Interesting Facts

Twenty five charter members under the able leadership of Shri Sharad Joshi “Put Life into Rotary” their Lives and began their journey to “ Enjoy Rotary”. The Second year saw Shri Ashok Joshi a lawyer by profession pledge to “Honor Rotary with Faith and Enthusiasm”. The third year was a special one for the whole of India for the RI President was none other than Shri Rajendra Saboo popularly known as “Raja Saboo”. In keeping with his theme of “ Look Beyond Yourself “ our club under the leadership of President Shri Sudhir Puranik truly looked beyond. Year Four saw Shri Arun Bhise take over as the Club President with the belief “ Real Happiness is Helping Others”. Shri Ashok Kher as the Fifth Club President decided to take that year’s theme “ Believe In What You Do, Do What You Believe In “ to the extreme and ended up (Creating History) being ousted as the Club President by an unanimous vote. Given the tumultuous previous year, Shri Arun Vaishampayan as the Sixth Club President decided to “ Be A Friend” . A young tall skinny doctor took over as the Seventh Club President and decided to “ Act with Integrity Serve with Love Work for Peace”. He came he saw and he conquered, the hearts of one and all. Under his dynamic leadership the club scaled new heights. He was none other than Dr Girish Gune who would over the years reach the zenith of our vibrant district. The Eight Rotary Year saw Shri Suresh Saitodekar, urf Morya, who was 50 but had the heart of a 20 year old, Young at Heart, take over the realms of Presidentship to “ Build the Future with Action and Vision “. “ Show Rotary Cares” was the theme when Dr Vijay Bhagat became the Ninth Club President. The “ TIN” Anniversary ie Tenth, had Shri Ashok Chaskar as the Club President and he asked us to “ Follow your Rotary Dream”. The Year of the New Millenium saw Shri Bhagwan Patil with a new hairdo take over as Club President to “ Act with Consistency Credibility Continuity “. Year Twelve was to “ Create Awareness & Take Action “  and Club President Shri Vinod Joshi, a banker did just that. Shri Vishwanath Bhave as the 13th Club President made sure that our Club worked for the betterment of the community and gave justice to that year’s theme of “ Mankind is our Business “. Shri Madhukar Chandane urf  “Appa” a Flour Mill Owner being the person we all know him to be, was the right person to “ Sow the Seeds of Love “. The Crystal Anniversary of the Club saw Shri Prakash “ Mama “ Kadam take over as the  President and with his Ice Cool composure, asked everybody to “ Lend A Hand “. The Centennial Year 2004-05 was of course to “ Celebrate Rotary “. And President Shri Rajendra Koshe decided to do just that. Year Seventeen started with Panvel City experiencing its worst floods and President Shri Makarand Bal had to rally his troops to cater to the flood affected people, this time in our own backyards. But we PCtarians once again stood up to the task and justified that year’s theme of “ Service Above Self “. The Eighteenth President Shri Prakash Ranade decided to “Lead The Way “ as it should be, from the front. Shri Janardhan Tandel as the Nineteenth President took the year’s theme of “ Rotary Shares “ in its vernacular sense. All throughout the year the Club was enthralled with JD’s Shers. The Year 2008-09 was the Platinum Anniversary not only of the Club but also of “Women in Rotary” and Shri Rajan Shinde as the Club President saw it as the perfect opportunity to induct our first lady member. The high flowing testosterone in some of our members could not digest this in the beginning and as is often the case almost lead to a rift, but finally better sense prevailed and we inducted our first lady member to “ Make Dreams Real”. When Shri Narendra Kulkarni became the 21st Club President he was told “ The Future of Rotary is in your Hands “  and the rest is history. Late Shri Shrikant Joshi urf  S R , a soft spoken carefree philanthropist, builder by profession, he set about “Building Communities Bridging Continents“. Twenty years back an Indian, Shri Raja Saboo was at the helm of affairs of Rotary International, but come Rotary Year 2011-12, another Indian Shri Kalyan Banerjee known to all as Kalyanda become the President of Rotary International. He asked President Shri Ramchandra Bhagat to “ Reach Within to embrace Humanity “. The Rotary Year 2012-13 was a very special one for all of us, Rotarians of Panvel Central for we were fortunate to have our own Rtn Dr Girish Gune as the District Governor. Our 24th club President Shri Santosh Ghodinde carefully chose his Board of Directors with a blend of youth and experience, so that all five avenues of Service of Rotary were taken care of to achieve “ Peace through Service”. This year we celebrate our 25th Silver Jubilee Anniversary with Shri Sunil Gadgil as our President who wants to “ Engage Rotary Change Lives “ and I am quite sure that by the start of the new Rotary year we would definitely be in a position to “ Light up Rotary”.