Inner Wheel Club (IWC) of Dimapur observed World Senior Citizens’ Day at Rotary Club, Midland on Tuesday. Fourteen prominent senior citizens who have lived in Dimapur for many years and richly contributed to the society in various capacities were honoured with a shawl and citation by the club.
The 14 senior citizens who were felicitated are: BB Chanda, Anetla, N R C Nair, Pankaj ji Sinha, Dr Ahmed, Devashish Datta, Suparash ji Golaccha, Harishankar ji Singhaniya , Bajranglal ji Parikh, Prakash ji Ajmera , Shrimati Indraji, Surjeet Singh, Nirmala Chetri , and Manoj ji Mundra.
Pinky Agarwal, who delivered a speech on the occasion emphasized that senior citizens are indispensible members of the society, adding that a family is incomplete without the presence of elders and children.
Agarwal also lamented that despite their rich contribution both to the family and society, many senior citizens have been reduced to pieces of furniture with no one to take care of them. Referring to the senior citizen as upholders of traditions, she said it was the bounden duty of the children and family members to take care of them in their old age.
“They advise us in testing times and show us the light in darkness, yet when their sight grows dim, we fail to be their light and extend a helping hand. It is indeed heartbreaking that those who taught us everything and sacrificed their lives are yearning for our attention and support,” she lamented.
Dr. Khusboo Agarwal, who also chaired the programme , gave a brief history of the Inner Wheel Club of Dimapur club which is part of an international club, ‘Inner Wheel’ formed in 1924 and functional in 3900 clubs spread across 104 countries with a total of 1,50,000 members.
Dr. Khusboo also stated that the Dimapur chapter of the club was formed in 2014 by R S Panesar and has made rapid strides since then. The areas of service under taken by the Inner Wheel Club of Dimapur are; literary mission, women and child care, celebrating festivals with the under privileged and disaster.
She also informed those present that the funds for all the activities were collected from member contributions, fund raiser activities, donations and lottery.
The programme started with the Inner Wheel prayer and national anthem led by Shobha Patni. The other highlights were; welcome speech by president, Inner Wheel Club, Neelam Sethi, patriotic song by Rashmi Agarwal , Introduction and felicitation of various prominent senior citizens by secretary, Mamta Bucha and vote of thanks by Nidhi Modi.