Goodwill Visit to Twin Club RC Tagoreland

Rotaract Club of Behala visited Rotaract Club of Tagoreland (RID 3240) in Shantiniketan on the 17th and 18th of September. It was a goodwill visit that culminated in the formal acceptance of the club as RCB’s Multi District Twin Club. We, Rtrs Arijit, Rituparna, Shuvrangshu and Shireen reached Shantiniketan on the 17th, in the afternoon and were greeted by Rtrs Rishav (President RC Tagoreland)  Indronil, Nitin and Arpita. They had booked rooms at Hotel Shantiniketan for us and once at the hotel, we ate lunch and rested before heading to their Club House, a charming room dedicated to the functioning of their club, complete with banners, a board with their signatures and a cupboard serving as their library and trophy cabinet.

We held our first joint meeting where we discussed initiating a cleanliness drive during the pujas – an initiative which will accomplish two things simultaneously. Not only would it help clean up the surrounding and ensure people don’t throw garbage around the place, it would also help RC Tagoreland to gain the prominence they deserve, allowing people to realize that the youth is indeed concerned about environmental welfare.

After the meeting we went for our first joint Project. There is a small tuition centre run by a few people in front of a temple behind the railways station. RC Behala and RC Tagoreland distributed exercise books, stationery and sweets to the tiny tots who were more than happy to receive them.The eventful day ended with dinner of biriyani.

RC Behala’s President, Rtr Shuvratav and Rtr Samina joined us the next day. We explored Shantiniketan till 2:00 pm after which we went for our second joint project at the Elmhirst Insitute Rehabilitation Centre. It was truly a humble and heartening experience to listen to the stories the inmates of the centre had to relate. They opened up and shared stories and experiences of battling the drug habit and one of them even sang rabindrasangeet for us. We spent an hour there and proceeded to the VishvaBharati Campus ( The Bell on their Club's Logo is located here)  where the presidents and secretaries of the two clubs signed the necessary documents to make the association of the clubs as twin clubs formal and complete. This done, we made our way to the station and took the train homewards in the evening.

We had a brilliant experience at Shantiniketan and found our hosts to be extremely warm, welcoming and hospitable. We intend to go back very soon, for projects and more!