December, 2021
Dear Members,
As you read this note, a brand New Year would have dawned on the salubrious surrounds of our Club.Please accept my best wishes for a safe and healthy 2022. I say this against the backdrop of the alarming rise in COVID 19 cases, especially the new variant and I hope and pray that this scourge clears as fast as it came upon us. Irrespective, your Committee continues its work with diligence while unveiling new initiatives both in terms of cost control and in providing value adds. Indeed our finances are precarious and we are working ways and means to shore them up.
Our Christmas Carols evening was a delight, with a crisp message from Mr. Wilfred Davidar, I.A.S (Retd) and awesome rendition of Carols by Augustine Paul and the Chromatics. New Years Eve was quiet, given the request and directives by the Hon.Minister of Health of the Govt of TN and Chennai’s Commissioner of Police. 2021 was rung out by a special brunch which many of you enjoyed.
Our MICs of Bar and Entertainment have many programs lined up for us. As Hon.Secretary, I would urge all of us to celebrate responsibly, given the spurt in COVID cases. We have asked all our members and guests to remember to visit the Club with their VAX certificates and we have made sure that all our staff have taken their doses too. As a personal plea, I would ask all of us to strictly adhere to the protocols of staying masked up and maintaining the physical distancing norms.
The Upper Deck has been made into an unwind zone with a specially curated menu priced modestly at Rs 299. Calling all those who, otherwise, head to a Café, this is the best place to chill out, an institution founded in 1884 and like none other!
Our lawns ( front and swimming pool) remain two of the best properties in the city of Madras and post the second spell of rains, we are working hard to get them back to shape. We have made our Club 90 % garbage free and hope to achieve a 100 % soon. I have also written to our staff ( and shortly to you) to assist us in complying with our government’s ban, vide the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, on single-use plastics (SUPs) which will come into force in July 2022.
We have completed the access audit of our Club, done by Ability Foundation and very soon, we hope to carry out those recommendations to make our Club, inclusive, compliant.
I do hope to see you all relaxing at MGC and enjoying an experience, that surely can only be the envy of many.
Warmly
Ishwar Achanta
Hon.Secretary
Ishwar Achanta
Honorary Secretary
Madras Gymkhana Club