1. Issue: 32Volume: 34 Date: 11.02.2015 Pages: 4
“Ifyou'reyourauthenticselfyouhavenocompetition”
Y. Bhagwan Memorial English Debate Competition
On a beautiful warm Sunday morning the Bhagavan Family was all
set to have their annual state level inter collegiate English debate
competition. With over a month's preparation, the enthusiastic
Bhagavan Family along with the formidable support of Rotary Mysore
Mid Town and the young energetic lot from SDM-IMD set the stage for
anexquisitedebatesession.
th
This being the 5 year saw a turnout of over 50 participants from all
across the state ready to showcase their true talent. Every ship needs a
captain to steer its way across the ocean to reach land and the captain of
this show was Kelvin Vincent, Student SDM-IMD who anchored the
show till the end. Any occasion in India cannot start without an
invocation and Nandini Madhukar, Granddaughter of Late Y.Bhagavan
enthralled us with “Kayo Shri Gouri, Karuna lahari, Thoya Jakshi…”the
officialanthemof theKingdom of Mysore,under theruleof theWadiyar
Dynasty, composed by Basavappa Shastry. And not to forget the recital
of “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high. Where
knowledge is free” from Githanjali by Rabindranath Tagore left the
audiencemesmerized.
Rtn.R.Venkatesh, President Rotary Mysore Mid Town along with
Rtn.TN.Mohan Kumar, Hon.Secretary called the meeting to order.
M.B.Pritviraj the eldest son of Late Y.Bhagavan shared the families
thoughts about the reason behind starting this debate competition. The
Guest of Honor for this event was Prof.Govind Sharma, of SDM-IMD
who shared his wise words as a professor in English. The Chief guest
Chaya Srivatsa, Life coach, Infosys Mysore and the author of the book
“Corporate Draupadi” shared her experience as a student under the
guidance of Late Y.Bhagavan. She recalled “My love for English was
mainly because of Y.Bhagavan , as his attention to detail and his
approachtoteachingwasawe-inspiring”
“In all debates, let truth be thy aim, not victory, or an unjust
interest” (William Penn, 12) keeping this in mind the debaters started to
put across their views on the topic “Should my 'Freedom of speech and
expression'beabsolute”
Some went with a saying “I disapprove of what you say, but I will
defend to death your right to say” (Voltaire, 6). These were the youth
whobelievedthatfreedomofspeechandexpressionhastobeabsolute,
as they strongly believed that freedom is FREEDOM and there cannot
be boundaries and restrictions to it. If it were there, then it would feel
like“Iwalkintoarestaurantandthewaiterofferstoservemeanydesert,
untilandunlessitisvanillaicecream”(VenkatramanBelvadi).
On the contrary there were the rest who went with the saying
“Freedom of expression: comes with responsibility”, “Hate speech is not
free speech” .This group of enthusiastic adults felt that talking anything
andeverythingisnotonlywrong,butoffensive.
The Judges Nandini Srinivasan and Anitha Braggs carefully took
noteofalltheminutedetailsandthetop11wereselectedtobattleitout
for the winners place. After a quick lunch and networking session along
with an hour's prep time, the 11 finalists were ready to debate on the
topic “Industrial and Infrastructure growth at the cost of Agriculture and
Environment” Yes or No?.It was really very amazing to see how the 11
finalistswereabletoputacrosstheirpoint.ThatwaswhenIrealizedthat
the youth of today are so well informed and have a vision for the
bettermentofourcountry.
Finally, after the intense session the judges had a tough job up their
sleeves. After a thorough analysis Prof.B.N.Balajee along with
Prof.Shekar shared their thoughts about the debate and the parameters
st
that they looked into as a judge. The 1 Prize was won by Venkatraman
nd
Harish Belvadi, St. Philomena's College; 2 Prize was won by Aditya.Y.,
rd
Christ University; 3 Prize won by Rahul Raman, Christ University;
Consolation prize won by Charishma Narayan and Keerthi XIM,
Bangalore and the Best Lady Speaker went to Chitra Rao, Jss law college.
