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2009-2010 Rotary Club of Madras T.Nagar meets every Thursday @GRT Convention, T.Nagar Channai at 18:30 Hours. Every week an eminent speaker is invited to speak on a choosen subject. The ambiance is of bonhomie and enriches the members' world view and possibilities of service to the community.
2008-2009 Rotary Club of Madras T.Nagar meets every Thursday @Residency Towers, T.Nagar Channai at 18:30 Hours. Every week an eminent speaker is invited to speak on a choosen subject. The ambiance is of bonhomie and enriches the members' world view and possibilities of service to the community. . 10th July 08:Date with Bosskey: Jack of all jokes An evening of mirth, where people laughed about everything from bad roads to bald patted men. At the age of two, Bhaskaran inadvertently cracked his first joke. Asked if the auto rickshaw could go in reverse', he replied in all innocence No it can only travel on roads." After that spontaneous wisecrack, Bhaskaran later to be known as Bosskey went on to write more than 17.000 jokes about people and their quirks. The RCM T.Nagai weekly meeting for the Rotary Year 2008-09 smarted off with Humor. Bosskey had an audience, comprising solemn Doctors, IT Professionals, Lawyers, Engineers. Educationalists and prim and proper women who had previously only laughed into their handkerchiefs, rolling about with laughter. With his shiny bald pate, and surprisingly lush moustache Bosskey. was ready to take on the forever humorous and agile members of our club. The short and rollicking repartee between Bosskey & RCM T.Nagar members threw light on everything from why Bosskey's pate was attracting so much light (courtesy a trip to Tirupathi. after his show Hari Giri Assembly completed 100 episodes) to the kind of person he was (an ' outstanding batsman and student) and now a leg spinner-turned-leg puller. Once Bosskey took over the stage, the laughs kept coming without a break for 45 full minutes. Bosskey is a bank employee (Indian Overseas Bank) and despite that he has retained his sense of humour. Not only that, he has used the experiences he has had at his work place to crack more jokes. Sample this: Eavesdropping on two auto drivers, this is what he heard. They were talking about James Cameron's Titanic. After a lively discussion in typical Madras Tamil, they are convinced that the celebrated Hollywood director borrowed the idea for his movie from P. Vasu's Chinna Thambi. After all, both movies spoke about a rich girl falling in love with a poor boy. "Such native logic is hard to beat," he remarks. It is all about finding humour in every day situations and Chennai's streets, says Bosskey. Humour can be a great weapon says Bosskey and shared tips on how to tackle people who are hell bent on irritating you. Like when a guy in a vehicle behind you keeps his hand pressed on the horn without letting up, (an all too common feature on our roads) all you need to do is point out to his tire excitedly and drive off. Rest assured, he will immediately pull over to check his vehicle. Is there a flip side at all to being funny and making others laugh? "People tend to take you lightly. It rankles, but I've got used to it. July 17th 08:Nambungal Narayanan sollgirar: A full-house crowd of eager rotarians, anns and annets awaited the talk by the specialist in ESP, Asirology and Astronomy, Sri.Nambungal Narayanan.This 74 year old youngster was in his elements regaling the members with a demonstration of his uncanny skills in enforced telepathy. How Sri. Narayanan is able to foresee and obtain the number he wants even with a series of additions (of numbers given by the audience at random) will forever remain a mystery. That such an exercise could actually settle the birth time of Rtn. Dr. Rengan's father, the respected rotary veteran from Ambasamudram was fascinating to watch. Sri.Narayanan repeated his skill in enforced telepathy several more times before turning to his famed predictions. His most difficult prediction must have been the one pertaining to the next President of RC T.Nagar. Only time will tell us if he was right after all!! Sri.Narayanan then tread into the tricky territory of compatibility between rotary couples Chella & Jayashree / Rtn. Vipin Agarwal & Seema sportingly volunteering in this rather extra-ordinarily risky exercise!!. Sri.Narayanan extolled about the role of NASA in the research on planetary positions. His own research on the subject is being telecast in Jaya TV on Saturday mornings. Sri.Narayanan resembled the Pied Piper when he left the meeting hall after his presentation with many rotarians and anns following him to enquire if their stars would be kind to them Jul 24th 08:Abrakadabra - The magical World Mr. T.K. Vadivel Pillai, a leading illusionist was our chief guest on another interesting Thursday evening. Vadivel has consistently proved over