‘Masons on Wheels’ to reach Vizag tomorrow

‘Freemasons on an all India tour on a mission to spread the message of brotherhood and promoting eye donation

Visakhapatnam... 28 February 2008: ‘Masons on Wheels’ - a unique initiative to spread the message of brotherhood and promote eye donation all over the country is scheduled to reach Visakhapatnam city tomorrow. Four concerned citizens and members of Lodge Keys No. 297, a part of the Freemasonry organisation travelling by road in a car to various places such as Amravati, Nagpur, Raipur (Chattisgarh), Jharkhand, West Bengal, Kharagpur, Cuttuck, Bhuwaneshwar, Berhampur, Sambhalpur (Orissa) will reach Visakhapatnam tomorrow afternoon. Lodge Keys No. 297 is part of FREEMASONRY, which is a 3,000 years old movement spread all over the globe. It has existed in India for over 250 years and in Andhra Pradesh for 200 years. The visit of the ‘Masons on Wheels’ initiative coincides with the Annual Investiture of the Regional Grand Lodge of South India being held in the city.

The aim of this initiative is to bring Freemasonry closer to society and spread the message of brotherhood and promote eye donation. Hitherto, Freemasonry was perceived to be a secret society. It is now shedding its cloak and now is open to talk about it various activities and remove misconceptions, if any.

The team comprising of W. Bro. Ramana Gudipati, W. Bro. D. Ramchandram, Bro. Vijay K. Beerval and Bro. J. Sampath Kumar travelled to all these places by road in a car and stopped at various places displaying banners and distributing information promoting eye donation. The ‘Masons on Wheels’ initiative has covered 10 states and about 12000 kms of distance so far. It plans to cover a distance of 30,000 kms covering 144 cities all over India.

Another team led by W. Bro. Praful Kumar Sahgal, Worshipful Master, Lodge Keys No. 297 in two cars travelling from Hyderabad, will be joining the others enroute to Visakhapatnam. The seven member team comprises of W. Bro. Praful Kumar Sahgal, Bro. P. S. Chiranjeevi, Bro. P. S. Ramesh, Bro. A. Shree Nagesh, Bro. V. Ksheera Sagar, Bro. K.H.B. Atmaram and Bro. Madhusudhan Bojja.

The ‘Masons on Wheels’ tour connecting Masonry with society was flagged-off in September 2007 by Justice Devinder Gupta, Former Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court (who is also associated with Freemasonry as The Grand Master of Grand Lodge of India) at Hyderabad.
Freemasons are deeply involved in helping other people. From its earliest days, charity has been the most visible Masonic activity, with Freemasons concerned with the care of orphans, the sick and the aged. Large sums are given to national and local charities, with Masons around the world giving away millions of dollars to various charities each day. They are also actively involved in a great deal of community volunteer work.

Freemasonry is one of the world’s oldest secular fraternal societies. It is a worldwide organisation based on the principle of the ‘Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man’. It is a society of men concerned with moral and spiritual values. Its members are taught its precepts by series of rituals, which follow ancient forms and use stonemason’s customs and tools and allegorical guides. The motto of Freemasonry is Brotherly Love, Relief & Truth.

Globally Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Benjamin Fraklin, Henry Ford, Clive Lloyd and All Presidents of United States of America were its member. In India Swami Vivekananda, C. Rajagopalachari, Motilal Nehru, Fakruddin Ali Ahmed, Madhavrao Scindia, Nawab of Pataudi, locally several Nawabs of Nizam, many judges, bureaucrats, officers and well-respected individuals and others are its members. Some of the members from Andhra Pradesh include Nawab Sir Salar Jung Bahadur and Maharaja Sir Kishen Pershad (both Prime Ministers of the state of Hyderabad), Sir Terrence Keys (The British Resident), Raja Venkat Ram Reddy to name few from the list of distinguished personalities.