Women's Day Guest Speaker - Rotarian Shri. R. V. Rajan - A Crusader for Women Empowerment

First time in the History of Inner Wheel Club of Madras South- General Body meetings, we have invited Rotarian Shri R. V. Rajan, husband of our Past President Smt. Prabha Rajan.  For many, this guest speaker sounded surprising.  He is a very known person to our South club, a welcoming Rotarian, but few wondered what a man is going to come and speak on a Women's Day Celebration!

But, to me, having known and heard about him for a long time, I felt that Rtn. Rajan is the apt guest speaker for the occasion.  I wanted a speaker who knows Inner Wheel, who understands women from all sides, who has contributed to the welfare and empowerment and who is still contributing to the memory of the woman in his life.  That's when we decided on Rajan sir to be our guest speaker and honestly,  he was more than what we expected a guest speaker to be.  He was like an elder brother talking to his family on how woman empowerment starts from the inner walls of our homes.

Rajan arrived with our members on time, presented himself humbly to our invitation and felt very much part of our Inner Wheel extended family.   As I introduced on why we wanted Rajan, I could see the full attention from our members appreciating our thought.    PDC Shanthi Kannan introduced R.V.Rajan to the members and we requested him to sit and talk to us.

He started telling that he cherished being an adman, fully involved and raised in typical orthodox family and started life from the humble beginnings in Mumbai.  Sheer determination and hardwork took him to the great heights and he moved to Delhi with his newly married wife-  a timid, soft-spoken and introvert Prabha.  Delhi to her was like an alien land for this tamil woman who could not speak English or Hindi.  So he decided to return to Chennai to make her stay in comfort.  

He mentioned how he thought that Prabha, a wonderful housewife,  adjusting daughter in law in a joint family,  a very caring mother to 3 loving children, in a beautiful own house and a comfortable living, is having life of happiness and peace.  He used to take her on vacations and tours abroad and thought that he was keeping her happy.  That is when one day, Praba wrote to him, a lengthy letter totally expressing her anguish and sadness of the kind of life she was living.  That day, was kind of an enlightment to Rajan.  He realized two things.  One is how unhappy his wife is crushed with the burdens of being a house wife in a joint family and wanting to fly like a bird with new wings.  Second one is, he found the beautiful writing skills of Prabha.   The adman in him did not keep quite.  He took the letter to publishing which later made Praba a good and recognised writer.

Rajan's thoughts on freedom of expression found a new meaning.  He always believed that he will throw a rope for those who want to grow big in life..whether you catch the rope and climb up, or keep hanging to the rope and subsequently stay as a low hanging fruit is  based on their choice, hard work, wish and strong will power to succeed.    This applies to both men and women.

Then, he goes on to express how Inner Wheel tranformed Prabha from being a timid home maker to a joyful Inner Wheel Member; enjoying her talents of music and letting her creativity shine.  He said that the day Prabha became a President, he was the most excited man in the world...He made her and family celebrate the day like a festival.   He stood by her during her tenure as Inner Wheel President and made her shine.  He kept encouraging her to write and Prabha was not only an intelligent writer but also a very sensitive human being which reflected in the stories she left behind.

As life was sailing smooth, god had different plans.

Prabha was snatched with an illness that disturbed the calm existence.   In those 7 months of battle with cancer, Rajan remained a house-husband taking care of his wife like a child and a nurse.

As she slowly took to the arms of  her mother and the Divine, he remained with the same passion for her.  He decided to continue to live the way she would have wanted him to do.  He wanted the woman empowerment goals of Prabha to continue and he wanted more Praba Rajan's to be introduced into this world.    He encouraged young talents and writers to come out and shed their shyness, introvertness and explore within and bring out their best.   He wanted the mission to continue, and hence started 'Prabha Rajan Talent Foundation'  which caters to the women empowerment and supporting young women to reach new heights of achievement.

Rajan, in every sentence kept mentioning about Praba.  He also kept talking to us about how women need to arise and shine in self-esteem and self-respect.   He felt that, we Indian women do not care about our self-esteem.  We should stop feeling inferior.  We should explore our talents and do the best with our interest.   Rajan for sure was a live example of how best a man could be to change a woman's world.   Infact, we felt that there is a dire need of more men like Rajan in the society,  understanding women's anxities and inner talents and supporting them to arise and awake towards success.   We wanted more men to appreciate women, as women of substance and not objects to abuse.  

Rajan gave away few books that he and Praba wrote.   Inner Wheel club of Madras South felt proud of having him as our Women's day speaker.    Rajan made us feel good,  and also made us feel like women who will want to fly high.   

We presented him a memento with the photographs of Prabha and him, and he was very happy for the choice we made.   This meeting and this great man will remain in the history of Inner Wheel Club of Madras South as an inspiring friend who stands for the welfare of woemn, who still supports our causes, and who is the true crusader of women empowerment.

Thank you Rotarian R.V.Rajan for this wonderful day.  We will for sure cherish this in our memories for long.

Warm Regards

Umasree Raghunath

President - Inner Wheel Club of Madras South 2014-2015.