WOMEN IN ROTARY, TWO AWARENESS PROGRAMS ON SAME DAY On Tuesday, 19 April 2016, the “Women in Rotary” Committee of our Club along with the Inner Wheel Club of Poona Downtown arranged a two-in-one programme on (1) Cancer Awareness and (2) Save Water, both subjects of intimate concern to all women. The venue (Peregrine Apts, Raheja Woods Society Hall, Kalyani Nagar) was arranged by R’ann Sumita Guha. The time was: 3 to 5 p.m. The speakers were our own Rtn Dr Rama Sivaram and Ms Rashmi Chavan, the Project Coordinator from the NGO Shashwat Eco Solution Foundation, led by its Director, Rtn Pradnya Thakur. The audience was almost entirely lower middle-income ladies (= house maids) from that Society. The programme started with Rtn Rama describing what is cancer, its different types and how to identify and prevent it. She emphasised the importance of self-examination of the breast and routine check-up. This was a very lucid, detailed and informative talk which could be easily understood by the maids. Rama really outdid herself this time and her talk was much appreciated by all. Ms Rashmi of Shashwat gave a slide and video presentation on how the village folk especially -women and children- suffer due to scarcity of water. She explained the very basics of why water is essential: Our body is largely made of water; our basic requirements are “Roti, Kapda aur Makan” and we need water for each of these. She gave very simple but practical tips like use a mug while brushing your teeth and washing hands, bucket for bathing, small capacity flush tank, kitchen and bath water for toilet and garden, a small bucket for washing cars, get leaking taps repaired, etc. Her talk was listened to with rapt attention by the audience. Rashmi was accompanied by her colleagues Manisha Bhandare and Pooja Dhagare. From our Club and our Inner Wheel Club the following attended: Presidents Supriya Banerjea and Sunanda Luthra, Namita Ayyar, Poroochi Batliwala, Kapila Bharucha, Turan Desai, Sumita Guha, Shereen Masters, Seema Mathur, Pinky Mehmi, Manju Mookerji and Meena Latey.