CHENNAI: The Rotary Club of Madras is the third club in India which is 90 years old. They celebrated their 90th anniversary on Thursday at Hyatt Regency. The club which started with 30 members — 27 Britishers, two Swiss nationals, and one American — now has more than 260 members. Their members include famous people like Venu Srinivasan, MGR, Nalli Kuppasamy, and Viswanathan Anand.
The chief guest for the event was R Srinivasan, district governor. For the first time, the Rotary song, which described the members’ humanity, service, and sincerity, was played. Following this, Vijay Bharathi, a Rotarian, donated $10,000. The club aims to collect $100,000, to install toilets, schools and a medical centre.
Gifts were distributed by PN Mohan, president, Rotary Club of Madras, to Rotarians who had wedding anniversary or birthdays on the same day. A two-minute video briefing the history of the club was played. It spoke about the club’s efforts to eradicate polio. Krish Chitale, who worked towards the cause, said, “One of the largest projects undertaken by Rotary Club is to eradicate polio and many people have come forward to work with us.” The celebration ended with the cake cutting.