Article by Suresh Marcandan

As a Rotary Melbourne member you maybe aware Rotary is extremely active in Sri Lanka and Past Rotary International President Ravi Ravindran (a close friend, who is also a member of the same Rotary Club in which I was once a member) is constantly raising the bar.      

I was very privileged to have been invited to attend the Inter-City Meeting and Charity Banquet being hosted in honour of RIP Jennifer Jones’s visit to Colombo on the 14th December 2022, and coincided with my visit there.

The event attracted 500 guests and hence was a great opportunity to meet many Rotarians from the region.

“OLD NUMBER ONE” - THE ROTARY CLUB OF CALCUTTA, WEST BENGAL (RID 3291) 

One of the most enriching benefits of being a Rotarian is that you become a member of a truly global Rotary family. You are never alone – whichever city you visit. I was therefore very greatly honoured and privileged to be hosted to lunch by a group of Past Presidents of the Rotary Club of Calcutta (the city has now changed its name to KOLKATA) during my recent visit to this city which enjoys a very rich history.

At the time of its charter on the 1^st January 1920, The Rotary Club of Calcutta was the only Rotary Club between the English Channel and the South China Sea and hence was dubbed the “Old Number One” in Middle Asia. It is said that Mahatma Gandhi addressed this club on the 18^th August 1925 on the subject of “The spiritual value of the chakra”. This club also produced a Past Rotary International President (1962-63) Nitish Chandra Laharry, on whose initiative “Rotaract Clubs” were formed.

RC Calcutta is a member of the Circle of Centennial Rotary Clubs (CCRC) together with RC Manila (chartered in 1919), and RC Shanghai (also chartered in 1919).

Some of the objectives of CCRC are as follows:

• Promote cultural and business exchanges between CCRC clubs, including students and young professionals
• Facilitate meetings of CCRC club Presidents and President-Elects at the Rotary International Conventions. Sit together at Club President and President-Elect luncheons and invite to each other’s hospitality events at the RI Conventions
• Offer special welcome/acknowledgement for visiting CCRC members when visiting another CCRC club
• Share CCRC program schedule/speaker information so we can ‘attend’ each other’s meetings remotely
• Design a ‘family tree’ to show the connection/link of CCRCs
• Compile and share sources for Centennial Club observation and celebrations
• Form a CCRC Rotarian Action Group (CCRC – RAG)

Through Rtn. Dr. Suresh Marcandan, RC Calcutta extends a very warm welcome to RC Melbourne (chartered 1921) to join the CCRC / CCRC-RAG and therefore this very prestigious group of centennial Rotary Clubs around the world. More details will follow in due course assuming that RC Melbourne is keen to accept this invitation.

A few photographs taken during my visit are attached herewith

Counter clock-wise: PE Ayesha Mazumdar, PP, President Raj Kumar Agrawal, PP Saumen Ray, Self,

Rtn. Ashok Basu, Shireen and Rtn. Aisha

Exchanging banners with Rtn. Ashok Basu

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