Rotaractors on a heritage tour
Sixteen Rotaractors from various RI Districts toured Prayagraj and Varanasi for two days, thanks to the Inter District Youth Exchange (IDYE) programme hosted by the Rotaract clubs of RI District 3120. The visitors came from RIDs 3054 (Rajasthan), 3080 (Haryana), 3141 (Mumbai), 3291 (West Bengal) and 3292 (Nepal/Bhutan) and were hosted by the Rotaract clubs in Prayagraj and Varanasi.
It was a wholesome experience and words are just not enough to describe the experience, says Waishali Arora from RAC Wings Scouts, Yamuna Nagar, RID 3080. She led a team of four Rotaractors from her district to the IDYE. “Varanasi was on my bucket list for long and I am glad that I could make it now. The food was amazing and the hosts were warm and made us all feel comfortable,” she adds.
The visiting team was taken on a guided tour to Sarnath, Kashi Vishwanath temple and few other prominent temples in both the cities. “Watching the mesmerising Ganga aarti on the banks of the river and a boat ride the following day will stay in our memories for a lifetime,” she says.
The team enjoyed the local delicacies too with equal fervour. Specialities such as kachori-sabzi, litti-chokha and wrapping it all up with the Benarasi paan, made a big hit with the visitors, says host DRR Kushagra Bansal. He adds that the Rotaractors got a cultural experience visiting the Triveni Sangam, a confluence of the rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, and Anand Bhavan, the ancestral home of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
“This idea of IDYE came to us last year when we hosted a group of four Rotaractors. We wanted our district, which has not been so popular, to get noticed, and now after the programme, we are getting noticed.” He thanks Muniraj Patel, President of RC Allahabad Elite, DRCC Ajit Mehrotra and International Service Chairman Ravi Shankar Singh for the smooth conduct of the programme in both the cities.
International Service Director Rtr Priya Shukla and Zonal Rotaract Representative Simran Manuja worked out the logistics for the tour.
