Lodge Burroughs Strange No. 87
Vijayawada, India

When a letter of invitation, followed by a telegram from M. W. Grand Master, M. W. Bro, D. P. Madon was received by me in September 1977, to meet him in Bombay, little did I suspect that it was the beginning of a long journey of six years of Regional Grand Mastership of Southern India that I was asked to undertake. Four stalwart Masons had held this office before me, with great distinction-R. W. Bro. Rao Bahadur S. T. Srinivasa Gopalachari, R. W. Bro. Chief Justice K. Veeraswamy, R. W. Bro. C. A. Ramakrishnan, I.C.S., and R. W. Bro. Justice T. Rama Prasada Rao. It was with great trepidation I took up the office. Residing in a place, nearly 480 kilometers away from Masonic Headquarters of the Region-Madras-was another challenge in the matter of administration.

I was installed as the Regional Grand Master on the 7th January 1978 by M. W. The Grand Master. The Meeting was held at the top floor of Connemara Hotel, Madras. I consider it was indeed a rare privilege that it was attended to by three Past Grand Masters from overseas, in addition to the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of India, M. W. Bro. Prof. Frank Gamblen, P. G. Master of the Grand Lodge of Western Australia, M. W. Bro. Theodore Ling Way, P. G. Master of the Grand Lodge of China (Taiwan) and M. W. Bro. Charles Wageman, P. G. Master of the Grand Lodge of Belgium.

In my address to the brethren of the region at the Installation Meeting, I announced that I would visit each and every Lodge, Chapter, Mark and R.A.M. Lodge during my term of office. When I made the announcement, little did I dream that in achieving this, my Masonic journey would exceed one lakh and thirty thousand kilometers. My journey involved visits to 203 Craft, Chapter, Mark and R.A.M. Meetings including 85 Craft Installations. Through I do not want to pride myself on this matter, I genuinely feel it game me immense pleasure to meet and masonicaly get acquainted with almost the entire Masonic fraternity of Southern India. I greatly relished those visits and still feel elated to have made innumerable Masonic friends who would otherwise have remained strangers.

Each State, each territory of the Region, has its own peculiar charm and beauty. The long coastal line of bay of Bengal-Kanyakumari to Visakhapatnam - and the Arabian Sea, from the Cape of Goa, the luxuriant and enchanting Western Ghats, the beautiful hill stations like Coorg, Kodaikanal and Yercaud, metropolitan cities of Madras, Hyderabad, Bangalore, the harbour cities of Cochin, Calicut, Goa and Visakhapatnam, the historical and ancient cities of Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Thanjavoor, Palghat, Bellary, Belgaum, Vizianagaram, Ernakulam etc. and Industrial cities of Bangalore, Coimbatore are just some of the towns and cities situated within the Southern Region - each of them having its history drenched in the hoary past and with active Lodges. It was a very rich experience for me to have visited the various Lodges in the Region which reflect the Kaleidoscopical beauty of the country, the rich heritage of languages and of different cultures. It is indeed a matter of delight to me to have closely associated myself with the members of the Lodges and to have experienced the mysterious and invisible band of Masonic fraternity that has brought all the Freemasons in the vast territory of the Southern Region as one family.

When I took up my office as Regional Grand Master, it was represented to me that a few Lodges in the north-western limit of the Region in Karnataka, being off the beaten track, felt neglected by the Region. I had the pleasure of visiting these Lodges - Lodge Victoria No. 9, Lodge Dharwad No. 54 and Lodge Hubli No. 44 - on many occasions. These made me discover the great potentiality of the members of these Lodges, their genuine approach to Freemasonry and their abiding devotion to Freemasonry.

On August 19, 1979, while I was travelling by train to Belgaum with my wife, the train halted at Hubli very early in the morning. I heard the door of the compartment being banged. Thinking that it must be some unauthorized persons wanting to get into the compartment. I opened the shutter of the door slovenly to abuse the intruders. But what a surprise it was!

There was a large contingent of members of Lodge Hubli and their Wives, with two beautiful flower garlands. We ushered them in, with utter surprise. They garlanded us. While I was racking my brain what had instigated them to accord such a tumultuous welcome, it was revealed to us that it was our wedding anniversary. The ladies and brought delicious food enough to feed an army. My wife and I can never forget the warmth of affection they showered on us.

A pleasant revelation that I always treasure in my mind is the wonderful manner in which Lodge Victoria which was dormant for more than a decade, won the prize for Ritual Contest year after year with such precision in rendition of the ritual. Membership of Lodge Hubli has grown to such an extent that they have not only rebuilt their old Temple, but had also established another Lodge, Lodge Lyons Centenary NO.274. Lodge Darwar too has grown up considerably in all facets.

An event of great important to the Union territory of Goa within the territory of the Southern Region by the formation of the first ever Masonic Lodge-Lodge Gomantak No.248 - in that area on the 20th November 1982 by the untiring perseverance of members of Lodge Victoria in general and of R. W. Bro. No. T. Kapadia in Particular.

