'WE SERVE'

 The year was 2003.  One day when I looked down from my Balcony, I could see lot of activity happening in our next Building.  Big long sophisticated cars lining in , suited -booted people going in .  Wondered what was going on.  The adjacent top floor next to our house was fully lit up.  Thought some Events happening.  Curious to know what was it I went down just to see what it was all about. I could gather  there was a Lions Club Meeting Hall on the 6th floor and the event was District Governor's visit to the Club .  A District Governor is the head of the District (Bangalore) of Lions Clubs International.  He visits each club to inspect and assess the activities done by a particular club.

I said to myself, Lions are big influential people ,business guys in high places and surely not my cup of tea. I was new to Bangalore then with no friends and I just left it at that and forgot.

 In the next few days , a new Lions Club was formed in our Locality. I joined the Club.  The Club had several Medical professions, eminent persons, Bankers, Lawyers etc. in and around the locality.  I was very happy  that I got a chance to serve the needy..   Time passed . I  was fully involved with service activities like Medical Camps  (Eye Screening, Cancer Detection, Dental Screening, Diabetic Awareness camp , Blood Donation Camps and the List was endless.  We even extended our camps to Corporate Campuses.  Lot of Blood Donation Camps were done by the Club.  Really a life saving camps they are.  Lions Blood Bank is operating very successfully .

In Eye Screening Camps, we do cataract surgeries for the required patients.  The joy of seeing them after the surgery with their eyes thanking cannot be explained in words.

AS a President of the Lions Club, I organised a Seminar for promotion of Sanskrit amongst Lions.  The Seminar was "Modern Management versus Mahabharatha" The key speaker was  Dean, IIM,Bangalore Prof. Mahadevan.  It was well received.

The 2nd one which no other Club did was "Bone Mineral Density Camp" (assessing your bone strength) which became a trend setter for other Clubs to follow.

The amount of satisfaction you derive by serving the poor and the needy has no parallel and I immensely enjoyed doing that.

One Event I could never forget .  It was a big Lions District Conference where two Districts joined.  The Hall was jam packed with Lions across Bangalore and Mysore with many Lion Dignitaries.  The organising committee decided a last minute extempore speech from four Lions from different districts.  The spot topic to speak was "Lionism" (This topic was given then and there).My senior Lions wanted me to be one of the speakers.  I was surprised and was nervous but accepted the challenge.   The first 3 speakers from different clubs spoke about how the Lions are a a respectable members of society -that is "Lionism" , the 2nd one said we represent 270 countries and have immense presence across the World and that is "Lionisim", the 3rd speaker said we do lot of service activities for the poor and that is called "Lionism".  My turn came and I had decided what to speak.  I started my speech by saying, " My earlier speakers have defined "Lionism" in their own perspective   But according to me I said "Lionism "is different.  I said I wanted to share an incident which really happened with me.  I was waiting for an Auto for going back home from office and the house was at a short distance of 3 kms.  No auto guys were willing to come because of short distance. I was restless and tired and was cursing why I did not bring my own vehicle. Then, suddenly out of nowhere , an Auto guy came and stopped in front of me. He said "Subramanian  Sir  Utkarungo (means sit down) I will drop you "  I was surprised at his action and asked him the reason for his agreeing to come for a short distance and how he knew my name.  What he said simply floored me.  He said " Sir you have given me Eyes and life How can I not take you"  He further said that he was a beneficiary of cataract surgery in one of our camps and recognised me so well.  I said , the man on the street recognises  you for your services is what is called " Lionism"  My eyes became moist.  He dropped me home and refused to take money.  You will not believe the clapping in the Hall went on for five minutes.

Being a Lion  gives you lot of good contacts , especially of medical fraternity, gives you respect in the Society, and above all provides an opportunity to serve the needy.

Long Live Lionism

Dedicated to All the Lions across the World.