interview 18 January 2022 www.bahrainthismonth.com CHAMPION OF CHANGE Rotary International President, Shekhar Mehta, tells Bahrain This Month about the organisation’s key achievements, his priorities as president and more. It was almost exactly 20 years ago when the last Rotary International President, Richard King, graced Bahrain with his presence. On that occasion, it was a short stopover for Mr. King who was whisked in from the airport for a couple of hours to meet the great and the good in the Kingdom of Bahrain. At the end of November 2021, the current Rotary International President, Shekhar Mehta made a long-anticipated visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain together with his wife, Rashi. BTM publisher George Middleton met up with him during their stay and reports below: When and how did you first get involved with Rotary International? Well, a friend of mine, Chandan Chowdhury, asked me to join Rotary and I said yes. So, I started attending the meetings and it was really a question of it being a baptism by fire. As soon as I joined, they asked me to do a fundraiser and of course I had no clue what to do. But I tried, and everybody contributed and the project was a great success. Was it a desire to commit yourself to charitable works that encouraged you to take part? Absolutely not; my prime purpose in joining Rotary was to make friends and network to be perfectly honest. I did not know that I would get so deeply involved in service. Since then, however, you have been involved with many charities. As I joined Rotary, I started getting involved with the club projects, participating hands-on and understanding existing problems and it struck me that it was meaningful to help them. The more you help, the more you get involved, the more you want to help and the more you want to do. Which of the charity projects that you have been involved with are you most proud of and why? The literacy programme that we started from scratch holds a special place in my heart. It became one of the leading literacy programmes in India by any NGO, and in the Rotary world it is certainly the biggest educational programme bar none. In particular, I am very proud of the fact that over 3,500 out of a total of 4,000 clubs in India have participated and now the initiative is being
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