Ms. Yaman Banerji
President of Rotaract Club of Thane Central

1. Tell us something about yourself & your business?
An architect by profession and a designer by inclination, with an urge to make some constructive contribution to society, that is me. Having worked with a few well known names in the field of Architecture after graduating from Sir.J.J College of Architecture, Mumbai, I am also into freelancing now taking up various architectural as well as interior designing projects. I have also been pursuing a lot of interest in writing and photography since a long time along with being a volunteer for an organization dealing with Pet Therapy.

For me it was always a wish to be able to spread awareness or contribute to the causes I have always believed in since I was a child. Weather it be saving water or keeping the city clean or just bringing a smile to a little child. It was about doing something to make this world a better place at the end of the day. That is why I stepped into the Rotaract Movement, with which a couple of my friends were already associated. Rotaract is all about being the ‘responsible youth’, when you don’t just say, ‘I wish this could happen’ or ‘the society is going to the dogs’ but you go out and change things actively.

2. Since when have you been associated with this club?
Since mid 2006. That is when I was just out of college and had stepped into a new job. But yet wanted to broaden my scope, and interact with people from varied backgrounds and interests. When for five or six days a week you are into the routine grind, it is refreshing to be speaking about and doing something completely different for at least two or thee hours a week.

3. What have been the achievements of your club since its inception?
The Rotaract Club of Thane Central has come a long way in the last 6 years. It was revived by an enthusiastic team lead by our Past President Swati Patwardhan in 2003. And with able leadership following each year with constant support of talented members, there has never been dearth of ideas and no looking back (other than just for fond memories!) We have conducted our Annual Car Rally - VROOM, with the support from RTO-Thane, for four consecutive years now. Also Thane Icon – which is a musical talent hunt for Thaneites has been a grand success since five years. Along with this each year we have associated ourselves with some NGO and tried to help them out to the best of our abilities. Be it Cancer Society at Parel, Prem Daan, Aasara or Jidd School. Each of the interactions have given us a new insight.

A brief list of our achievements also include:
- Best Upcoming Club in the district (2003-04)
- Best Project - THANE ICON-(2004-05)
- Best Project in Zone- VROOM (2005-06 & 2006-07)
- Best Club in Zone –(2005-2006)
- Best Project - KREEDA (2006-07)

4. What is your motto/aim during your Tenure as the President of the club?
Rotaract is one platform where you can give shape to your dreams, and you are not alone. During my year our club theme read ‘Fired by Passion, Transformed into Action’. Which was what I intended to implement. The power of youth is immense. If we together believe in a cause or have a dream and wish to do something about it, there is no way that we won’t do something about it. And that has been proven time and again by all the fellow Rotaract Clubs existing not only in our Rotaract District 3140 that comprises of Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, but all over the globe.

I had already seen my fellow members brimming with energy, I knew that all I had to do was chanellise it towards a common goal. That is when Passion transforms to Action… and it did!

5. How far your club has reached in its objective?
Well our ambitions have been high and dreams, innumerable. But we did manage to execute quite a few of the ideas and projects we had in mind. Starting with helpful training sessions for all the board of Directors and various sessions on Career guidance to having conducted various projects with Aasara, a shelter for street children and a fantastic experience of painting caricatures n the walls and celebrating Christmas and new year with the TMC run Jidd school for special children, it was all a memorable journey. And to add fun and enhance the team spirit the year was full of picnics and celebrations of all festivals with our bunch of fellow rotaractors. And through out we have stuck to our principles and held high the image and values of the ‘Responsible Youth’. Our basic objective is to do our part in making our habitat and society a better place while developing our own communication and leadership skills. The motto is Self Development through Service and Fellowship as we say, and it is going to be an ongoing process.

6. Any message for the Thaneites?
Thane is a city I have called home since birth. And I have grown with it, seen the roads widen and flyovers bridging distances, also seen the increasing pollution and neglected environment. It is a city with a lot of heritage and beautiful cultures. Lets all do our part to keep it healthy. With good thoughts and noble deeds, it’s hard to let it pollute. Let’s begin to Act to make our city the Best!

IPP, International Service Director, PRO
Rotaract Club of Thane Central
Contact : 9820965582
E-mail : yaman_jj@yahoo.com, banerji.yaman@gmail.com

Nature for All...All for Nature.
http://www.rcthanecentral.r8. org

- As told to Thaneweb (May 2009)