From President's Desk

Julley friends,

A wonderful year of many fun, exciting and also educational meetings, has come to an end. Some very enthusiastic and talented Rotaractors were inducted into the club. After the beginning years of club's development under Manas's and Mehul's tenure, the platform is set for our club to expand its limits, to make its presence felt at the district level and have some big projects lined up for the upcoming year. As decided in the previous planning meetings with our parent club's President (2015-16), Rtn. Parag Mulye, we have chalked out 6 joint projects this year which we hope to take up.

With some interesting ideas and through some special meetings, we are planning on increasing the strength of our club, which might help us in taking up bigger projects and would make our club more diverse and resourceful. With joint efforts, let’s make it a priority to induct some of our deserving, talented and resourceful friends into the club. And of course, the fun element of our meetings would be kept high along with productivity this year too! With a promising BOD by my side, I am very sure that this year will be legen...dary. Let's have a bang on year!!

Rtr.Sanat Munot
President

Editorial

Dear Readers,

Do you remember the last time when you had done yoga? Well, for most of us the answer wouldn’t have been a recent date had it not been for the International Yoga Day. June 21st, being made so by the UN is a big step towards spreading awareness about Yoga and its benefits, worldwide. Following suit, the buzz-word of this bulletin is ‘Yoga’, too. In this issue, many of our fellow Rotaractors have narrated their experiments and experiences with this form of Art. An art, yes, Yoga is the art of connecting one’s mind, body and soul. It allows for creativity to flow in with every consciously synchronized breath and rediscover yourself. I realized that it is a path to find peace of mind amidst the worries of our hectic life and a tool, to deal with the incessantly increasing stress.

The year has had a very promising start, hope the tempo keeps going only higher. There are some very interesting stories and articles, other than those on Yoga, waiting to be discovered by you. Do not forget to check out the Brain-teasers and ‘From The Diary of a Movie Buff’. That said, go ahead have a Happy Reading!

Rtr.Aditi Katpatal
Editor

Yoga and Us

Yoga is a form of exercise that dates back to the “long long time ago”, back when people really believed in God. It is said that Yoga was taught to the first disciples of Shiva by the great God himself. I personally believe that it was just some really smart sadhus who happened to know a great deal about the physiology of the human body back in the day and invented these postures for a salubrious living. But, our ancestors were smart in making up such good stories and knew people would follow them only when they thought that it was God who gave these sadhus some spiritual enlightenment. That’s why out of respect for Shiva many people started following this elite group (the Yogis) and this in turn gave way to the Yoga way of life. Thus Yoga prospered and expanded its influence throughout ancient India. It must have been taught, by word of mouth or rather since actions did speak louder than words even back then, by Yogis performing asanas before their disciples and making them do it, encouraging them probably with phrases like “twist a leg son” or something to that effect.

And now we come to present day where Yoga has been #scientifically proven to be….. (All good things). My first experiment with Yoga was during the 2nd standard since it was a compulsory activity in school. I just did it because I was made to do it little knowing or caring about its importance for a healthy life (our teacher probably did explain that but just as now I wasn’t paying attention). So I did yoga for two years, learning various asanas for the sake of getting good grades and I found myself pretty flexible being able to put my legs over my head and picking up the rest of my body on my hands (Bhujapidasana) and other such stuff (folks at school and back home were pretty impressed especially my grandparents who used to act like they thought such feats were impossible).

The yoga breathing techniques never failed to rejuvenate us at class and I still use them at times for calming myself in face of the irritating people I meet daily. I suggest everyone who reads this; enlighten themselves with this most ancient technique of achieving instant serenity and tranquility. These have been medically proven to be useful for heart patients so just watch a few videos on youtube, it ought to be easy enough. Well, life goes on and two years later for some reason I just stopped doing yoga altogether. But then, our nation got a great leader like Mr. Narendra Modi who respects our traditions and culture a lot. I learned (via WhatsApp so information not verified) that it was he who suggested that the 21st June be celebrated as World Yoga Day to the UN. Many societies and NGOs have arranged competitions and platforms for citizens to participate in Yoga.

The Yoga Club of our society (which basically consists of all our grandparents) following suit has planned to instruct the youth here on yogasanas tomorrow. Even as I write this article I have a feeling of trepidation, our grandparents are sure to be better at it than we are now and their being able to do more asanas than us will in a way be embarrassing.

Finally, it’ll be time for me to be impressed with my grandma’s yoga.

Rtr. Advait Javadekar

From The Diary of A Movie Buff...

No Smoking

No smoking can be considered as one of the most abstract films released in hindi cinema. There can be multiple interpretations of the movie, and that’s the beauty of this film. No smoking is neo-noir psychological thriller released in 2007, directed by Anurag Kashyap and produced by Vishal Bharadwaj, starring John Abraham and Paresh Rawal. It was based on short story Quitters Inc. by Stephen King. At the time of its release, it was criticized by viewers because of the unusual concept but over the years it has received a cult following. The story is about K (John Abraham), an arrogant chain smoker who agrees to quit smoking after his wife Anjali (Ayesha Takia) threatens to leave him. He reluctantly signs up a course to quit smoking with Baba bangali (Paresh Rawal) who has absurd and unconventional methods which involves severe punishments. Soon after signing up for the course, series of bizarre events starts happening in K’s life. Soon it became a battle of two ideologies. First of all let me tell you that the film has nothing to do with smoking, it has been used as a metaphor in the film. It is a battle of an individual’s rights versus censorship. Dark humor, surrealism and symbolism works for the film.

As a director and writer Anurag Kashyap did an excellent job. His direction is polished, slick and stylish, the camerawork topnotch and the background score is perfect. Art direction is excellent and it truly creates the theme it wanted to create. It is a visual treat for viewers.

On acting part, this film belongs to Paresh Rawal. His acting and dialogue delivery is a delight to watch. Especially all the conversations between John and Paresh are well crafted and well shot. John Abraham also did a pretty good job as an arrogant and wealthy businessman. On the final note No Smoking is not at all a “leave your brain” at home movie. It offers something fresh, something different and something unconventional.

Rtr. Mayuresh Gokhale