District Team Training Seminar 2023-24

District Team Training Seminar 2023-24
Our club, the Rotary Club of Kalimpong, had the honour and privilege of hosting RIVAH, the District Team Training Seminar (DTTS) on the 17th and 18th of June ‘23.
In brief, the District Team Training Seminar is a workshop that is an integral part of the District’s action planning process for the upcoming Rotary year. The Seminar is designed to train and educate the district executives, Assistant Governors and other district leaders on various topics such as membership, public image and The Rotary Foundation. The Seminar also focuses on the skills needed to be an effective district Team and allows district team members to share their best practices.
This was the first time that such an important seminar of Rotary international District 3240 was ever held in a club’s very own premises instead of at a hotel venue. Hats off to our DTTS Chair, incoming AG Rtn.Vikash jr, for pulling off this feat in a very meticulously organised manner. He was assisted by PP Rtn. Mukesh Changia, who was by his side 24/7, and a core group of dedicated Rotarians. The unwavering support and guidance of our Charter members as well as the zeal and enthusiasm of President CA Rtn Sumit Jindal, the other Rotarians, the Anns and the Rotarylets all contributed to making the DTTS memorable.
The DTTS was kick started on the evening of 17th June 2023 by the inauguration of the Rotary Centre. This event will go down in the annals of our Club’s history as the day when the work begun in 2018 after the Global Grant no 1758729 was first initiated, finally came to a grand culmination. The inauguration was done under the aegis of PDG Rtn Prabhat Kedia who was the Chief Guest for this part of the programme. He had been the DRFC in the Rotary year ‘18- ‘19 and had sanctioned the GG. Our Club’s ‘GRANT’ daughters Janhvi Golyan and Yeshvi Jindal, who were born then, did the honours by cutting the ribbon. The Global Grant Plaque was unveiled as well as portraits of the donor’s parents and grand parents. The artist being none other than the renowned Mr. Purna Mani Pradhan, a close member of the donor’s family. These portraits will always have pride of place at our Centre.
The delegates were then ushered into the main hall. Our President spoke a few words of welcome after which the auspicious lighting of the lamps was done by the charter members, the chief guest PDG Rtn Prabhat Kedia and the donor’s family members. Next, PP Rtn BMP gave a brief history of how the Centre was first conceptualized and begun. Ma Bose was remembered for her generous donation of the plot of land on which our Centre now stands. Slides were shown to mark the progress of the different stages of the Centre. An emotional PP Rtn Vikash jr spoke on stewardship and how the birth of his daughter Janhvi on 11/12/18 coincided exactly to the minute as to when the grant money was received by RC Kalimpong. This had inspired and compelled him to take ownership of the construction work of this special building from the very start. The inauguration was concluded by a vote of thanks by PP Rtn Rajen Raghavan after which the proceedings were handed over to DT PDG Rtn Subhasish Chatterjee.

DTTS DAY 1
The DGE Rtn Nilesh Agrawal, the Dist. Trainer PDG Rtn Subashish Chatterjee, a host of PDGs and Dist Committee Chairs along with their Anns were present. The DT invited DTTS Chair Rtn. Vikash Jr to give his welcome address. This was followed by the opening remarks of DGE Rtn. Nilesh Agrawal. He introduced the members of the District Secretariat who had managed to make it to Kalimpong. The Chief Guest for the Seminar, PDG Rtn Amitava Mookerjee from RI Dist 3291,Kolkata ,after being introduced, spoke at length on the topic ‘Key to Success.’ The DES Rtn Ramesh Kr Garodia made his announcements. Presd Rtn CA Sumit Jindal expressed his words of gratitude. He specifically mentioned the names of Rtns Vicky and Mukesh for being the ones who had worked tirelessly to make the DTTS a grand success. The seminar got underway on the topics of Membership, the Rotary Foundation and their various offshoots. A comfort break was announced followed by high tea served on the ground floor. All the delegates thoroughly enjoyed the local specialties of hot selrotis and aludum along with other food items. The women making the selrotis were dressed in dhaka and it added a very nice touch to the ambience.
A quiz was then hosted by PDG Rtn Udaya M Pradhan in the first floor hall. The questions were on Rotary and other miscellaneous topics. The atmosphere was scintillating to say the least. A lot of good humoured bantering, raucous laughter and the quiz was over in what felt like a nano second. Every one then trooped up to the top floor where our Rotarylets were all dressed up to give their best performances. They stole the show with their talent. Fellowship followed by dinner and the first day of the DTTS was over in the blink of an eye.

Day2 of DTTS:
The day began with talks and discussions on Strategic Planning, Goals and Challenges. In the interim, the Club’s First Lady Ann Suruchi and Anns Sonia, Cammy, Aarti and Sunita had escorted the visiting Anns on a whirlwind morning tour of our town. This thoughtful gesture of theirs was thoroughly appreciated. A sumptuous lunch was first preceded by a Question and Answer round. A photo session was also quickly organised in the courtyard of our Centre.
The afternoon’s plenary session began with PDG Rtn Yogesh Varma’s talk on ‘Retrospect of Dist 3240’, followed by PDG Rtn Prabhat Kedia’s ‘District 3240’s Foundation’ and PDG Rtn Udaya Mani Pradhan’s ‘District 3240 Way Forward’ talks. DGND Rtn Dr K Singh Elangbam gave his views on supporting the District. The ‘Create Hope in the World’ topic tackled by the Chief Guest was very inspirational. It made one realise the value of empathy. The DGE gave a wonderful summing up of the seminar in his signature witty style which evoked a lot of laughter. It was interesting to learn that we are now going to have District Committees for Yoga and Sports. He also reiterated the importance of being more relatable to the general population by using the local vernacular language on flexes in the coming Rotary year. It was then the turn of the DES to give a vote of thanks which he did so very succinctly. Our Club presented tokens of appreciation to the distinguished trainers. This marked the end of the session. Ann Pooja Chatterjee handed out goodie bags to the delegates on behalf of her spouse DT PDG Rtn Subhasish. The birthday boy DT expressed his pleasure at being greeted with a special message on a standee. This was a first for him. The two day DTTS wound up with fun and games, a DJ night, fellowship an a grand dinner. All the PDGs and delegates were vociferous in their praise for the Host Club for organising a wonderful DTTS.