Rotary Club of Varanasi North

It started with an email through the website, from Pradeep Jalan, Treasurer of the Rotary Club of Varanasi North, asking if we would be interested in a “Cross Continental Zoom Meeting”.

Varanasi (formerly Banares) is an industrial city of 1.6 million, with 19 Rotary Clubs. The population of the Blairgowrie is around 15000, so at first sight not a lot in common! But we are all Rotarians.

We exchanged some information in advance – they sent us membership information, photos of their club flag and logo, and pages from their club Directory. They are active on Social Media, with a lively Facebook page, but have no club website. We sent them our Facebook and Website links, and a pdf of our “Rotary Club of Blairgowrie - Who we are and what we do” flyer.

On 18th November we finally met up – about half of our club of 27, and half of their club of 57, along with their AG, at 1500 GMT to accommodate the 5.5 hour time difference

We wanted to share information about our clubs, our countries’ cultures, how we had been affected by Covid, how we raised money, what we did in our communities and what sort of social activities we had.

They had it very well organised, with each subject having a three-minute slot from each club, involving as many Rotarians as possible. They had produced powerpoints for screen sharing – we just spoke.

Their club was chartered in 1991, and has 57 members, 22 of whom are new this year. They have a much younger age profile and most members are active professionals. Their President Satish Jain, is a CA and makes many contacts through his professional life: he is planning to introduce 15 – 20 more! They maintain a waiting list of potential members, to ensure suitability.

We told them about life under lockdown – which doesn’t seem to be nearly as severe in Varanasi. They told us about Ayurvedic medicine and how it fights Covid by stimulating the immune system: their professor was enthusiastic and spent 15 minutes describing the individual uses of all the herbs. They took us on a whirlwind tour of Indian, food, costume, architecture and religion – we told them about bagpipes, the clarsach and fiddle orchestras.

Their fundraising is quite different from ours – most members seem to be sustaining Paul Harris Fellows. Money is also raised from their membership fees, and by advertisers sponsoring pages in their Club Directory. Every member has a page, with dates of birth and marriage, contact details, and names of spouse and children. And it is the President’s privilege to make up any shortfall between commitments and resources!

There is no shortage of serious projects – since 2001 Varanasi North has supported a girls’ school, with food, clothing, stationery and bicycles, as well as visits to sporting and cultural events. They also run a free dispensary for the poor, a wash station for primary schools and have supplied a rickshaw ambulance for transporting the dead.

They celebrate the Hindu festivals of Holi and Diwali – and like many Rotary celebrations here in the UK food is a key part. They were interested to hear about Blairgowrie’s Whisky Tasting evenings.

The meeting overran its scheduled hour: although there are many differences in what the clubs can do, and how, we all experience and enjoyed the fellowship of Rotary. This is a contact we hope to maintain