Prof. Jagdish, SDM-IMD shared his joy in hosting the debate and
conveyed his deepest regards to Dr. Rajeev and Annette Jinesh Jain,
SwathiBharath,BarkhaAgarwal,studentorganizationteam,SDM-IMD.
At the end of the day it was very clearly seen that the Bhagavan
family, not to forget our own clubs enthusiastic and evergreen couple
Rtn. M.S.Raghu and Ann. Chandrika Raghu stood as strong pillars in
putting up a great show. A show that brought happiness, talent, the
youngandtheold,smilesandthepowerofspeechallunderoneroof.
Ms. Deepashree Narendra
2. NIKAM'S DAY OUT
FourthofFebruaryTwo
Thousand Fifteen, time
Seven Thirty Five Post
M e r i d i a m t a l l
handsome matured
man walks in to RCL,
This was our own ex-
midtowner Niranjan
N i k a m . W i t h
m a g n i f i c e n t
introduction from Rtn
Nandoo, Nikam was
always in immaculate
whites at Laxmipuram
grounds to play cricket
among his friends. It
was in '94 when Rtn
R a m k i w a s t h e
president Nikam joined midtown and later went on
to become the editor of “About Us” which changed
his personal profile. With the “Editor – About Us”
winning formula, Nikam then approached Star of
Mysore and was immediately absorbed as associate
editor. His first assignment in SOM was a tribute to
Shri Bhojayya (of Bhojayya Silks fame, K R Circle) and
Dr. Shinde (Retd. Superintendent of K R Hospital,
Mysore)whohadjustthenpassedaway.Thistribute
wonmanyaccoladesandevenfloored KBG.
Mr Nikam was nostalgic the moment few Rtns
mentioned the name of film actress Rekha, On
feb16 1996 Nikam had interview Rekhaji in Hotel
Southern Star, One Rotarian even asked the
temperature of Rekha's hand (thank god, I do not
know what they meant by hand!), few of the other
VIP's Nikam had interviewed was Aamir Khan, Kabir
Bedi, Ram Jethmalani, P C Chidambaram and the list
continues - Coming south Mr. Nikam has
interviewed Dr. Rajkumar (in the absence of Madam
Parvathamma Rajkumar, normally this would'nt
have been the situation.), K. S. Ashwath, etc. and a
host of film and political personalities. The best part
was when he tried interviewing Shilpa Shetty ,
pitiablyendedup beingagood friend tothemother
of Shilpa Shetty. All along he said that the lady luck
was in his favour and that is the reason why he could
interviewthem.
Nikam has tried various career options, firstly he
was a business man, then joined star of Mysore
(Incidentally being editor of “About US” helped),
PRO at Indus Valley Ayurvedic centre (Here he
become very close with Dr. Raj, which eventually
won the confidence of entire Raj family) Nikam also
tried his hands with Vijay times and so on, The story
ofWodeyars'Talkadcurse wonmanylaurelsamong
the readers. He was also involved in Rotary Adalath
whichwaschairedbyJusticeSaldanha.
Finally the one word of caution- for all journalists
arebondedlabourers.
Today one of the fine jobs Mr. Nikam has been
entrusted is as a Consultant for the centenary
celebrations of “University of Mysore”. Mysore
University being one of the oldest universities in the
country, a history is being enacted from the First
step on July 27, 1916 from Nalwadi Krishna
Rajendra Wodeyar to the present state of glory. The
themesongforthesamehasalreadybeenreleased,
The event will feature lecture series by Nobel
laureates, A grand auditorium is in the pipe line as
fitting memory to the glory of Mysore University, if
all the alumni of MU contribute just Rs 1000/=, this
magnificent dream would became a reality and
Mysore University could boast of one more
milestone building. Thank you Niranjan, Wish you
all the best for your new responsibility
…………………….GoodLucktoyouSir.
M.P.Gopalkrishna
Joint project with De Paul Rotaract club.
