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Report on
Activities of Lodges for the period ending
30th September 2004
1. Lodge Southern Cross No. 46 Palayamkottai
No Ceremony done. A sum of Rs.2000/- was given to the
RGL towards medical expense of Mrs.Renuka.
2. Lodge Trivandrum No. 168 Thiruvananthapuram
Raising Ceremony of Bro.Chacko Verghese. As part of Dhanya
Dhan program, 20 kgs of rice was given to two needy persons. The
Lodge has given Rs.2700/- to the RGL towards medical expense of
Mrs.Renuka.
3. Lodge Kottayam No. 245 Kottayam
Raising Ceremony of Bro. Jijo Jacob.
4. Lodge Vivekananda No. 254 Kanyakumari
There were two meetings during the month. Bro.P.Clement was passed
in the regular meeting. A team from Lodge Engineers No.340 Chennai,
visited the Lodge on the 25th of Sept. and did the ceremony of
passing of Bro.G.S.Sathiasekhar. The visiting Lodge gave 100kgs
of rice to the CSI Boys Home Nagercoil. They gave medicines worth
Rs.700/- to an Old Age Home and Rs.2000 towards Lodge Vivekananda
Charity Fund. The charity collection of the evening amounting
to Rs.1000/- was given to Lodge Engineers’ charity account.
5. Lodge Vanchinad No. 273 Kollam
No Ceremony done.
6. Lodge Alleppey No. 275 Alleppey
Ceremony of Initiation of Bro.Mohammed Shafeeq. W.Bro.R.Sushil
Raj , The ARGM was present and gave the Charge after Initiation.
W.Bro.Dr.M.R.Subramaniam, a PM of the Lodge did the initiation
ceremony, W.Bro. J.Zacharia gave the Charge from the NE and Bro.Sunil
Mathew the SD explained the TB. A sum of Rs 1500/- was given to
the RGL towards medical expense of Mrs.Renuka.
7. Lodge Ananthapadmanabha No. 280 Trivandrum
Ceremony of Raising of Bro.Perumal Gie Mathew.
8. Lodge Tamiravarni No. 289 Tirunelveli
Initiation Ceremony of Bro. Jayaram Singh Nayan Singh.
A team of RGL officers did the ceremony. W.Bro. R.Sushil Raj ARGM
occupied the eastern chair and initiated the candidate. The charge
in the NE was given by W.Bro.Gomathynayagam, the Wkg. Tls. by
W.Bro.Velayutham, the Warrant Charge by W.Bro.O.S.Kasivyswanathan,
the Charge after Initiation by the ARGM and the TB by W.Bro.S.Kesavan.
As part of charity, medicines worth Rs.6500/- was given to the
Hindu Mission Hospital. The project was sponsored by W.Bro.Kumaraguru.
A sum of Rs.2000/- was given to RGL towards medical expense of
Mrs.Renuka.
9. Lodge Pearl City No. 290 Thoothukudi
It was the 150th meeting of the Lodge. The initiation
ceremony of S.Balaji was done. A sum of Rs.1555/- was given to
RGL towards medical expense for Mrs.Renuka.
10. Lodge Aruvi No. 293 Courtallam
No meeting during the month.
11. Lodge Palai No. 318 Palai
No meeting during the month.
12. Lodge Travancore No. 329 Thiruvananthapuram.
Passing Ceremony of Bro. Mohan Kumar. The Lodge gave
Rs.5000/- to RGL towards medical expense for Mrs.Renuka. W.Bro.R.Sushil
Raj The ARGM attended the meeting The Lodge also took up a charity
project of building a house for a poor widow. The WM and the ARGM
W.Bro.R.Sushil Raj laid the foundation stone for the house on
Friday the 24th in the presence of senior PMs’ and other
brethren.
The meeting of the Ladies of the Fraternity was also held during
the month. W.Bro.R.Sushil Raj the ARGM and R.W.Bro.K.R.Rajasekharan
Nayar PRGM addressed the meeting and shared the views of the Ladies
about the possibility of forming an Association of Masons’
Wives in Trivandrum comprising of all the Lodges in the City.
Mrs. Jaya Gopalan Nair, Mrs.Sarala Jayapalan, Mrs.Rekha Raveendran
and Mrs.Sarah Kuruvilla were entrusted with the task of exploring
the possibility of such a venture. The Ladies of the Fraternity
later in their meeting elected Prema Santhikumar as its Chair
person, Reena Sudeesh Secretary and Sarah Kuruvilla as theTreasurer,
to succeed the present team led excellently well by Dr.Krishna
Balachandran.
13. Kerala Masters’ Lodge No.309
Paper presented by W.Bro.D.Santhi Kumar. The review of the ‘Land
Mark’ was done by W.Bro.K.P.George.
The Highlight of the month
was the attendance at the RGL at Salem. The area had 100 registrations.
