Humour Club International - Triplicane chapter made its 43rd anniversary special carrying forward a practice they started in 2016. For the 10th continuous year, the Club honoured four war widows, acknowledging their personal loss and supporting them with a financial assistance of ₹ one lakh each.

In 2016, during an official visit to Srinagar, R. Sekharan, secretary of the Club, met some families who had lost their children protecting the borders. Their stories left a deep scar on him. Later, with the approval of the committee members of the Triplicane chapter they started to support families of war heroes financially. Instead of just crediting the amount to their accounts, the Club goes all out to reflect and honour the sacrifice war widows endure with a fitting tribute that was held this time at Kamaraj Arangam in Teynampet.

From one war widow in 2016, this time they had four of them who were honoured. In the last 10 years, close to 30 beneficiaries were identified.

Munvar Sultan, a retired banker and a member of the Club for over two decades, says they seek the help of Anandham Youth Foundation and the Pensioners Association who forwards some of the most deserving applications for them to scrutinise.

“Every year, we select two war widows and a good amount of the financial assistance that we offer comes from the collection that we make during our monthly meetings. This time, two of our donors came on their own to support with the entire amount so we had four beneficiary in total,” says Sultan.

The families chosen are from Tamil Nadu and the Club sponsors their travel, stay and other expenses as a gesture of the sacrifice the ‘hero’ has made.

Started in 1983 with less than 15 members, the Triplicane chapter remains the most lively among humour clubs in the city. Their anniversary celebrations go to packed houses and is held at St Bede’s School auditorium and the monthly meetings draw more than 600 members.

Besides humour, the members have made this monthly outing meaningful adding a host of other social initiatives. They help Corporation workers and transgenders.

“We give free grocery worth ₹ 2000 to the poor families and so far we have supported 185 families,” says Sekharan.

Milestone years of couples who are their members is another event they look forward to.

On August 9, the Club celebrates stepping into its 44th year at Mylapore Fine Arts Club at 4 p.m.

For details, call Kannan, treasurer at 9841532212

Published - August 01, 2026 10:17 pm IST