Distribution of books to Govt School KRS on 6th
February2015
Midtown News
4. Printed at Tech Prints, Mysore-570005
Ph: 2330380, 4289380
Email: techprints@rediffmail.com, techprints89@gmail.com
Aboutus In-house Magazine Published by
Rtn. Mohan Kumar T.N, Hon. Secretary
Rotary Mysore Midtown, JLB Road, Mysore - 570024
Editorial Board: Rtn. Dr. K.A Prahlad,
Rtn. Bheemesh, Rtn. Ramakrishna, Rtn Bhanuchandran
Rtn. Pramod Gubbi, Rtn. Sundar, Rtn. R.S. Vishwanath
Rotary information
44Way TestWay TestWay Test
of the things we say or do
Ÿ Is it the TRUTH?
Ÿ Is if FAIR to all concerned ?
Ÿ Will build GOODWILL BETTER FRIENDSHIPS ?
Ÿ Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned ?
Rotarians said it
Rotarians said it
· “ W h a t w a s t h e
temperature of Rekha's
hands,Nikam”
Rtn. Alagappan asked
the Speaker Mr. Niranjan
Nikam when he said he shook
handswithcineactressRekha.
· “I have scored 1
mark more than the
Prospective District
Governor(Ramki) in the
Rotaryquiz”.
Rtn. Umesh. K.
Date : 18-02-2015
ROTARY MIDTWON SOUKYA
Sports Award Presentation to
Smt. Sushmitha Pawar,
International Kabbadi Player.
Time : 6.30pm
DISTRICTGOVERNORSINVITE
RespectedRotarians,
Its time for the annual event which we all have been
looking forward to....an event to refresh relax... an event to
meet Rotarians across the district... an event to develop
fellowship.Yes my dear friends, its time for the Rotary District
Conference, and as I say so, myAnn Manjula also joins me in
extending a very warm welcome to you your families for the
event which will be a memorable one only by your
participation.
28th Feb 1st March 2015 is when all roads will lead to
the coastal town of Mangalore, to witness the 2 days district
conference as Foundation Trustee, Rtn Sushil Gupta in
presence of Rtn A.K.Shamshuddin of Dhaka, Bangladesh,
the Official representative of RI President, will Light up the
Rotary torch to symbolize the inaugural ceremony. Joining
himwillbeothereminent
speakers to enhance your information on Rotary. The
venue atTMAPai Convention centre is ready to welcome you
your family the exclusive session organized for Anns
Annetsisboundtodrawyourattention.
As in every conference, we have made elaborate
arrangements for your comfort, but our prime aim is to serve
you typical Manglorean cousine which will tickle your taste
buds and take home refreshing memories to share with your
near ones. Cultural events to suit to the taste of the lovers of
talent is being extensively planned and we hope to put up a
greatshowtopleaseyouall.
Yet another initiative taken this year is leveraging
technology. Those already registered will be provided with
swiping cards well in advance which we are confident will
help you to a large extent there by saving your precious time
at the registration counter. Spot registration, though initially
declined, will now be accommodated adhering to the
requests from clubs across the district, but will receive the
mementos, only subject to availability. Directions,
programme details other information will be constantly sent
to the registered cell phones thereby reminding prompting
youofthehappeningsattheconference.
Clubs have a unique opportunity to exhibit their
accomplishments in the area designated, the best will be
recognized too. Major Donors, PHF’s will have the privilege
of a special recognition. Businesses and enterprises
supporting us financially will be exhibiting their products at
the venue and my sincere request to you all is to patronize
themtothebestpossible.
The house of friendship will remain open only between 11
amto10pmonthe28thFebruarybetween11amto4pmon
the 1st March, which may kindly be noted and I seek co-
operationofallconcernedinthisregard.
Finally, the success of any programme depends on the
participation of delegates, and so I call upon each every
Rotarian to be our guest with your families, enjoy our
hospitality, give us the opportunity to host you in true
mangalorean style. Our aim is to send you back with pleasant
memoriesoftheconference.
TrustyouwilljoinmeinLightingupRotary,
Thankingyou
Yours sincerely,
Rtn. Dr. Bhaskar S.
Rtn. Manjula Bhaskar.
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DUÉßÃAiÀÄzÀ ¸ÀzÀ¸ÀåjUÉ DºÁé£À ¤ÃqÀÄwÛgÀĪÀÅzÀÄ.
District Conference
Place: RCL Hall
