Rotaractors meet at railway stations
Vaibhav Godkar, a member of RAC Dombivli Midtown Youth, RID 3142, came up with an innovative way of networking with Rotaractors of other Rotaract districts, when he planned to travel from Bandra, Mumbai, to his hometown Veraval in Gujarat to attend his sister’s wedding. “When I planned to travel by train I came up with an idea of meeting other Rotaract club members at the railway stations en route where the train halts,” he says. He conveyed the idea to his club president Pranita Pawale who improvised on it and suggested Godkar to flash his travel plans on Instagram and invite Rotaractors to meet him at the stations.
Of the 20 Rotaract clubs identified enroute Bandra and Veraval, eight clubs showed interest to meet him at their respective railway stations. He was travelling by the Veraval Express and plans were worked out to meet the Rotaractors accordingly. “The train would pass through some of the railway stations at night and so I planned to meet the Rotaractors in those stations on my return journey.”
My nana and nani with whom I was travelling were super happy to see me interacting with my fellow Rotaractors.
– Vaibhav Godkar, RAC Dombivli Midtown Youth
He messaged his coach number and the time when the train will pull into the station to the participating clubs. “It was such an exhilarating experience to meet the Rotaractors. We exchanged letterheads, some of them had got me bouquets. We attracted attention. My nana and nani with whom I was travelling were super happy to see me interacting with my fellow Rotaractors,” says Godkar who is the International Service director in his club. This is his first year in Rotaract and “I am happy I made the right decision to join this elite organisation.”
Though the aim of this meet was to establish physical contact with Rotaract clubs of other districts, Godkar says that the meeting has taken the club relationship to a higher level. “Now we are ready to do service projects jointly that would benefit both communities.” Recently, the Dombivli Rotaract club had launched a service project to put reflective collars on the necks of stray dogs. “Each collar costs ₹35 but RACs such as Vadodara, Parul University came forward to donate for the cause. This is just a start. We will soon be working together on larger projects,” he says.
Among the signature projects of RAC Dombivli Midtown Youth, he says that the club observes Independence Day with great fanfare for the last 14 years. Competitions are held in schools, orphanages or old age homes. This year “we conducted a roadshow on Phadke Road to showcase the history of Dombivli through a video presentation.”
Chai and vada pav were distributed to the delivery boys working with delivery firms such as Swiggy and Zomato on Friendship Day, and during Navaratri, the club organised a Navratri Mandal contest which had a participation of 24 mandals. An entry fee of ₹500 per head was collected from the participating teams. Cricket tournaments are conducted every year among local teams in the locality to promote the club’s public image.
This year the club, along with RACs Bhaktapur Nepal, RID 3292, and Solapur Midtown Phoenix, RID 3132, had organised an inter-club youth exchange.