the years that he is one of the greatest entertainers in the city and true to his reputation; he proved it once again on that eventful Thursday evening. Mr. Vadivel kept the audience at the edge of their seats with his fabulous display of magic and psychic power. Four Rotarians lifted Rtn.Ramprasad using just two of their fingers in each hand with the help of a little will power. Rtn. Ramprasad weighed as light as a feather -was what the lifters later told me. He made coins; disappear and then made them come out of his ear. He converted a ten rupee note into a hundred rupee note. We were amused but I wasn't quite sure if the Reserve Bank would be happy. He told us about the various techniques that magicians use to mesmerize their audiences. But it would be a crime if Mr. Vadivel s mind abilities aren't mentioned . He identified the words and numbers that we guessed in our minds with ease and produced, much to our amazement & disbelief the word in his hand. The audience was left scratching their heads in wonder. Thankfully Vadivel proceeded with the next trick before our scalp^ stated bleeding. The crowd loved the show and the there was a flurry of questions which kept our chief guest busy. He explained to us the various tricks he performed and the annets were left asking for more. To say the least, it was one of our best evenings July 31st 2008: The Crazy evening with Crazy brothers Many years back, the Crazy Boys were a rage'among film goers. Our Desi Crazy boys who had taken a cue from the original Angrezi Crazy Boys to call their first Tamil Theater offering Crazy Thieves in Palavakkam, are undoubtedly the present rage among lovers of Tamil Theatre. Crazy Mohan, the versatile yet simple and humble genius and his brother, Crazy Balaji were the chief guests at the meeting on 31 ' July 2008. MP's request (prodded by people like 'Yours Truly') to go for a bigger hall was fully vindicated going by the large turnout. One cannot be faulted for thinking that a crowd had gathered for Crazy Mohan's latest play. 'Chocolate Krishna' and not for RC T.Nagar's own Chocolate M.R Krishna!!! Many a time inspiration that fires thoughts is not far to seek. Crazy Mohan reiterated this adage when he mentioned that his humor was drawn from happenings in every day life. Life, they say, is a great teacher who gives the experience first and lessons later. The same is true for comedy too. Crazy Mohan's brush with comedy seems to encompass every aspect of his life. Whether opting for a specialization in Engineering (in Crazy's words the family gathered in the koodam to take a decision on -which specialization I should opt - Patti said electrical engineering vendaam, shock addikum. Thatha opted for criminal engineering only to be told that one needs to be an engineer first and opt if he wants to be a criminal later but it was appa who clinched the issue by saying that life is mechanical, so take mechanical engineering) (or) the Pen Parkum Padalam when the girl's uncle expressed his disbelief as to how the girl had turned into a boy overnight (this gentleman had seen a play the previous day in which Crazy Mohan had donned a female role (or) when his wife took one long hour to return from the bank and complained to Mohan that the cashier had been stopped on his way to the bank & 'arruthufied' by someone (it was actually Mohan who was talking to the cashier, his long lost friend outside the bank and who, Mohan thought was being regaled with his wit) The man behind many a super hit movie and play has a message for those who say there is no message in his plays. 1n his plays humor, is the message. Mohan said it was extremely difficult to bring audiences to drama halls, shell out substantial money for the tickets & watch plays especially when every TV in the state was foaming with soap/s. Crazy Mohan had a word of sympathy for male villains who had become an extinct species in TV soaps what with such roles being usurped & played by women with consummate ease. With such a dynamic and robust duo around, questions were bound to flow spontaneously & they did. Crazy Mohan and Balaji fielded the questions with aplomb and humor. The meeting ended well past the appointed time hot surprisingly!!!!" 