July 2017

MGC teaM wins MB&C ReGatta

MBC MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

& PORTFOLIOS (2016-17)

Publisher : Rays Publications Pvt Ltd

Madras Gymkhana Club takes top honours at the Merchants, Bankers and Clubs Regatta 5

MB&C Regatta 6

MB&C Regatta Sketches by Bhavya 8

ISMO, They are Listening 10

Rowing - an upstream journey 12

Forty and counting 14

PRESIDENTMr. M.R.RAVINDRA

CAPTAIN OF BOATSMr. JAMES JOSEPH

HONORARY SECRETARYMr. FARID A. HUSAIN

HONORARY TREASURER Mr. ASHISH GUPTA

MIC - CATERINGMr. ABRAHAM KANDATHIL

MIC - HOUSEMr. PRAVIN AIANA

MIC – CORPORATE AFFAIRS& EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

Mr. C.A. THEAGARAJAN

MIC – POOL & GYMMr. G.V. SUBBA RAO

MIC - BARMr. J.H. KUMAR

MIC - ENTERTAINMENTMr. S. SRIRAM

CONTENTS

MADRAS BOAT CLUB 2. 3rd Avenue , R.A.Puram,Chennai-28

website : www.madrasboatclub.com

Contact Nos : 2435 3190 / 24354751/ 24339289

General Email : madrasboatclub@gmail.com

Chambers : mbc1867@gmail.com

Party Booking : mbcparty1867@gmail.com

General Manager : Mr G.N.Anban Ph:9840175947

Managing Editor : Mr. Farid A Husain

Editorial Team : Sumana Narayanan, Manikandan N.

Designer : B. SathishKumar

Cover photo: Team MGC with the Overall Champioship Trophy at MB&C Regatta 2017

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July 2017 | Club ElitE | 5

As part of the 150th year celebration of the Madras Boat Club, the club has revived the traditional Merchants & Bankers Regatta that dates back to 1900. This year, Clubs were invited, making it the Merchants, Bankers, & Clubs Regatta. Twelve teams underwent training for 8 weeks to compete for the trophies in different categories as well as the overall Championship Trophy. The teams were Kalyansundaram & Associates, Air India, Madras Design Works, RR Donnelley, Nataraj, Venkat & Associates, Cloud Cherry, Nexus, Andhra Social and Cultural Club, Madras Gymkhana Club, Madras Cricket Club, Royal Madras Yacht Club and Madras Boat Club.

MadRas GyMkhana CluB takes top honouRs at the MeRChants, BankeRs and CluBs ReGatta

The Regatta, revived after a decade, saw some closely fought races in the ergometer, sculls, double sculls, coxed pairs, and coxed fours categories for men, women and mixed crews. The Overall Championship Trophy was won by Madras Gymkhana

Club with an impressive 68 points with Nataraj Venkat & Associates coming in second with 27 points. The finals saw sculls and coxed fours races with less than a second difference between the first and second places.

CLASS EvENT WINNER RUNNER UP

THIRD PLACE

1 Erg Women's Erg Champion MGC MCC RMYC

2 Erg Men's Erg Champion ASCA MCC MGC

3 W1x Women's Single Sculls MCC RRD NVA

4 NM1x Novice Men's Single Sculls MGC CC NEXUS

5 M1x Men's Single Sculls MCC NVA MGC

6 W2x Women's Double Sculls MGC RMYC MCC

7 M2x Men's Double Sculls MGC-B CC MGC-A

8 W2+ Women's Coxed Pairs MGC NVA RMYC

9 M2+ Men's Coxed Pairs MDW AI-A MFC-A

10 Mix 2x Mixed Double Sculls MGC-A ASCA MGC-B

11 Mix 4+ Mixed Fours NVA MGC RRD

12 W4+ Womens Coxed Fours MGC NVA RMYC

13 M4+ Men's Coxed Fours MDW NEXUS MCC

Results of the MeRChants, BankeRs & CluBs ReGatta 2017

MB&CRegatta

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MB&CRegatta

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8 | Club ElitE | July 2017 Club Pages Continues on Page no -12

MB&C RegattaSketches by Bhavya

Bhavya Desai works at Natraj, Venkat & Associates as a 3D visualiser and moonlights as a freelance illustrator. Bhavya's claim to fame at the recent M,B&C Regatta was that he was the Most Hugged Cox.

