Some years ago, a few members of the Lions Club of Bombay Central Club decided to branch out on their own and form a new cub called Lions Club of Byculla. It was a band of just 8 to 10 lions led by the young and dashing Lion Maneck Dastur, while the others included Kersi Commissariat, Byram Kanga, Darius Gotla, Homi Tavadia, Paeterasp Patel, J.J. Rodriguez, Dhunji Hodiwala and Dinshaw Minocher.

One of our first meetings was at the C.C.I. lawns, where we chalked out the plan of the new club. As we planned to concentrate our membership drive in and around Rustom Baug, we thought it appropriate to name it “Lions Club of Byculla”. Though Darius, Homi and Byram were much older than Maneck, everyone agreed that he should be the Charter President, and he created history by becoming the youngest Charter President of any Lions Club in the world.

In those days, Maneck Dastur was the voice of Lions Club of Byculla. He played a key role in setting it up, but behind him was the support of the Lions mentioned above, as well as the lion-hearted Lion Baji Nariman Maloo.

We built the Lions Club of Byculla on 3 key concepts: fellowship, service and able administration. Although we managed to keep our heads above water, we struggled at times, as most of our charter members were from the core middle class and the majority were white collar staff members working with various organisations. None of us was born with a golden spoon in our mouth and so we had to depend more on the generosity of heart and not of the purse.

The club was inaugurated (first charter night) by Police Commissioner of Mumbai, Mr. V.V. Chaubal at Taj Mahal Hotel

BLOWING OUR TRUMPET

One look at the following will convince anybody that this club is indeed different from any average club:

• Our young and dynamic Charter President, who even after 25 years, takes an active interest in the running of the club.
• The proper (formal) manner in which we conduct our Board and Regular Meetings.
• The punctuality with which we start all meetings.
• The number of awards won by our club, year after year, at district and multiple competitions.
• The perfect recitation of the flag salutation by all our Presidents.
• The excellent presentation of our club docket, at the annual D.G. visit.
• The level of fellowship and camaraderie that prevails at our regular meetings, whether these are held in Mumbai or at Lonavla, Khandala, Udvada or Devka.

Ours is the ONLY club in the entire district to win the coveted Late Lion Minoo J.D. Engineer trophy for the best Secretary in the Multiple District, three times! The winners were Lions Hoshang Wania, Aspi Minocher and Aspi Cooper. The habit of winning awards was formed by our club in the very first year.

SERVICE PROJECTS

In the initial years itself, we started carrying out low cost or even no-cost service projects. In the very first few months after formation, we held a meeting at the Mafatlal Hindu Bath at Chowpatty, where we had ordered food for more people than the number that turned up. So, Lion Chanakya Merchant advised us to parcel up the extra food, which we immediately distributed to the beggars of the area.

Then, it was the brainwave of Lion Baji to start a Drug Bank. The Late Lion Dr. Rustom Hakim helped us, and within a few months our Drug Bank was working better than the nationalised banks!!

One of the best personalised service projects that we carried out was courtesy of Past President Lion Cowas Palia. He was able to obtain—at very concessional rates—raw jute cloth/sheets. Our members and Lion Ladies, led by Late Lion Homi Tavadia and our then Zone Chairman Lion Dr. Vasant Vaidya, went out late at night, after our regular dinner meetings, to the Byculla area. We covered up the people sleeping on the pavements, in those wintry days of December and January, with the raw jute sheets. A few people would wake up when we covered them, and they were pleasantly surprised to get such a useful possession; others would see the covering sheets only the next morning, and bless those who had given them this warm covering.

We cannot live and survive on hope and fresh air alone. We needed “Vitamin M” for our various projects to fulfil the dreams of each President and hence the task of each Fund Raising Chairman become increasingly challenging each year. This is because we have to approach the same set of contacts year after year, and hence our expert FR member and Past President Lion Hoshang Wania has had to slow down the efforts he was putting in every year.

In 1920, with the chartering of Windsor Ontario Lions Clubs in Canada, the association became international.

In 1950, Melvin Jones was conferred the title of Secretary General of Lions International.

Melvin Jones died in 1961 and his birthday on 13th January is celebrated as Founders day and the month of January as a Rededication month.

Lionism was introduced in India in 1956 by Lion Noshir Pundole with the organization of Lions Club of Bombay Host on 3rd February.

Today India boasts of having more than 6200 Clubs and the second largest membership in the world with 225000 plus members.

World over, we are a team of 1.36 million volunteers spread across 208 countries and geographical locations, with over 46,000 clubs connected – right from the International level – to the constitution area level, the multiple district level, to the district level and finally to the club all working together to enhance our ability to serve.

Our World membership is divided into 7 Constitution areas

• UNITED STATES / AFFLIATES / BERMUDA and Bahamas
• CANADA
• South America, Central America, Carribean &A Mexico
• Europe
• Orient and South East Asia
• India, South Asia, Africa and the Middle East (ISAAME) to which we belong
• Australia, New Zealand, PPapua New Guinea, Indonesia and South Pacific.

India comprises of 7 Multiple Districts –

321 - North
322 - East
323 - West (16 Districts 1343 Clubs 53263 members)– States of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,Rajasthan, Chaatisgarh, UnionTerritories of Daman & Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
324 - Tamil Nadu,
318 - Kerala
317 - Karnataka
316 - Andhra Pradesh

In Mumbai we have 3 Districts 323 A1, A2, & A3 – 250 Clubs 13000 plus members.
A1 – 61 Clubs with 3360 members