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Rotary honours artistes
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 Rotary Club of Madras celebrated the 76th Charter Day July 19 at Hotel
Taj Coramandel, when R Seshasayee, managing director,
Ashok Leyland, the chief guest, handed over awards to eminent Bharatanatyam artiste
Alarmel Valli and noted Carnatic vocalist
Sudha Raghunathan. The celebration was as part of Rotary International's Centenary year.
Seshasayee exorted Rotarians to keep serving in the exemplary manner in which they have been doing so far. Recalling the words of the club's president, N K Gopinath, Seshasayee said it was a special privilege for Rotarians to serve the community in various forms, whether it was cleaning up temple tanks, setting up schools for the poor or providing polio eradication through rehabilitation centres and other such services.
He said in a country like India there were tremendous opportunities for service-minded people like Rotarians to live up to the slogan of 'Service above ourselves'. He also stressed that while achievers should be recognised, the service of unsung heroes should not be forgotten.
 As a case in point, he mentioned a woman who has been doing great service by bringing up six disabled children against many odds. The woman had to learn sign language to communicate with the children, and found partners to look after them after she died.
Alarmel Valli, Sudha Raghunathan and industrialist
Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetti were honoured as a part of the Centenary Celebrations of Rotary International.
The movie 'India 5555', produced and directed by Krishnaswamy, was also screened. The four 5s stand for :
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5 Millennia of Civilisation
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5 Centuries of History
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5 Centuries of Democracy and
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5 Years of Economic Policy.
The movie was shown to former US president Bill Clinton during his recent visit and he greatly appreciated it.
In their acceptance speech, Alarmel Valli and Sudha Raghunathan said awards tend to motivate artistes to perform better.
RR
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