Follow Ramesh's Journey

I have safely arrived in Delhi, India after spending the last 35 hours waiting either on a plane or in an airport. I’m ecstatic to be here and to meet some of the people who have been working so hard to make India polio free. After clearing immigration and customs, I was welcomed by Mr. Stanley Samuel who is in charge of Logistics and Operations with the Indian National Polio Plus Committee. Stanley took me from the airport to the Rotary office, and on they way, he pointed out a banner hanging over a busy street that was promoting the recent Immunization Day that took place on November 9. One of Stanley’s responsibilities is to ensure the promotion of Rotary Immunization Days.

This afternoon I spent some time at the Indian National PolioPlus Committee office and met Communications Associate Nima Chodon. I’d like to express my gratitude to Nima, and to Petina Dixon, who is the Lead Media Coordinator for Rotary PolioPlus based in Evanston, IL, USA. Both Petina and Nima have worked very hard over the last several weeks arranging the logistics of my participation in the upcoming Sub-NID in Uttar Pradesh and Rotary’s Zone Institute in Agra.

I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with other staff in the Rotary PolioPlus office as well: Mrs. Prima Pravin, who works at the front desk and reception, Mrs. Anita Agarwal, who is the executive secretary, and Mr. Aby Abraham, who is responsible for information and technology.  Rotary has always worked as a team in order to make progress in the fight against polio. It’s wonderful to meet so many people who work every day to make the dream of a polio free world become reality.

Over the next couple of days I will be meeting with Mr. Deepak Kapur, Chairman of Rotary International’s India National Polioplus Committee. I’ll also have the opportunity to meet Mr. Lokesh Gupta, who is the manager of the program.
Tonight I participated in my first Indian media interview when I spoke with Prashant Nanda, a Special Correspondent with the Indo-Asian News Service. I have learned through Nima that Prashant often covers human interest stories. It’s great that Prashant and the Indo-Asian News Service continue to cover the hard work that is being done at the grassroots level here in India, as well as covering the overall progress being made with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.