The saga began in 1976 when Bhamy Dinesh Shenoy and three other friends came together and out of this association was born what is today known as the Rotaract Club Mangalore Central. Nobody would have imagined then, that this Club would grow and came to be known as a model club with many achievements to its credit. Thus Rotaract Club Mangalore Central made a very modest and in conspicuous beginning in October 1976.The Club was Chartered in 1977 on October the 2nd and was officially recognised by Rotary International. Since then, RCMC has pioneered many innovative projects and programmes. The Teachers Talents Competition, a unique programme for the teachers, Variety Street, an inter-college entertainment competition, Pot Pourri, the Youth Festival for Rotaractors of Mangala Zone, Munch Street, an food festival competition for the Hotel Management Students, have all been Mangalore Centrals Contribution. Perhaps no other organization in Mangalore Offers an individual so many opportunities to develop their personality, and there are any number of people who would vouch for this. Community service has been one of our prime aims and we have organised many medical camps around Mangalore. Mangala Sevashram has been our favorite and we regularly visit and spend our time with the inmates of the ashram.
The man who headed the club for the first time, Shri. Bhamy Dinesh Shenoy took over the reins of the club immediately after its inception and guided the other members. Thus he laid a very strong foundation for the growth of the club in the future years. Sri Shenoy is presently settled in Bangalore and is a businessman. We had the privilege of meeting him and getting to know of the early days of the club him, when he visited us sometime back.
The Charter President, Shri. Karunakar Rao Belle, took over in 1977. A land mark year for Central, as it was officially recognised by R.I. Presently Sri Karunakar Rao Belle is running his own Business, Belle and Co., at Mangalore.
1978-79 was the year in year in which Rotaract Central started organising Projects of a big nature. The Rotaract Industrial Carnival, ROTICA, was organised by us under the leadership of Shri. M. Narendra. He also served as a Zonal Rotaract Representative. He is presently working for Corporation Bank as the DGM and is posted at Mangalore.
Late B. Damodar Baliga took over as the president for 1979-80. An Industrial Exhibition and a Bonny Baby Contest were the highlights of the year.
‘Focus’, the mouth piece of Central was first launched in 1980-81 with P. Ranjan Rao as President. Focus is today a Club bulletin, which has set an example for the other club and has been awarded the district award a couple of times. Another feather in Ranjan Rao’s cap is the Variety Street- the Inter College Variety Entertainment Competition. This progamme has be successfully been conducted 19 times. Ranjan Rao, an active Rotarian currently, is an advocate and graces some of our programmes. Teacher’s Talents Competition, perhaps the only one of its kind for the teachers of Dakshin Kannada and Udupi Districts was held for the first time in 1981-82 under the Presidency of Late Anil S. Fernandes. He had the distinction of becoming a president within six months of joining the club. Today his efforts of TTC is in its 20th year and has been awarded the outstanding project award in South Asia Zone II. Chandrashekar K., took over from Anil for the year 1982-83 and was responsible for village electrification and sewing Machine distribution with help from Syndicate Bank. Chandrashekar was to go up the Rotaract ladder and became the Zonal Rotaract Representative. The highpoint was his becoming the D.R.R. for 1985-86 and the first Centralite to do so. Chandrashekar works for Syndicate Bank in Mangalore and still attends our programmes and projects. A man who belived in “Action speakes better than words” was Sri Subraya Karanth, the president for the year 1983-84. The budding poets meet was a major highlight that was conducted in this year other than the regular projeats. Shri Surya Prakash Bhat took over as the President for 1984-85 and led the club to greater heights. The Karavali 500 relly was organized for the first time and gave a much needed impetus to rallying in Dakshin Kannada. The club bagged the best club award for the year. Mr. Bhat was the Dist. Secretary for the 1985-86. Suri, as he is popularly known, is a chartered accountant by profession and is the president of our parent Rotary club. Shri P.K. Gopal was the president for 1985-86. The credit of hosting Marc’ 86 the district confernce, goes to him. He is an advocate and practices at Mangalore and currently a member of our parent Rotary club. It was under the presidentiship of Shri Ramesh Mayya, that we bagged the Best Club of the District award for the second time during 1986-87. Ramesh Mayya works for SBI and is currently placed in Gulberga Karnataka. It was during this year the club celebrated the 10th Charter day hosting DECAMEET. Ramesh Mayya handed over the reins of the club to Issac Vas for 1987-88. Variety Street was organised under sponsorship for the first time and was later to become the main fundraiser for us. The club day was organised for the first time under Issac vas. A Multifaceted personality, Issac Vas,a businessman is also an active member of our parent Rotary Club. He still very active and guides us in most of our programmes.