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12 | Club ElitE | July 2017

Rubbing my eyes, I squinted through my window. Even the sun was asleep. I look at my phone, it showed 4:45 am. Did I just have a bad dream? Racking my brain at 4:45 am is futile.

*Trrring…Trrring*

Its 5:00 am and now I’m wide awake and I remember why.

Turning onto Boat Club Road, there is a sense of curiosity and excitement. I reach the gates, park my scooter and join my gang (12 of us) to walk into something that was to become a part of us for the next two months.

Rowing. Something none of us ever gave a thought to. It was only the previous day that over lunch, our boss brought it up and in less than 24 hours, here was our crew on the raft with an unobstructed, panoramic view of the Adyar River. Dressed in white tees and coloured shorts, we gawked awkwardly at all the regulars calling out hellos and casually carrying boats of varying colours and sizes on to the raft. All of this with such ease.

After the awkward first day of not knowing anyone or anything, we began to settle in. We were herded to the ‘Bank Tub’ which is a squat rectangular boat tied to land. There are two of them and this is where all the newbies begin. The Tub comes with a pair perforated training oars and in this the techniques of rowing are taught.

Each of us shuffled in and out of the Bank Tub to sit and be schooled on the basics. We were taught about the types of Boats, the position of the Rowers (Stroke and Bow), each person’s role on the boat and a general briefing about Rowing as a sport.

ROWING - AN UPSTREAM JOURNEYPost the Bank Tub, we were taken to the gym where we were made to work out on an Ergometer/ Rowing machine. This mimics the technique of Rowing where your legs are pushed to an extent where they almost feel numb. Post the gym, we all moved to the open lawn to do a few yoga stretches to ease out our muscles so they could prepare to repeat the entire process the next day.

And thus we were inducted into the sport of Rowing.

The first week was spent mostly in the Bank Tub. Waking up was still a pain but the cause looked worthy. By week 2, we were all taking out real boats onto real though stinky waters.

FaCt: Whatever you learn in the Bank Tub, however neatly you ‘row’, when the reality of water hits you, it hits you hard.

On the waters, in a muddled state of confusion, excitement and cluelessness, we all did what we ‘thought’ was right but the boat didn’t think so. It never went straight, the Coxswain (who sits at the stern and steers the boat and also coordinates the power and rhythm of the rowers) prayed to the almighty to remain in the boat. On-lookers on the raft said we had the skills and moves on the water, worthy of the ‘MATRIX’ film franchise.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” -African proverb

Rowing is a sport based on the same spirit of thought. Every rower has an oar, the magic lies in what all the oars can do together. As the days passed, we got better. We managed to stay on the water (and not in it), and even managed to move the boat in an approximately straight line.

The beauty of the sport is the sense of Discipline that it instills in you. It creates a sort of safety net

*Trrring…Trrring*

I wake up with a start.

*Snooze*

within which you work. You begin your day early; as the sun rises you are at the club waiting for the flag to be hoisted. This signals the start of rowing for the day. You put out the oars, stretch, warm-up, carry the boat out, lock the oars in and push off together. From the first stroke, the aim is to get settled into a rhythm, every movement has to be in sync with the rest of the crew. At the end of the outing, you carry the boat and the oars back, followed by stretches.

As is rightly said, “Rowers do more before 8:00 am than most people do all day.”

As routine became habit, we inched closer to the day of the finals. The day we had all worked towards; worked with each other and worked on ourselves.

Huge was the crowd which showed up on the big day – crews with their family and friends, with cheery and enthusiastic faces, TV reporters with their cameras, journalists with pen and paper in hand. There was this energy, a buzz in the air. As I waited for my race to be called, the fervour, the excitement made me pause and contemplate the past two months of endeavour that had brought us to this very moment. As I was lost in thought, my crew mate shook me awake, “Come on! Warm up. Our race is next!”

I blinked and she was pulling me comically through the horde. Just as I reached my crew, a voice blared through the speakers.

“Women’s coxed fours. Please put out your boats.”

This was our call. Amidst all the good luck wishes and cheers, we brought out our oars and walked on to the raft, head held high with confident smiles pasted on our faces. Once in the boat, adjusting the footrests to our comfort, checking the oar locks, we bought ourselves sometime to breathe and calm our nerves. Beads of sweat breaking on our faces, dry throats, butterflies fluttering in the stomach, we hid it all well behind our smiles. Our coxswain gave us the GO signal and we pushed off from the raft the same way we had done

umpteen times in the past months. However, this time we were headed for the start point. We were all scared yet excited. Upon reaching there, we all sat up straight and awaited the blow of the whistle; the wave of the flag.

That very moment, that whole one minute while you sit there in the boat, oars gripped tightly till your hands feel numb (though they shouldn’t be held that way), breath stuck at your throat, heart in your mouth, too scared to even blink your eyes lest you miss the wave of the flag, was the culmination of the past 2 months.

And the whistle blew and thus began our mad chase down the Adyar River. We rowed like never before. 500m seemed endless but the constant abusive encouragement from our coxswain and the cheering crowd from the raft pumped up our adrenaline and we finished the race. Though we lost that race, the chase in itself gave us the contentment of having woken up every morning and curiously we were ready to do it all over again. As we reached the raft, we were greeted like heroes from the war. The backslapping and handshakes we received felt good.

With pom-poms in hand, we were back with the rest to cheer for the other races. We screamed and cheered on till we lost our throats, but Hey! We did win the gold for two other races.

All in good spirit, it led to a triumphant end leaving all of us content; physically, mentally and emotionally. Post this, we all had a small team celebration which slowly moved onto bigger celebrations, Prize distribution, amidst lot of cheers and hurrahs.

The night was still young and there was much left off it. All of us shed our white tees and coloured shorts to put on snazzy outfits and end the night on a ‘high’ note with dance, music, food and new friends.

-Jyothsna. SThe author is an architect with Madras Design Works (MDW), and was part of the MDW crew that participated in the M, B & C Regatta.

July 2017 | Club ElitE | 13

Forty and countingA letter of appreciation from MBC Member,

T. S. Swaminathan (LS006)

I have the esteemed pleasure of being a member of Madras Boat Club for over forty years. When I was inducted as a lawn member of the club, the club did not have the luxuries that it boasts today. It was a meager space with cane chairs and small round tables in the bar cum restaurant. I have seen the club undergo a tremendous amount of change over the last four decades and the way it has transformed into a fantastic place, with rooms, swimming pool, gymnasium, restaurant, bar as well as the different committees that have changed over the years.

The Chambers, the Party Hall and a lot of amenities in the club have been used to their fullest by very satisfied members. Also, I should note that the swimming pool has been a boon. My three grandsons have been blessed to have the MBC Swimming Pool as their home turf. From the time when the Swimming Pool was inaugurated, they have been fans of the small “baby” pool. Thanks for the well maintained and clean swimming pool, with the help of friendly and helpful support staff over the years; naming a few: Venkatesh, Chandru and Dheena.

The reciprocal arrangement with various clubs in different cities in India have been very useful during our family trips to places like Kodaikanal, Coimbatore, Secunderabad, Coorg, Cochin, Bengaluru etc. The ambience and quality of food in these places are on par with MBC. At Boat Club, the economical and tasty snacks, lunches and dinners have encouraged me to invite my guests over these years and all the invitees have unanimously conveyed their joy.

I conclude by recording my appreciation and admiration for the committee members and the President, Secretary and the members of the Executive Committee in conferring the title of honorary membership on me.

Finally, I would like to mention the wonderful and cooperative support of all the employees of the Club, be it the service staff or the bearers, who serve the members cheerfully all the time.

Members are requested to please intimate the MBC Office of any change in address and mobile number. If a Member's Spouse would like to register their mobile number to receive Club announcements, please inform the Club Office

Announcement

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