Pets and Sets 2010

For the past two weeks, the only thing occupying a place of grave importance in the minds of our club members has been the successful completion of PETS and SETS 2010. And that thought finally bore fruit yesterday.

The last two weeks have been quite strenuous for some of us. We’ve been literally running around making preparations on a grand scale, calling up the many clubs in our district and personally inviting their President-elect and Secretary-elect to attend the seminar so that they can benefit from it. We also went over every single arrangement to recheck that we did not make even the minutest of mistakes.

The D-Day finally arrived and we were all pumped up and excited. The registration began at 8.30 am. And Rotaractors were coming in to attend the seminar eagerly in spite of it being a Sunday. More than 50 Rotaractors attended the seminar.

The inauguration ceremony was started by about 9.45 am. when the DRR Rtr. Solomon Victor was collared by the District Sergeant-At-Arms Rtr. Balaji Rajaram. This was followed by the Rotaract Song. The chief guest for the day was Rtn. Chidambara Kumar, outgoing Chairman for Rotaract. The Guest of Honor was Rtn. Ganeshan, the new Chairman for Rotaract. Rtn. Sridhar, Co-Chairman for Rotaract and Rtn. Prasanna Shenoy, Associate Chairman for Rotaract were also present.

The chief guest addressed the gathering about the projects that Rotaract had successfully completed in the past year under his guidance. He praised the outgoing board for their wonderful efforts and also wished the new board the best in all their endeavors. Rtn. Ganeshan then briefly explained the idea behind hosting a PETS and SETS. This was followed by the felicitations given by Rtn. Prasanna Shenoy and Rtn. Sridhar. The inauguration ceremony came to a close by about 11 am.

The inauguration was followed by an Ice-breaker session hosted by Rtr. Sasi Kumar. It helped the participants to mingle freely and get to know each other. We are sure that the Rotaractors surely enjoyed Rtr. Sasi’s session. They then geared up to focus their attention on what they had assembled here for – the training seminar.

The first to speak was Rtn. Ganeshan. He gave an inspiring speech where he outlined the projects he had planned for the coming year. He also gave the audience valuable pointers that will definitely help the President and Secretary elects in the effective running of their clubs.

Next in line was a very intellectual presentation by Rtn. Rajkumar. He oriented the gathering as to what exactly “WORK” meant and how to approach that concept. He also played a couple of videos of physically challenged persons who strove hard to come up in life. It left most of us with moist eyes and heavy hearts. He further motivated us to dream higher and “Take Flight” to achieve our dreams. The session lasted for about 100 minutes and was very informative.

The Rotaractors then briefly adjourned for lunch till 2.30pm. We all had a sumptuous meal courtesy Rtn. Ganeshan. The lunch break was proved to be a good opportunity for the participants to interact well and develop a good bonding.

We had a quick photo session followed by a talk by Rtn. Praveen Mehra – a session where the audience was all eyes and ears for what he had to say. He also listed out the guidelines, etc. for the board members and helped clear a lot of apprehensions in the minds of our young leaders of tomorrow.

The last session of the day was by Rtn. Kannan. He held a few management games for us which enthralled the participants and also, most importantly, taught us the need to have a good rapport among the team and to work as a team at all times. In short, he clearly reminded us that “Unity is strength”.

The valedictory ceremony was hosted by our DRR Rtr. Solomon Victor. He announced the winners for the Best President-elect and Secretary-elect of the seminar. Rtr. Roselyn from the Rotaract club of Soka Ikeda was selected as the Best President-Elect and Rtr. Yusuf from the Rotaract Club of Vishwahita was selected as the Best Secretary-Elect.

Rtr. Ashwin, our ZRR, then introduced to the gathering every single person who had worked behind the scenes and put in their invaluable efforts that helped make this event a grand success.

A special word of mention for a few people who’ve worked day in and out for his project - Rtr. Vishwanath ( the Chairman of Pets and Sets) Rtr. Pradeep( Secretary of Pets and Sets) , Rtr.Solomon Victor ( DRR RI 3230 ) , Rtr. Yasin Bijapuri ( President elect , RCLC ) and Rtr. Praveen ( President , RCLC ).

The event finally ended with all of us bidding adieu to each other on a sad note as the day had come to an end so fast. But, we were all happy at the thought of having made so many friends on this single day.