Inner Wheel Club of Madras South- District 323: October 2013

Thursday, 31 October 2013

Inner Wheel District 323 wishes a Very Happy Diwali - In its own special Way Celebrating Mazhalai Oli every year :-) Madras South is always a proud partner in this project

Inner Wheel Club District 323 hosts a Deepavali celebration at Dr.M.G.R. Janaki College of Arts and Science for Women, R.A.Puram, every year just around the Diwali time for less privileged children.

Invitation that brings it all together

An evening ablaze with humour and happiness

Deepavali celebration, not just with the usual fireworks and goodies to eat but also with actor Vivek’s comedy thrown in, was enough to create a non-stop roar at M.G.R. Janaki College of Arts and Sciences for Women

Hundreds of orphans and physically and mentally challenged children, young people and a few not-so-young people from homes across Chennai were brought together to celebrate Deepavali at an event organised by the Inner Wheel Club District 323 at the college auditorium.

After an evening of a plenty of yummy things to eat, magic and mimicry shows, followed by Celebrity arrival.

Executive director of Abirami Mega Mall and past district chairman of Inner Wheel District 323, Nallammai Ramanathan, while addressing the children, insisted on the importance of cultivating good habits.

Planning- Months ahead with leadership of Nallammai and District Treasurer Kala

Preparation takes support from all clubs and lot of volunteering

Diwali with crackers..but no loud sounds and scaring

Nallammai talks about celebration and cleanliness...always a care giver!

Food and fun goes hand in hand

Enthusiast Children who loved this day

From the Queen of Diwali Celebrations Nallammai herself:

MAZHALAI OLI CELEBRATIONS

This is a Mega Event started by PDC. NALLAMMAI RAMANATHAN in the year 1999- 2000 as service through celebrations. before we celebrate “Deepavali” with our near and dear ones. We, the Inner Wheel Clubs in District 323 jointly bring together 500 to 600 children in one premises (now every year it is being held at MGR Janaki College) The less fortunate children that is orphans, physically and mentally disabled children to the gala celebrations. We give them a sumptuous high tea, treat to their eyes and ears variety programmes like light music, skit and dances. The highlight is face to face interaction with cine stars which they thoroughly enjoy to name a few cine fame actors Vijay, Gowthami, Vivek, Jayaram, Srikanth and others have come to entertain the children wholeheartedly. A gift hamper is being given to every child and to the institute to make them more happy which contains toiletaries, snacks, T-shirts, bags, crakers etc., The finale of the show is the fire-works display. The craker show bring joy to the children which cannot be expressed by words. Indeed it is a satisfying celebrations. It is also covered in all dailies and media. Year after year every District Chairman makes an effort to bring alive Deepavali for the special children as a special treat.

This Mazhalai Oli continues………..

Every year one week to ten days

NALLAMMAI RAMANATHAN.

source:http://www.nallammairamanathan.com/press-release.html

Glimpses into the history of Mazhalai Oli over the years

Year 2011- Santhanam enthralls the audiences

Year 2007

District chairman Bhamini Parthasarathy said it was in the smiles on the faces of children that true happiness lay. “This is the whole purpose of the festival and celebrations,” she said.

After a few short speeches it was time for Vivek to take the floor and he addressed the crowd in his usual style, mouthing popular dialogues from his various films and embellished his speech with the typical Vivek spontaneous wise cracks. The children knew all dialogues by heart, and kept pressing him to say their favourite one. The star comedian happily obliged with a few of his famous kaka biriyani, and eppadi iruntha naan lines.

The star however, did not leave out another characteristic of his humour and added a message for the children. “Deepavali is celebrated because Narakasuran was banished by the Lord, but today it is up to you to banish all the demons who do bad things in our society. From those who make children work, to those who take bribes, they all have to be banished and only you children can do that,” he said.

After the excitement died down and Vivek left, there was more in store for the children who were overwhelmed by the fireworks display and the presents that each received.

The shrieks and screams said it all, everybody had fun and would go home feeling content.