Lodge Vivekananda with 25, the highest from any lodge in the region,
followed by Lodge Pearl City with 18 and Lodge Travancore with
11. The area has also contributed a total sum of Rs.12755/- to
the RGL towards medical expense of Mrs.Renuka.
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Report on
the RGL Meeting at Salem - 4th, 5th September 2004
A report by W.Bro.S.Krishnan,
Lodge Pearlcity No.290.
The Half Yearly Convocation of The Regional Grand Lodge of Southern
India for the year 2004 was held at Salem on 4th and 5th September
2004. This RGL meet had the unique significance, that it was the
last RGL meet chaired by RW Bro. Dr. Balaram Biswakumar as RW
The Regional Grand Master of Southern India. This RGL meet marked
the culmination of his tenure, which has been one of the finest
in the recent past.
The Half Yearly meet started colourfully with the Charity Bazaar
being organized with a number of stalls, where masons and their
families exhibited their products for sale. Major portion of the
sale proceeds went to the charity funds. The registration counters
were all properly organized with separate counters for each State.
Incidentally, the Area under our ARGM W.Bro. R. Sushil Raj provided
the maximum registrations, with Lodge Vivekananda at the top of
list with 25 registrations – the largest by any Lodge in
the meet.
The activities started off on the 4th morning with the meeting
of the Masters and Secretaries of various lodges with the RGM
and other RGL officials. It was a useful session for all the participants
with a number of suggestions and ideas for improvement being exchanged
among the RGL officials and the Masters and Secretaries. Afterwards,
the Madras Masters Lodge met at the Freemasons Hall. The meeting
was followed by a Masonic seminar on “Freemasonic Secrets
- Conceptions and Misconceptions” organized by the Madras
Masters Lodge, which was attended by a number of masons including
MW the Grand Master MW Bro.Arun Chintopanth and the RW the RGM.
Four papers were presented, and discussed. A sumptuous lunch was
served to the masons and families after the meeting.
In the meanwhile, there was a lot of fun around, with a quiz
for the Masonic families and fund-raising games being organized
by the brethren of Lodge Mahamaham of Kumbakonam for their temple
construction.
The brethren assembled at the Hotel Chenney’s Gateway at
5.00 p.m. for the Half Yearly convocation of the RGL. The beautiful
air-conditioned hall at the Hotel was full with around 850 masons
assembled there. The RGM was received precisely at 5.30 p.m. and
the rest of the proceedings followed. The RGM of Eastern India
and Northern India and the representative of the District Grand
Master of Madras were ceremoniously received into the assembly.
The MW the Grand Master was also received along with his deputation
of officers. After the usual items in the Agenda, the winners
of the RWC for the year 2003 were announced and the awards and
trophies were presented. The RGMs of other regions and the District
Grand Lodge representative addressed the gathering and they all
complimented the brethren of Salem for the wonderful arrangements
and hospitality.
RW the RGM of SI RW Bro.Dr.Balaram Biswakumar addressed the gathering.
He spoke about his tenure of 3 years and he also expressed his
happiness over the number of delegates the meet had attracted.
He specially appreciated the efforts of ARGM W.Bro. R. Sushil
Raj for doing a splendid job of organising 2.4 tonnes of dhanya
dhan on a single day from his area. Three brethren were given
merit certificates for their service to masonry. One among them
was V.W.Bro.Abraham Marcos of Kottayam. W.Bro.T.T. Kuruvilla of
Kottayam made a presentation on the link between the Craft and
the Royal Arch, in his own inimitable style, which enraptured
the assembly. All these achievements were like jewels in the crown
for our ARGM W.Bro. R. Sushil Raj, who is motivating all the lodges
under his care to have greater benchmarks this year.
MW the Grand Master then occupied the Eastern Chair and made
one of the finest discourses on Karma Yoga and Nishkama Karma
and their linkage with the various tenets of freemasonry. He then
finally related those qualities to R.W. Bro. V. Sarangapani of
Madurai, on whom the highest award in Masonry in India, the Order
of Service to Masonry, was conferred. In his address, he also
mentioned about the quantum leap the Southern Region had made
under the leadership of RW Bro.Dr.Balaram Biswakumar. He then
declared the name of R.W.Bro.G.K. Selvarajan, as the successor
to the present RGM.
The RGL was closed in due and ample form. The brethren were then
treated to a sumptuous dinner at the Freemasons Hall. The evening
was filled with fun and entertainment with contests held for Best
couple, and a round of Tambola. The RGM also participated by singing
a couple of songs, accompanied by W.Bro. V.G.Madhoo. A raffle
was then drawn where our ARGM, R. Sushil Raj, bagged 3 of the
top 5 prizes which included a Diamond Ring!
On Sunday, the 5th September, the half yearly convocation of the
Regional Grand Chapter and the Regional Grand Mark Lodge were
held at the Hotel Chenney’s Gateway with the same pomp and
splendour. The brethren then departed after lunch at the Freemason’s
Hall.
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