A man who was to be the ZRR of our Zone (Mangala Zone), Shri Vinod Dsouza took over from Issac Vas. Vinod works for the Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd. Even today he is ready to give his advice to the upliftment of the club.
Perhaps the most well-known and respected rotaractor in the District, Shri Yathish B. was the president for 1989-90. The club won the best community service and best project awards during the year. The feather in his cap was heading the district as its DRR for the year 1991-92. He works for the S.B.I. and is active on so many fronts, we wonder if he has 48 hours in his day. He too is a member of our parent Rotary club.
Soft-spoken by Nature but with nerves of steel, Reese Mathews was our president for 1990-91 and the club won the best project award for the tree planting programme under him. Probably the best Quiz Master of Mangalore, Reese was much sought for conducting Quizzes. He was adjudged the best president of the year. Reese works for Canara Bank and is currently placed at Kolar.
After Reese, it was Kishan Kumar who occupied the president’s Chair .Kishan works for the MCF Ltd., Mangalore. Soft spoken and jolly by nature, Kishan led the club in hosting Centerota 92, the deistrict conference. He was later the ZRR of Mangala Zone for 1993-94. Currently an active member of our parent club, he is with us as the club Chairman for 1999-2000.
Short-statutured, James Karkada was by no means short, when it came to organising projects. A keen sportsman, James is a good cricketer and also plays shuttle badminton. He presently works for SBI, Mangalore.
The Mantle fell on the shoulders of Sumith Rao for the year 1993-94. The year witnessed a lot of activities and resulted in the club being awarded the best club award at Chirofest 94, the district conference. Sumith was mainly responsible for starting Pot Pourri, the Central Youth Fest. PRERANA the Zonal Conference was also hosted under his tenure. A Businessman, Sumith is now busy keeping everybody Cool, Manufacturing bottle coolers etc.
1994-95 saw Hem, as Hemachandra is popularly known, taking over from Sumith. The year saw the centralites busy through out the year. Many new projects like Wipro healty baby contest etc. were organised. Hem is a leacturer at St. Aloysius College. He was awarded the out-standing president of the year at the District Assembly.
Keshav Naik took over as the president for 1995-96 from Hem. A vastly experienced member, Keshav, an employee of the SBI had served the club earlier as Club Ser. Dir., Sect. Etc. During the year the Rotaract Shikshakothama Award was instituted along with a few other unique projects. The Late Annaiah Nayak Memorial Scholarship for poor Students was started the same year. Keshav also went on to be the ZRR of our zone the fifth centralite to do so. He also won the outstanding President of the District.
Following Keshav, Rajendra Kalbavi took over as president and a lot of Community service projects were taken up during the year. Construction of toilets at Krishnakodi, donation of water drain pipes were a few of them. The club also hosted VISHISTA the Zonal Conference. A Govt. school was also electrified. At the district assembly Kalbhavi was awarded the outstanding president award.
A relatively new entrant into the rotaract fold, Rtr. Anil Kumar took over the responsibility of leading the club for 1997-98. The club continued its regular projects like the TTC, Variety Street etc. with the same tempo & Zeal. Electrification of a school was also done during this year.
Rtr. Nelson Goveas the ZRR for the year 1999-2000 took over for 1998-99 and for the first time ‘Munch Street’ (Food Festival Competition) was organised by the club as the main fund raiser.Rtr. Vinay D’souza won the outstanding Rotaractor of the District.
The Baton was then passed on to Rtr. Basava Kumar. The year began with well with the club doing its regular projects. But in November for the first time in RCMC the club saw change in president. Rtr. Basava resigned from the post due to personal problems. He is an Electrical Contractor.
Rtr. Samith Fernandes took over the duty of leading the club from November 1999. The club hosted “MILESTONE 2000”, a zonal conference. It was under his tenure for the first time R.I. Dist. 3180 so a club of its own hosting a Tri-District meet “SYNERGY 2000”.The also backed 26 awards and recognations at the dist. level during this year.The club also won the Second best club inn the district and the Hi-Profiloe club during the year.
Rtr. Rohan Fernandez, the best secretary of the district for the year 1999-2000 and finished a Successfull Year.
Rtr. Anand Pereira took over the charge.

Some of the awards won by our club.

District level: