BENGALURU: The Rotary Club of Bangalore organised a Peace Walk on Friday, to celebrate their 113th anniversary. Gathering in Freedom Park, members from different Rotary Clubs across the city walked up to the Vidhan Soudha and back, raising slogans for peace and donning costumes of different Nobel Peace Prize winners.
In Bengaluru, the club has its units in different areas in and around the city. “Bengaluru, along with clubs in certain districts around it, comes under the Bengaluru chapter of the club or District 3190, as we are known globally,” says the president of the Rotary Bangalore- Whitefield Central unit, Kalpana SP. “Rotary is basically made up of three parts. There are the Rotary clubs in parts of different countries that are supported by Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation. The main idea is to bring together dedicated individuals to exchange ideas and take action,” she says. Various such projects are initiated and funded by members and partners of the club.
First started in Chicago in the year 1905, this club opened its Bengaluru chapter on October 27, 1934- the seventh such club in pre-Independence India.While rest of the club’s chapters across the world marked this day with celebratios, the city’s win decided to hold a Peace Walk to bring to focus on their message of peace and conflict resolution. “With civil wars tearing countries apart and acts of terrorisms happening all around us, this seemed an ideal way to spread awareness among city’s residents,” said Shoba Murali, president of the Cubbon Park unit.
Along with the walk, a competition was held to pick the best costume-wearer. From Malala Yousafzai and Wangari Maathai to Swami Vivekananda, members from different parts of the city came dressed as their favourite personalities. “We all come from different walks of life and at Rotary, we try not to discriminate based on caste, class or religion,” says Kalpana. “Our basic idea is get our message across and do all that we can to help the communities we live in”.