Seven months after I assumed office as Regional Grand Master, my trip abroad took me to London in July 1978. Lodge Pandyan had entrusted me with the job of presenting 40 years Long Term Service jewels, to three brethren - W. Bro. A. P.eacock, W. Bro. A. Watt and Bro. R. Chillon-who had retired from service in India and had settled down in England and Scotland. As the Lodge in England were on summer holidays, arrangement for the presentation of the Jewels was made at a meeting of Fortesque Lodge of Instruction No.8386 E.C. in London in which W. Bro. A. Peacock was the Secretary. I was given the privilege of presiding over this meeting. It was attended by a large number of Grand Lodge and Provincial Grand Lodge Officers in addition to a large number of Masons in London. The meeting was followed by a dinner to which wives and daughters of the members were also invited. In replying to the toast, I was asked to speak on "Freemasonry in Madurai", and about the beginning and growth of the Grand Lodge of India. The three recipients of the Long Term Service Jewels, W. Bro. Joseph Turner who still continues to be a member of Lodge Pandyan and few others who were for a time members in Lodge Pandyan, presented the Lodge in Madurai with a beautiful set of Tracing Boards of the three degrees and also some valuable Masonic Books for the Library of Lodge Pandyan. I was more than thrilled by the way the brethren of that Lodge welcomed me and my wife and the manner the recipients of the Jewels with tears in their eyes, were moved to receive the Jewels in a far off country.

The Grand Festival meeting of the Grand Lodge of India held on the 26th December 1980 at Madras will always be remembered by me on two accounts. First is the proposal that was brought up to have four separate Grand Lodges in India and which the Grand Lodge unequivocally negatived. The other is the conferment on me of the highly prestigious Order of Service to Masonry at that meeting . This presentation at the meeting of the Grand Lodge took me by complete surprise. While I am proud to be the recipient of the jewel. I personally feel that it was unceasingly demands of me to continue to serve Freemasonry till my last breath.

The Southern Region is indeed proud of its three Lodges situated in the three hill stations - Coorg, Kodaikanal and Yercaud. Of these, the last two were consecrated during my tenure of office as Regional Grand Master. At the Laying of the Foundation Stone of Lodge Kodaikanal, there was an element of mirth. While scattering corn and pouring wine went smoothly, the pouring of oil posed a problem. The oil in the particular receptacle would not flow. The organisers had used coconut oil, and due to the very cold weather then prevailing, the oil had frozen hard as a rock. The ingenuity of the D of C saved the situation. A cigarette lighter came to the immediate rescue to melt the oil and most of the audience where not even aware of the incident.

One important facet of the Regional Grand Lodge, which always enthused and encouraged me was the splendid manner the meetings of the Regional Grand Lodge, were held in the city of Madras and other cities and towns in the Region, each centre, in its own away exhibiting its genuine enthusiasm and devotion to Freemasonry and extending its unbounded hospitality. While these meetings were held in its towns and cities in which the hosting Lodges were situated, Kodaikanal was the only exception that hill station, where there was then no Lodge. It was 75 miles away from Madurai and at an elevation of nearly 7000 ft. R. W. Bro. V. Rajendran as the head of the Committee incharge of the meeting had done a marvelous job in meeting the challenge and evoking the admiration of all who attended to meeting.

Similarly too were the R.G.L. Meetings at Bangalore masterminded by R. W. Bro. K. S. Menon and at Belgaum completely under the direction of R. W. Bro. N. T. Kapadia.

The celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Grand Lodge of India, by Lodges in the Twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad was yet another memorable event which will ever remain green in my memory. M. W. The Grand Master and I had the pleasure of participating in this celebration as well as in the Ladies Night immediately thereafter. On behalf of the Masonic Ladies of Southern Region, my wife was given the privilege of extending a special welcome to Mrs. Kurshed Madon. It was a Ladies Night with the Largest attendance of Ladies that I ever attended. The brethren of the Twin cities without exception had joined hands to make the two events memorable.

The Meeting of the Regional Grand Lodge too held in the Twin cities was yet another great occasion when the brethren of the cities had exhibited their best in making it memorable. R. W. Bro. E.P.B. Manian, who is no more with us, had also played an important role in all these Masonic events.

Words fail me to express how greatly I appreciate the encouragement and advice I received from the then M. W. The Grand Master, M. W. Bro. D. P. Madon, O.S.M., whenever I sought his mature and wise counselling. I owe him a deep debt of gratitude.

The wonderful manner the Regional Grand Lodge Secretariat under the leadership of the Regional Grand Secretary, R. W. Bro. T. K. Doraiswamy with a band of devoted staff had given their unstinted co-operation and support in helping me to carry out my programme and plans in the administration of the Region can never be forgotten. I wish to mention of a couple of marvellous jobs carried out by the Secretariat. One of them is the update maintenance of the Green Register giving all possible Masonic details of all RGL Officers; and the other was the introduction of monthly publication of the Regional Grand Lodge Newsletter. No amount of thanks will suffice to express my great appreciation of the wonderful co-operation and systematic work of the Secretariat, particularly of the Regional Grand Secretary.

Another very important aspect is the closest and personal co-operation I had from each and every office of the Regional Grand Lodge and of all the Lodges, Chapters and Mark and R.A.M. Lodges in the Region year after year.

Six years was indeed a long period-but I really enjoyed every minute of my Regional Grand Mastership. It was a great and memorable milestone, not only in my Masonic Career but in my life also.