ISO Competitions - District 312- Poetry- Beauty in Nature

Beauty of Nature

----Umasree Raghunath, written on 1 Sep 2010

Fall Colors in the Smoky Mountains - Pic Courtesy- Pastor John Jackson

Oh, Lord it is your eternal spill

That made the wonder charms of the Earth

The predominant beauty of the divine grace

The enthralled upon our spirits to race

Oh, God, it’s your creation that’s marveled

Beyond joy that human mind could adore

It’s the perfection of your thought and wisdom

That we have this nature’s serenity in abundance

Oh, Thy Creator, what is the beginning and

Where is the eternal end to this bliss?

Thy beauty of nature teaching us real lessons,

That there are summers after every fall

Oh, Thy Supreme, we are engrossed in the beauty

Of the lands, mountains, waters and valleys

That brings in peace, tranquility and joy

Remind us our duty to preserve this Nature’s beauty.

Bottom Line: Reuse, Recycle and Reproduce. Save Planet Earth!

Speaker on Autism - Ms Parimal Pandit

At Inner Wheel Club of Madras South, we always believe that information is power and Knowledge is to empower...and with every opportunity we invite distinguished speakers to our meetings to share their expertise and knowledge to enrich ours.

General body meeting held at Mrs.Sarala Vasu's house on 17th March 2009 at 11 am. Had a talk on AUTISM, a topic of high relevance in today's world. Ms.PARIMAL PANDIT - V-EXCEL was the distinguished speaker for the event

Parimal Pandit

Position: Coordinator, Counselling and Assessment

Mrs. Parimal Pandit is a trained clinical psychologist and counsellor who has 13+ years of professional experience in teaching and counselling. She has a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Pune. Her responsibilities at V-Excel include play therapy for children with autism, developmental delays, learning disabilities and emotional issues. She also counsels parents of children with special needs and provides counselling services for adults with emotional and psychological problems. Mrs. Pandit is also a Lecturer in our Diploma in Special Education program.

Her prior experiences include tenures at the Maharashtra Institute of Mental Health, Ashnaa Health and Counselling Centre and at the Shishuvan Primary School. In these organisations she was responsible for providing counselling services, conducting group interventions, and teaching a variety of courses in psychology, psycho-diagnostics and psychotherapy.

Tuesday, 29 October 2013

Dasara Celebrations and Kolu Project - 2012

Come Dasara, it is the time to display our dolls and cherish our God's in our own way of celebration in Tamil Nadu. Inner Wheel Club of Madras South always love to carry forward the great heritage and celebrations of our land in its own way...cherishing every moment with joy and happiness. Here are the glimpses of our Kolu Project held during October 2012.

Smiling deities,hostesses clad in Kanchipuram silks with Kumkum & manjal at the ready,intricate maakolams,gleaming brasslamps & the promise of tasty sundal …….most of us would have been part of this celebration of creativity & togetherness—“KOLU”

“Kolu” which is an ornamental slice of Hindu mythology- celebrated with pomp and pleasure of giving - with Dist Chairman Vasumathi Marimuthu 2012-2013, PDC- Sita Laxminarayana and PDC Shanthi Kannan and Members of South club- Vijayalakshmi, Shoba and others celebrating the festival and giving gifts to the children.

Sunday, 27 October 2013

Eye Camp at Olcott Memorial School, Chennai held on 26 June 2013 and followup on 18 Sep 2013

Every child is a future to this Nation and Vision of life springs from the perfect vision to see this world.

Eye care is taken for granted and most of the children do not even complain that they are not able to see what the teacher writes on the board and starts copying from the child sitting next to them. Most of the children show sudden signs of fall in grades, and parents hardly recognise the problem with their eye sight.
Though there can be parents and children who recognise the core issues of blurred vision, headaches and loss of clarity in sight as eye problems, affordable eye care becomes a distant dream for many of them coming from low income groups. Hence the need arises to identify those in need and support them.. so that every child is able to view this world the way it has to be.

Inner Wheel Club of Madras South was keen to help atleast a section of the society by doing a eye camp with support from Shankar Netralaya Foundation, Pammal, under the able guidance of Dr Adithya and his team of young doctors.

The camp started at 10 am on Wed, 26th June 2013 at Olcott Memorial School, Opp to Shastri Bhavan, Besant Nagar, Chennai-90 , phone no 2415826 and managed to test more than 100 children on the same day. This was one of the last projects completed for the great Golden Jubilee Year 2012-2013 under the able President Rooma Bhowmick and full support from PDCs Shanthi Kannan and Sita Laxminarayana.

