Welcome to the Rotary Club of Gosport

Prachi's Pages ~ Family History and arrival in England

"I am presently in a city called Bangalore, in the state of Karnataka, in South India. Here I am working with Wipro Technologies as a software engineer. I have a Bachelor's Degree in engineering in the Instrumentation and Control branch. The course which I will be studying the University of Portsmouth is MSC Communication Systems Engineering.
We are family of five. My father is an architect by profession, and my mother has a masters degree in both Law and Arts, with Economics as a special subject. Currently she is working as a lecturer in a law college. I have a younger sister who studies in Std 8th. Her name is Kanchi. My father's elder sister has retired from the Pune Municipal Corporation.

I have completed all my education up to the engineering degree in my home town - Pune.
I have learnt Indian classical dance-Bharatnatyam, and reading is my major hobby.
This is the first time I am going out of my country, and I am all excited about it. There was a famous Indian personality who has written a book about his 6 month stay in England. The way he has described the country and its culture creates a real-life image before one's eyes. His description about the Scottish Highlands in particular leave the reader with a desire to go and see everything with one's own eyes. I really think that I have got a wonderful opportunity, and I hope to live up to Rotary's expectations as an Ambassador of Goodwill."

September 22nd
Roy and I picked up Prachi at Heathrow after a 2 hour delay at immigration.
Having brought her home to my house, we were met by President Jim Bevington and Prachi handed us some Indian sweets to try. I then took her round to Portsmouth to register and sort out her accommodation.
September 23rd
Prachi came over to Gosport by bus and ferry and we sorted out her bank account, looked through Gosport market and had breakfast.

(Prachi arrives and has tea with my wife Carol)

More Family History

I have had the honour of getting acquainted with those of you who had attended the District Conference in Eastbourne and had a wonderful time with all of you. All of you went out of your way to make me comfortable. Thank you very much for that. It meant a lot for me.

This is a brief introduction about me, my family, educational background, and District 3130. My full name is Prachi Shripad Bhawalkar. I have done a Bachelor’s degree in Instrumentation and Control engineering. Before coming here I was working as a Systems Engineer in a company called Wipro Technologies, one of the leading software firms in India. I was in the Embedded and Internet Access Solutions division and my project was TCP/IP. At present I am doing the course MSc Communications Systems Engineering at the University of Portsmouth. This course is of one year duration and after completing it I look forward to going back home and taking up a job relevant to this curriculum.

My father is an architect by profession. His name is Shripad. My mother, Medha, has done masters in both law and arts and is, at present, a lecturer in a law college. My younger sister Kanchi is studying in school in the 8^th class. My father’s elder sister Rajani has retired from the Pune Municipal Corporation.

Pune is my hometown situated in the state of Maharshtra which is along the south-western coast of India. It is famous as a centre for education and has many old and new well-equipped engineering, medical, arts, science, commerce, law and architecture colleges. The Film and Television Institute of India is located in Pune. Many Indian theatre and movie artists of national and international fame have studied here at one time.

My host Rotary district 3130 is spread over 65 different towns and cities and covers almost the entire state of Maharashtra. The city of Pune alone has 39 clubs. The District Governor for 2003-2004 is Ismail Patel. The district conference of our district is generally held in the month of February.

My host counsellor is Dr. Ramesh Natu. He is an MSc PhD in Biochemistry and is working at present in Vasantdada Sugar Institute, Pune. He is a past president of Rotary Club of Pune Parvati and has been a Rotarian for the past 11 years. His wife Mrs. Madhura Natu is an MSc in Botany and has been a college lecturer. At present she teaches in a private coaching class in Pune. Their son Satyam is in the 6^th class, and is a state level swimming champion.

As regards my future plans, I look forward to gaining a sound theoretical and practical knowledge which will help me find a good job. I look forward to joining Rotary in the future so that I can take part in the social service activities that this organization is known for and help others get a golden opportunity to realize their dreams. Thank you Rotary, for giving me the wings and the strength to fly.

28th October meeting at Andover
I was picked up by Mrs. Penny Scriven at 2:30 in the afternoon. She had gone to Chichester and came to Portsmouth on her way back home. we reached their place at around 3:30. After having tea she took me for a walk round their village. It is indeed a very beautiful place. It has a distinct Enid Blyton look about it. We went to the local church also. Mr. Richard Scriven was away on business. He returned at about 6:30 in the evening. we left for the meeting at 7:10. It was in a restaurant in the town of Andover. I think it was the white hart. there was dinner followed by the actual meeting. Mr. Richard Scriven introduced me to the members and I spoke for about 10 minutes. I also exchanged a flag with the club president. After the meeting, both Mr. and Mrs. Scriven had come to drop me back here. I reached around 10:45.

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