President Blog

A New Rotary Year Begins and we all pledge again to do Service Above Self. Rotary Club Of Poona scaled to new heights under the able leadership of the first ever Lady President Rtn. Maithili Manakwad. My compliments to you and your BoD.
After many years of ducking this great responsibility, I felt it selfish not to do my bit for a club that I have grown fond of over the 10 years that I have been a member. I am in awe of the past presidents and how they handled their year with wisdom and energy. We have had Industrialists, Business house owners, teachers, business people, Chairmen of Boards and such who are used to dealing with large number of people. So now, you have an Entrepreneur, who is used to dealing with people one to one.
We are living in a different world post COVID-19 and our reaction to it will go down in history. Our club has outperformed and stood up for the community as and when opportunities arose. The PDGs and past Presidents have been a guiding light. You cannot help being proud of the effort conducted by the Doctors of our club, by
performing Polio corrective surgeries. I thank PDG Sam for giving aid to the new born babies by way of providing Human milk collection van to Sassoon hospital, Blood donation bus to blood bank, Golf Cart for patients to AICTS, Ventilators/ medical equipment/ emergency equipment to Military Hospital, Sassoon Hospital, Sardar Valabhbhai Patel Cantonment Hospital, Kamala Nehru PMC Hospital and Baby warmers to various hospitals.
If our club needs a theme, then my theme for the year is “Revisit, Revive and Expand” and I want us all to be proud of being a Rotarian.
RC Poona is a Humanitarian Service Club full of volunteers of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. That makes for a terrific mixture of ideas and approaches to dealing within our community. Being members of this club, we too wish to utilise this avenue to be able to assist the community. There is strength in numbers for a team approach under the banner of Rotary which gives us a pathway to achieve our aims. We have our ongoing Signature Watershed projects, which are now holistic village and community development projects, well accepted by the Rotary world. Many diverse interesting projects like WASH project, Mother and Child project, Trauma training centre at Ruby Hall, to name a few of the great community projects conducted presently.
I must thank all who started and kept these and many more projects running.
We must not forget The Rotary Foundation and Rotary’s 6 areas of focus in which we should be proud of being involved -
1. Promoting Peace
2. Fighting Disease
3. Providing clean water
4. Saving mothers and children 5. Supporting education
6. Growing local communities And now a new one ;
7. Environment
We must remember to inspire and empower ourselves and others to adopt high ethics and integrity by the use of the 4-way test.
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? 
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

Our club administration is admirable. Our trustees ever vigilant. Our Board active and purposeful,
guided by the Strategic Planning Committee and Club Trainer, PP Kailash Monga, a perfect guide.
RC Poona Portal, FB Page, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube makes RC Poona visible in the social world which is regularly updated by PP Col. Bharat Haladi also helping reach many non Rotarians all over the world. Please keep visiting RC Poona portal, District 3131 and “My Rotary” page on rotary.org, which has a wealth of information for a Rotarian.
This is our 88th year and the excitement should build for a unique year.
There are many newcomers to the Board and committees and I thank all for putting up their hands, though some still not fully aware of what they are getting themselves into!
I also welcome the new members who will join this Rotary Club of Poona family in few days from now. I appreciate and thank those who have decided to help me and the club to take it to the next level. I also thank all who have spent many years on the Board, Committee and Trust.
I would like to thank my family especially Inderpal Kaur (Sweety) for her support over the years and of this year coming. As many know, she manages the family and I am just a worker. I hope my family, through my actions will either join Rotary in the future or pursue a humanitarian role in life to always consider people less fortunate than us. Harshpreet and Gurleen, my children, have already worked with me in many ways, many times in service to humanity.
On a final note, I want you all to have fun and enjoy the fellowship that being a Rotarian in a strong club brings. Finances have never been an issue with our club and we stand straight and resilient like the true Rotarians we all are.
Thank you! I look forward to seeing you all in action to the best of your abilities in serving humanity and ‘CREATING HOPE FOR THE WORLD’.

Narendra Pal Singh Bakshi 
President 2023-24
Rotary Club Of Poona District 3131