A Followup meeting was held in Sep 2013 to provide spectacles sponsored by Rooma during the Presidentship of another able Stalwart Kalarani and support from other members including Renu Bhusan, Kusum Gupta, Kala Rajasekhar, Umasree and team. Children were given specs and training to have good eye care and Dr Sita and Dr Omprakash from Shankar Netralaya, Pammal.

Here are the picture of the Camps held during June and September 2013....

Inner Wheel Catalog 2013-2014 - Vendor Details

Please find enclosed herewith our Catalog for the Inner Wheel Merchandise and other items being available with the vendor and needed by you and your Club for the Year ahead.

Mohan Plastic Industries

63, Roshanara Plaza Complex

Roshanara Road

Delhi - 110007

Ph: 011-23828130, 23821258

Cell: 9811361388 (Amit)

Web: www.mohanindustries.com

Email:mohanplastic@yahoo.com

Nearest Metro Station : Pul Bangash (about 1/2 km)

There can be other vendors also locally, however, these people sent the catalog that can be shared.

ENT Camp at Athur Village on 27.10.2013 conducted by Rotary Club of Chennai Kilpauk and Eternity Foundation- Inner Wheel Club of Madras South joins hands of support

"India lives in her villages'' - Gandhi said this almost several decades back and it still stands true to this day.

As a young orator, I have used this sentence plenty of times... But today once again, it came with a bang to my head with a realization that India is still just a developing Nation....A bitter truth.

India cannot be seen just with the growth of its development and infrastructure in its Metros and major cities. The grassroots of India is still deprived of the basic necessities of life.

Thankfully bridges, politicians and ration shops reach our villages...But sad fact is that there is lack of adequate basic facilities of health care and nutrition, education and support to farming.

After Eternity foundation made the campaign for free health checkup especially for the hearing camp, villagers came in a great hope to the camp with tales to share and tears to shed and hands to extend for help and seek the same.

Neela and Uma with Dr Sandhya and Mr Ruben from Eternity Foundation at Athur Village as on 27 Oct 2013

As Neela, our senior member in IWC Madras South and I took the cab to Athur Village, post Karnodai, Kolathur and Red Hills on a Sunday morning, we were sure of the task in hand..but the response was more than we expected.

Over 150 villagers turned up with most of them having age related hearing loss. But there were quite a few children also whom Neela evaluated

Children aged from 3 years to 18 years came back with issues of hearing and speech defects. I was shaken to see 3 beautiful girls aged 18, 15 and 13 respectively suffering from birth defects of both hearing and speech, just because their parents had a inter-family marriage....there seemed no hope for the eldest one where as therapy could help the younger ones. Another 5 year old boy was blind, dumb and deaf and the future of both the mother and child looked bleak. close to 100+ elderly turned up at the camp asking for help and the hearing loss is due to the ageing.

In midst of the routine pre-med checks I was doing, a mother came running with her 3 year old saying that a stone went in his ears as he was playing...I had to forget the registration process and send the child for immediate attention...and the child finally stopped crying to our relief after the doc pulled out the tiny bit from the child's right ear....

As I was talking to one lady,her husband whispered in my ears that she tried to commit suicide just a week back... just because she is not able to hear what her children were sharing.... and they called her 'sevudu' - deaf!....I had to hold her hands and hug and tell her that each one of us have some limitations or the other. ..and there is no human being without a issue..be it health,or anything. Her problem is solvable..and Rotary and Eternity assured to provide her with a free hearing aid...thanks to Divesh and Dr Sandhya Ruben, Gandhi and so many good Samaritans who joined us today. She finally said, she is feeling better and thanked me alot...making me feel happy that my counselling helped

Another woman showed domestic abuse as she is just not able to hear and not able to work in the factory she did all these years...here I had to counsel her husband and make him understand that is it just a health issue that has to be dealt with proper medical help.

A young advocate came to me telling that he is very shy to go to doctor and tell that he has a hearing problem. I had to tell him to come out of this feeling and start looking for solution...finally he went inside the room for the audio-gram that Neela and other doctors were checking for other patients.

