Lodge Keys No. 297 mobilised Rs three lakh
seventeen thousand through the novel
“Best Signature Contest”
for a government school building in a slum area.

The Lodge Keys No. 297 one of the sixteen branches of Freemasonry and part of 3000 years old, one of the world’s oldest secular fraternal societies distributed the prizes to the winners of the unique “Best Signature Contest”. The Assistant Regional Grand Master of The Regional Grand Lodge of Southern India W. Bro. P. Vijay Kumar gave away the prizes in a special function held at the premises of Goshamahal Baradari Masonic Building here in city. Worshipful Bro. A.N. Chidambar, the ARGM and Mr. Satish Modi, a well known philanthropist and crusader for the cause of Eye Donation were the Guests of Honour at the function. The prizes distribution function was presided by Worshipful Brother D. Ramchandram, ruling Master of Lodge Keys No. 297 and the Coordinator for the Best Signature Contest.

Speaking on the occasion of Best Signature Contest Prize Distribution function Bro. D. Ramchandram, if you can’t do big things, do small things in a big way. What was started small took of really big. He said that through the best Signature Contest they have generated Rs Two Lakhs and another One Lakh rupees contribution was made by philanthropist Mr. Satish Modi. Few others also have contributed for the cause during the meeting. With this the total amount thus collected reaches Rs Three Lakh seventeen thousand. More contributions are expected in next couple of days. About 231 people inlcuding both Freemasons and general public from all over India participated in the contest, he informed.

These funds will be utilised for the construction of a government school building in a slum area immeidately. Name of the school and other details will be finalised during next meeting of the Lodge, informed Ramchandram.

All the expenses for organising Best Signature Contest function was borne by the members of Lodge Keys and the amount collected for the charity project is exclusively utilised for the school project.

The first prize Gold worth Rupees Ten thousand was presented to a Delhi based High Court Advocate Brother Bharat Chawla and second prize Silver worth Rupees Seven thousand five hundred each was given jointly to retired judge of Supreme Court and former Chief Justice of AP High Court Justice Devinder Gupta who is also the Grand Master of Grand Lodge of India and a city based Charter Accountant P.S. Chiranjeevi. However Justice Devinder Gupta couldn’t make it to the function as he was away in Jammu & Kashmir. On his behalf Justice C.Y. Somayajulu, Hon’ble High Court Judge accepted the prize. Moster W.Bro. The Grand Master in a message sent to the Lodge Worshipful Bro. D. Ramchandram congratulated them and further sent his contribution for the cause. The third prize went to city based business man Arif Alladin, Immediate Past Master of Lodge Ekram. He was given away a DVD worth Rs 6000/-.

Besides these, prizes worth Rs 500/- each were also given to 12 Consolation Prize winners who include W. Bro. Lt. Col. R.K. Sahgal, Mr. Aswani Kumar, Ms. K. Poojitha, Bro. P. Anil Kumar, Mr I.M. Malhotra, His Excellency V. Rama Rao - Governor of Sikkim, Mr. P. Raghavloo, Bro. P. Arun, Chennai, Mr. Gourav Malhotra, Mr. DVR Prasad and Mr. W.Bro. Narayan Manian.

The Judges Panel comprised of a Graphotherapist, Calligrapher, Forgery Expert, Banker, Forensic and Finger Print expert who included Mr. C. B. Jaipal, Former Director Fingerprints Bureau, CID, Police Dept., Govt. of AP; Mr. Govindraj, Chief Manager (Retd.), Andhra Bank; Brother Dr. A. Ranadheer Kumar, a famous Graphotherapist who met recently at Goshamahal Baradari Masonic Building and judged the winners. They have also graced the prize distribution function.

Best Signature Contest was a unique fund raising program taken up for a social cause. The amount collected from the contest will be utillised for construction or facilities creation at a government school in a slum area in twin cities later in the year. The Signatures were selected based on five parameters which include coherence to the name of the person, strokes that are used to depict the signature, complexity of signature to avoid easy forgery and signature which is steady, uniform and also beautiful. The individuals who participated in the contest paid an entry fee of Rs 150/- or any amount of their choice above Rs 150/-. Some participants have even paid Rs 25,000/- to participate in the contest.

Addressing the gathering Chief Guest W.Bro. P. Vijay Kumar said Masonry is a way of life. Indeed it is happy movement that Lodge Keys embarked on a very big and novel cause to help slum school children with school building. He complimented the Lodge Keys for the same.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Satish Modi announced a donation of Rs One Lakh towards the cause. And pledged further support for the cause. Adding further he said approximately 25,000 blind people are added every year. Despite the best efforts of State and Central Govt. NGO’s, only 28,000 corneas were collected and out of that, 13,000 successful corneal transplantation is reported in year 2006. Adding further he stated that every minute, every day a child looses the sight round the World. The solution is simple and it lies with us. We are a country of over 100 crores, over one crore reaches their heavenly abode every year. If only 2% of all deceased corneas are donated it can eliminate corneal blindness in India. And only 10% deceased corneas are needed to give vision to all corneally blind of the World, Mr. Modi stated and urged the gathering to come forward to help elimnate blindness in the country.

The Best Signature Contest Prize Distribution night was also dedicated for the cause of Eye Donation. Messages of Eye Donation placards were placed all over the function area. Uniquely the city’s famous Ghazal singer Khan Ali Khan besides entertaining the crowd with popular ghazals he also sang few melodious ghazals talking about eyes and Eye Donation. These numbers include.

“Ankhon Ankhon sabhi pyar kiya kartein hein, hum to mar kar bhi kisi aur ke kaam ayengey”

“Hum ko jaan sey pyari hein, tumhari ankhein, hey kajal bhari madhosh, yeh payari anthein”

“Chalke teri anthon se sharab aur ziyada, khilte rahe houtoun ke gulab aur ziyada”

“Teri ankhon ke siva duniya mein rakha kya hai”

The Prize Distribution function was attended by about 175 invitees, members of Freemasonry, their family members, participants and general public of the Best Signature Contest.

During the prize distribution function the organisers have also felicitated few brothers Bro. Ramana Gudipati, Bro. P. Ch. Ramaraju, Bro. Madhusudhan Bojja and Bro. Dr. Ranadheer Kumar for collecting highest amounts for the Best Signature Contest.

Bro. Ramana Gudipati was the master of the ceremony.