Page 15 - Demo

THE REVIEW
JANUARY’19-JUNE’19 15
PUNE AGM 2018
Anthony made our community visible, Sir Henry Gidney made it visible. But we need the people now, not a leader, to make it visible. The movement is happening, we are more visible, membership
is growing. Many branches have increased membership in the last year - very well done!
And Rudy Woodman thinks it’s also because of another reason: he says the President-in-Chief is visible, the President-in-Chief is travelling. He says, ‘The more you travel and the more visible you are, the community and the Association will be boosted.’ While on the topic, from 16 December 2016 till now, I have visited or interacted in person with about 38 to 40 branches. And in 2019, I will try and come to many more branches which I haven’t been to. If you feel that I should come to your branch, let me know. In this regard, I feel extremely indebted and grateful to my family: because it’s spending time away from home, so I am greatly indebted to my daughters Zasha, Raisa and Nadia. The only other person left at home is my wife, Denise. She doesn’t like travelling, she’s a bad traveller, she gets car sick, she gets air sick, and she didn’t come with me initially. Now she is accompanying me to most places, and enjoying
it. Enjoying the warmth and hospitality and the love that all of you are showering on us, and I am deeply grateful to her for that. I believe marriage is a partnership, marriage is to do things you don’t want to do and pretend you’re liking it, but I think Denise may have pretended earlier; now she’s
not. Rudy told me, ‘If you go with Denise, she will be able to talk to people and listen to people, mix with ladies and other people, and it will be very good for us as an Association and as a community.’ We’re also very grateful that she has not charged the Association for any of her travels. (I am not
so happy that her husband had to pay for those travels!) Thank you, Denise.
In the Association, all these wonderful things are happening, and the way our mission statement (‘Empathise, Educate, Empower’) has caught on is absolutely amazing. Are we empathising? Yes! When the youth of Agra go and spend quality time with acid attack victims, that’s empathy. We
are not just following up on the legal, political and bureaucratic developments in Allahabad, we are empathising, standing by our people. Rudy Woodman goes all the way from Mumbai to be with them and listen to their problems, is constantly in touch with the Trustees—that’s empathy. We are empathising. Educate: The branches are doing a fantastic job. Almost every branch has got their own scholarships or their own awards given at their AGM. The All-India Anglo-Indian Education Institution has, in
the year gone by, spent 70 lakh rupees, for our children’s education through our branches. They are doing what they have done for seventy years and providing for the education of our children. Anglo-Indians don’t have to pay any fees or pay less money in many schools. My favourite story: This lady comes to the Calcutta branch while they’re having their housie or scholarships and interviews, this simple lady in a sari. I asked the security guard, ‘Why does she do this every time?’ He said, ‘Unko Anglo-Indian banna hai.’ (She wants to become an Anglo-Indian). I asked why. He said, ‘Sab free milta hai.’ (You get everything for free.) So, our children are benefiting because of our schools and our institutions.
While on education, please do not write off or make a child—especially boys—feel inferior if they can’t study. If I tell you my mathematics marks, you will bring a vote of no confidence against me. I once got 99 but that was, the only time I ever got 99; of course, the paper was on 200. What I am trying to tell you is, yes, there are many people who are intellectuals; then there are others who know when to study, how much is enough to study; because they want to be in the football team also, or they want to be going to the social. And then there are people who can’t get a simple maths thing into their heads. They can’t differentiate the letters of the alphabet because they suffer from dyslexia. They are slow learners in academics. But many of them may go on to make much more money than you and I and the professors will make. Because they have a skill, or because they are creative. So they can either make old bikes new and make lots of money—they can go in for