Close to 120+ audio-gram tests were done and a team of 15+ volunteers supported the cause...Almost months of planning, weeks of campaigning and a completed weekend of executing the cause and day of actual implementation and probably weeks of followup until all identified to get the hearing aids get them and start using them properly.

For children, a complete hearing therapy is required along with hearing aids to make them communicative to this world. Most of them need training both to the children and their mothers so that they can perceive and understand whats happening around in this world.

A unresponsive child studying in 10th smiled at me and showed me signs that she want to become a doctor....as another boy of 7 years who has a speech defect...told me that he want to become a police...every child had a beautiful smile and a hope in heart ....

I could not stop smiling when few elderly women refused to tell their age..my repeat experience from previous medical camps...women are women! As everyone thanked us for the support, we could only thank god for this opportunity and wished we had more of support from government and help extended to our rural India so that what ever NGO's do is just an addition..unfortunately the case is vice-versa.

Thanks to Rotary Club of Chennai Kilpauk, Eternity Foundation and Inner Wheel club of Madras South for this wonderful initiative.

Thanks Neela for the given pictures....a day to remember - 27 Oct 2013 at Athur village.. I will share more of the camp and its a response, volunteers and organizers once I get the snaps from them.

---- Umasree Raghunath

Camp to identify Hearing Impaired - 27th Oct 2013

While the RC Chennai Kilpauk has been providing hearing aids to those with hearing impairment the last few years we made a decision to depart from the usual practice of providing hearing aids to those who were identified and needing hearing aids.

This time our Project Chairman - Rtn Divyesh Palicha decided to hold a large one day camp to identify beneficiaries on the following
1. Many, do not accept that they have a hearing problem and continue to live as they do without seeking help, the elderly believe that it is because of age and the youngsters are shy and do not come forward.
2. If we do not conduct a camp to identify such people they may never seek help and will continue to live in such conditions for a longer time.

Divyesh was informed that if he conducts a camp only for the hearing impaired the response would be poor as people would come and spread the word that the camp was only for the hearing impaired and many would stay away from the camp and not be screeened. Divyesh and his team have planned to also have a GP who will first screen the attendees provide them with medication if any for any ailment they may or believe that they have and then send them through for the audiometry tests.

More than 10 Rotarians and over 20 volunteers participated in this camp. Divyesh has been planning and preparing for this camp the last 3 weeks.

---------------------From Rotary Club of Chennai Kilpauk- Divesh's update-------------------------
http://rcck.blogspot.in/2013/10/hearing-impaired-screening-camp-mg-with.html

Hearing Impaired Screening Camp - MG with RC of Galesburg - ROTI Project

This matching grant project which is partnered with Rotary Club of Galesburg, Illinois, started yesterday with the first screening camp and had a wonderful response.

Many residents of close to 19 villages surrounding the camp had come and some of them staying as far as 35 kilometers away on the outskirts of North Chennai. The campaign for calling people to get checked was extremely effective and from these villages whose population is close to about 4000 numbers, we were able to call about 200 of them to visit in a single day. The effectiveness of the campaigning done by Dr Sandhya Ruban (of Eternity Foundation) and her team of volunteers was fantastic, enabling it specifically call for patients with hearing abnormalities.

We had team of the following specialists :

DR KAMATCHIPANDIAN – DOCTOR ATTACCHED TO E N T DEPARTMENT K M C

MR PRAVESH – AUDIOLOGIST

MR SANDEEP – AUDIOLOGIST

We were also honoured to have the presence of Mrs Neela Govindaraj ( Speech Therapist and Language Assessor of specially challenged) who had accompanied with Ms Uma (a social service initiator who also works with IBM). Both Mrs Neela and Ms Uma sat for a long time and helped in coordinating and handling the visiting patients. They interacted and counseled the visitors on a one to one basis, which was really interesting to see them doing their roles in gathering more insights to the various challenges faced by the villagers.

We also witnessed misery at its lowest point in the case of certain individuals who felt extremely helpless with their lives. Hence we could sense there was lots to be done in terms of community service to these villages, and there was potential for plenty of them who needed to be living in standard basic amenities.

Finally coming back to hearing impairment and hearing aid cases, we have crossed 100 deserving beneficiaries and individuals cases are being discussed in a couple of days with the Doctors, to analyse and shortlist hearing aids beneficiaries.