous mistakes made.

Many a mentor involve themselves in evaluating the potential of business plans of entrepreneurs and if feasible, these mentors, adopt the role of an Angel Investor. Mentoring for business gain and profit is well known and is quite different from mentoring for nurturing sporting talent purely for personal satisfaction and passion for the sport. In fact most sporting activities in Chennai including the rowing at the Madras Boat Club,exist and flourish, due to the dedication of a few passionate enthusiasts.

Running has been my passion for several decades and I have run several marathons. However the most satisfying experience was being a member of the team involved in training four people who had never run before to run 10 km at The Wipro Chennai Marathon. One of

THE ART OF MENTORINGour team members, Venugopal, a retired engineer, analyzed the running stride of each of the four participants and trained them in the technique of effortless running, by which, gravity could be channelized to assist in developing a running stride.

At The Wipro Chennai Marathon, Venu and I were also entrusted with the task of pacing a slow group, dubbed as the 6 hour bus. It took quite a good deal of training to settle down to a pace, slower than our normal stride. The training paid off and we received a warm post from one of the runners who attributed his finish to our constant encouragement. To top it all; the triumphant smiles of all four participants in the Couch to Runner Program made TWCM 2014, the most memorable marathon one has run thus far.

Triathlons now hold great appeal since the swim and bike segments, offer the opportunity to finish the marathon at a leisurely pace. I swam for my college but had to unlearn 45 years of technique in order to adopt Total Immersion Swimming, by which one can cover long distances with minimum effort. Consequently at the Chennai Trekking Club’s Full Iron Triathlon, the swim of 3.9 km was quite effortless and I finished that leg first. This performance drew appreciation from the youngsters and I hope to impart a few tips to them.

My bike leg of 180 km was none too happy due to the onset of cramps which hampered the 42 km run at the end. Overall it was great to receive the medal after crossing the finish, late at night only to be hoisted onto the shoulders of the young volunteers, many of whom I hope, have been enthused to train for next year’s Full Iron Triathlon, from which I would draw, immense satisfaction.

Arun Krishnan

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SUMMER CAMP

May 2016 | Club ElitE | 19

ACTIVITY

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I used the word ‘genius’ far too freely before I learnt of Prince. Not taking anything away from my other heroes, but it was like seeing the Moon and calling it a planet until one fine day, you looked up and Jupiter suddenly arrived right behind it.

The first song by Prince I ever loved was the supremely narcissistic ‘My Name Is Prince’, in the album, Love Symbol . I was about fourteen then, but I didn’t fully appreciate the man until just last year, nearly a decade later, when I first heard the album Purple Rain. I’d begin every day by listening to the first half of the album before going to work. After hearing a few more albums of his, it gradually became evident to me that he was all I’d been listening to for several weeks. My friends just got annoyed by it.

There is arguably no mainstream Western musician, past or present, who shares the breadth of his talent. This was a man who loved music so much that he was determined to teach himself every aspect of it, and mastered almost every one of them. His mastery of instruments was so great that he recorded a few of

the greatest albums ever almost entirely by himself. His stage presence was peerless, matched only by his hero James Brown. His voice could go from hilarious to devastating. Like Miles Davis, he fused many different styles of music into a mix that was distinctly his own. His song writing, at its best, could match up with Lennon and McCartney’s finest work.

And, my god, what songs they were. ‘When Doves Cry’ managed to be a very danceable #1 hit despite having no bass line and a lot of Freudian angst. ‘Little Red Corvette’ combined Springsteen esque songwriting with stunning vulgarity. And a lot of people forget that he also wrote Sinead O’Connor’s classic ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’. Just try reading those lyrics without choking up!

On the other extreme, his sense of humour was impeccable, as displayed on ‘Kiss’, ‘Housequake’ and more outrageous gems such as ‘Darling Nikki’ and ‘Gett Off’. Even the soundtrack he made for Tim Burton’s version of Batman, generally considered his weakest album, couldn’t escape his inventiveness; ‘Batdance’ might be the

strangest #1 in pop music history. And I’m not just saying that.

However, I personally think that his greatest-ever song, if such a thing can be pinpointed, is ‘Anna Stesia’, so underrated that the artist himself only played it during one tour for its parent album, LoveSexy. Do yourself a favour and try to find it. It sounds like absolutely nothing else from that time, or any other time. It’s one of the grandest, most evocative songs out there, and I wish more people heard it.

Prince said in one of his last televised interviews that if he didn’t make it as a musician, he probably would have been a teacher. I think that he himself must have known that, in a way, he already was one. With many of my earlier musical heroes, their work seemed to remind me of how much further I thought I had left to go as a musician. With Prince, his work corrected me on that and proceeded to inform me about how much further I actually had to go. And it’s way further than I thought.

Pradip Ramanathan

HIS NAME wAS PRINCE !

Row from the past - " Republic Day 2015"

A rare display on the Adyar ! MBC had its entire fleet out on the river in this row past on 26th February 2015. This picture sums up what MBC is all about - fellowship in Rowing!

NIGHT ROwING AT MBC on Tuesday's, wednesday's and Thursday's

We have introduced night rowing at MBC for the benefit of members who cant make it to the waters between dawn to dusk ! The lighting is just right for a relaxed outing with the Sun at rest. Except single sculls , all other craft are available after dark , which means that you will need a partner or two to get on the water. If you cant find one, there are always seats available, sometimes at a premium !

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Finals of the 1980 Nationals at Calcutta - The Tamilnadu pair of M.R.Ravindra (stroke) and his partner Ketan Adhia , seated behind , rowing on the inside course were up against the heavy weight pair of Kavas Kapadia and Rome D Souza of West Bengal. This was effectively an all MBC final as the latter also had their roots at MBC and what a race it turned out to be ! Tamilnadu lost by a whisker, but Ravi and ketan went on to win the National title the following year beating CME in the final at Pune.The picture says it all !

NOTICE BOARD

GRATUITY BOXTipping is strictly prohibited at the club. If any member wishes to contribute to the staff, they may do so by depositing their offerings in the Gratuity box provided in the reception.

Members are requested to ensure settlement of their monthly bills before the due date as a matter of practice. In case payment is not received by the club on the due date, a reminder by SMS and registered post is sent out on the 7th of the month and failure to pay the bill within 7 days of the reminder will automatically result in posting of the member. Please note that delay in settlement of the monthly bill, apart from attracting penalties, puts a strain on the club finances and we seek the cooperation of member’s in ensuring timely compliance.

SETTLEMENT OF BILLS Members are informed that our parking facility,

which is limited, is strictly reserved for member driven cars with a valid club sticker. Those not in possession of the sticker are requested to obtain one from the club office. Vehicles that are not member driven are not permitted to park in the premises, but just outside the club where sufficient parking is available. We also request members to ensure their vehicles are parked in an orderly manner without causing hindrance to neighboring vehicles. Please cooperate with our security personnel, who are there to assist you.

CAR PARKING ADDITIONAL F&B FACILITY

For the convenience of members, STROKE SIDE will be available as an additional air-conditioned F&B facility till EASY OARS gets ready for use . This facility will be available on Friday's, Saturday's and Sunday's. On other days, the committee will do its best to make either STROKE SIDE or BOW SIDE available for use , if there are no party bookings.

PARTY BOOKINGSMembers are requested to note that STROKE SIDE will henceforth not be available for party bookings on Friday's, Saturday's and Sunday's after 6.30 pm. Existing bookings will be honored..

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DOwN MEMORY LANE