07 Aug 08:Campaign News by Sanjay Pinto Mr. Sanjay Pinto, who joined as an anchor with the then Star News doing news programs, is today a much respected journalist and the Bureau Chief, Tamil Nadu for NDTV 24 x 7. A low graduate turned journo (he did his journalism course in the US). Sanjay spoke to our members on the various dimensions and contours of TV journalism, particularly TV news gathering and reporting. His views on sting operations drew a line between what was ethical and what wasn't. Sanjay spoke of various experiences that moved him both to the sublime as also to despair during his career. He narrated how immediately after the Tsunami, he met arid interviewed people who, despite losing everything including their kith and kin, found courage and solace helping others. In the same breadth, he spoke of well clad persons delaying handing over food packets to hungry village as TV reporters were yet to reach the venue. Sanjay came across as a conscientious journo with concern for the community 11th September 2008: The spinning wizard Mr.V.V.Kumar It was difficult for our members and guests to digest that the sprightly youngster with a ramrod straight back walking in to deliver his speech, was actually all of 73 years old. Mr. V. V.Kumar (or VV as he is popularly known in cricket circles), in the course of his well received speech said that when he was a 'youngster' playing league cricket in Scotland; the weekly stipend running into a couple of pounds would not be sufficient to buy dinner A bed and breakfast arrangement assured him of breakfast arrangement assured him of breakfast (although day in and day out it was the same breakfast and any request for a change in menu was met with 'why don't you have breakfast outside) Lunch could be expected at the cricket field but dinner had to be paid for and it was a 'cosily' proposition. As the stipend was not enough, VV used to do odd jobs to make money. Contrast this with today's cricketers who are paid huge sums or money by way of match fees, appearance money, endorsement. etc, etc. Mr.Kumar said the one thing that kept players of his generation going was their love for the game and passion to excel and play for the country. VV recounted interesting incidents with stalwarts like Bishen Bedi, Gavaskar, Chandu Borde and the like. He reminisced about their training atKhadakvasla in a preparatory camp where they were trained in army style by army personnel and how Sunil Gavaskar advised that when they run up the hill, they would keep running and not return for the day's exercises, VV said that when later queried by the administrators as to who was responsible, Sunny immediately went up and said that it was indeed he who gave the idea. VV said that this was Sunny Gavaskar, a team man and leman to the core. VV is truly an inspiration to youngsters and keeps himself busy even now with his responsibilities as a spinning coach at the NCA (National Cricket Academy), Bangalore. VV is truly a gentleman cricketer and as he himself remarked, he is always remembered as a cricketer although he retired as the General Manager of she State Bank of India... 18th September 2008:The man with the Midas touch Mr.S.P.Muthuraman holds the record for directing the maximum number of Superstar films 25 to be specific. One of the most senior most arid respected directors in the Tamil film industry, this veteran has directed films in several other languages. He has directed the brilliant thespian Sivaji Ganesan and Kamal Hassan has acted in many films under his direction. It was a virtual classroom lesson for Rotarians and guests as Mr. Muthuraman dwelt on each and every aspect of film making from the time a decision is made to produce a movie until the final print is taken. He narrated several interesting incidents with several leading actors and actresses Sivaji Genesan's performance in a particular scene in' Kavari Maan; Rajni walking through the gates of the film studio after seeing the lengthy dialogues he had to memorize and utter, Kamal's ability to make films he wanted and to kindle the Merest of the public to watch such films and so on.... Mr. Muthuraman had words of praise for the excellence and competence of technicians from South India. The simplicity and modesty of the man came to light when he spoke of several people who had molded and taught him film making but who never went on to become directors. Mr. Muthuraman said how blessed he felt that he could be a film director and a successful one,at that. The meeting lasted well beyond the appointed time but not one person moved - a fitting tribute to a gentleman film director. 25th September 2008:Meeting a Bharathanatvam Maestro This interesting meeting featured Padmasri, Ms. Chita Visweswaran. Ms. Chitra Visweswaran spoke of her younger days in Koikatta and training under the watchful eyes of her mother. She spoke of the Gurus who molded her, particularly Vazhuvoor Sri.Ramiah Pillai. According to Ms. Chitra Visweswaran, dance was not only a physical activity but a spiritual exercise as well. She spoke on the origins of various dance forms not the historical & geographical influences on dance forms. It is always a pleasure to hear Ms. Chitra Visweswaran and she did not disappoint at all. Her passion for Indian culture and values, diction and clarity of thought were truly amazing. Questions thrown by members were answered with aplomb. "Ms. Chitra Visweswaran recounted her various interesting and inspiring experiences during her trips abroad along with her husband, the late Santoor Maestro, Mr. Visweswaran. |
