THE OLD NUMBER ONE

Each September the oldest Rotary club in India celebrates the anniversary of its first luncheon meeting. The Rotary Club of Calcutta was organised on the 26^th September 1919 and received its Charter (587) on 1st January 1920
(Charter No. 587).

The Rotary clubs of Manila and Shanghai were established in 1919 but Manila became inoperative for four years during World War II and Shanghai having gone out of existence in 1935 has recently been granted a provisional status. This makes the Rotary Club of Calcutta the longest continuing Rotary club in Asia. Indeed, it was in existence even before Rotary officially changed its name to "Rotary International” in 1922.

It is one of the few clubs having its unique Presidential badge with the motto, "Per Ardua Stabiles Esto." (Be Firm In Adversity).

Chevalier Federico Peliti was the greatest name in Calcutta, with a great tradition of bakery and confectionery products. Peliti was a Manufacturing Confectioner and he was by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen Empress, a purveyor of cakes and chocolates. He started his restaurant and confectionery business in 1870 at 11 Government Place in the Dalhousie Square area of Calcutta.

It was here at a lunch meeting on 26 September 1919 that the Rotary Club of Calcutta was organised thus ushering in the movement in India and indeed the mainland of Asia.

At its inception it was the only club between the English Channel and the China Sea. Soon, however, other clubs were formed in Burma, Ceylon, Malay, Java and Siam. Rotary named the region IBCMJS from 1927 to 1930. This was changed to Middle Asia in 1931 with the Rotary Club of Calcutta becoming the central piece and information centre, which gained it the name of “Old Number One.” The Chaka became the official bulletin for the area.

In 1927 our club found the Rotary club of Lahore (now in Pakistan), the second club in India. With the preliminary work done by Old Number One, Honorary Commissioner James W. Davidson of Canada residing in Batavia was able to organise the Rotary clubs of Bombay, Madras and Delhi in 1929. In time the Rotary Club of Calcutta sponsored many other clubs including Dhaka (now in Bangladesh) in 1937.

Rotary Club of Calcutta has taken full advantage of Rotary ideas and has worked unceasingly in the application of Rotary principles, not only in its members but in its community as well. Be it a project of rural upliftment in the villages or turning a community into a habitable place with health and literacy centres, or in various health projects for control of tuberculosis, cancer, poliomyelitis and hepatitis the club has always been in the forefront rendering service to humanity.      

Members of the Rotary Club of Calcutta have engaged in serving the people of the country be it because of flood, drought, tidal wave or typhoon or be it the outbreak of disease. They have always come forward ably supported by our spouses. The Unemployment Relief Fund (1923), Reform by Lecture in the Alipur Jail (1924), Leprosy Prevention Campaign (1925), construction planning of the roadway for the Vivekananda bridge over the Hooghly at Bally (1926), creating the necessity of a bridge (Rabindra Setu) at Howrah (1927) and the construction of the Vagrant’s Home are the results of their endeavour.

Perhaps one of the most valuable ventures was the establishment of the Crippled Children’s Clinic, which for many years was run with great credit and was then handed over to the West Bengal government and today has been incorporated into the B. C. Roy Polio Hospital.

The club also manages a well-equipped Health Care Clinic (1973) manned by many of the doctor members. Two homeopathy clinics are also under operation. The Annual Children’s Treat has become a historic club event since 1925. Every year orphans and underprivileged children from various parts of Calcutta are treated to a day of fun and sunshine.

If there were clinics for the ill, there were clinics for businesses also, which helped in solving commercial and organizational problems of small business establishments. The members of the club took particular care at the time of calamities and also of the wounded soldiers after the war with Pakistan in 1971. The training of youth and self-employment programmes were also carried out successfully and was adapted by other organizations.

Nitish Chandra Laharry a Past President of the club became the first Asian to hold the high office of the President of Rotary International in 1962-63. In 1991-92 Rajendra Kumar Saboo, the son of T.C. Saboo, a past member of the club became the second Indian RI President.

Some of the outstanding personalities who were members of the Rotary Club of Calcutta are Sir Surendranath Banerjee, Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, Sir Deva Prasad Sarbadhikari, A.F.M. Abdul Ali, Rev. Tom Cashmore who later became President of R.I.B.I. Dr. A. C. Ukil, Mohammed Ali-former Prime Minister of Pakistan and G. L. Mehta – India’s Ambassador to the USA.

In September 1994 the club celebrated its 75^th Anniversary. The R.I. President Robert Barth visited the club in January 1994 to take part in the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. The mega event of the club during 1995-96 was of being the local partner of “Heart to Heart International” of Kansas, USA and organising a free airlift of medicines and equipment to Calcutta for distribution to the poor through some Government and non-Government hospitals.

In early 1997 the splendid Rotary Sadan complex was completed with an auditorium and exhibition halls. The focus is children’s activities. The Nitish Chandra Laharry Children’s Library is housed here with its 15,000 books and more than 800 members. There is also a cultural section where classes on dance, singing and painting are regularly held. A children’s playground on the spacious lawn enables our young visitors to unwind after a hard day in school. The Hall is a beehive of activities with many functions of the district and sister clubs also being organised. A monthly lecture on health subjects has been popular with the public. R.I. Presidents Raja Saboo, Luis Giay (Dec 1998), Carlo Ravizza (Dec 1998) and Frank Devlyn (Dec 1999) have praised this Rotary project during their visits to the Sadan complex.

In 1997 the Rotary Club of Calcutta was the first club in India to install the Clubmate Rotary software. A web page was hosted in 1999 and today the club has a splendid website at www.rotacal.org