Dear Fellow Members,

Whenever an innovative change occurs, the reaction includes two extremes. One is the conservative or skeptical response: the change is deemed unnecessary, or doubts are cast about the improvements it is supposed to deliver. The other is the uncritical enthusiasm of those who are always hungry for change. The majority, however, will be somewhere in between, curious about the innovation, critical of its drawbacks, but delighted with the benefits it brings.

I am sure the Dhaka Club website will initially elicit the entire gamut of these responses. But before long, I can confidently predict, members will accept it as an integral part of the club, something they can be proud of, and also something they will find useful. We might even look upon it as a modest contribution to the creation of a “digital Bangladesh.”

By now most, if not all, social clubs and gentlemen’s clubs worldwide have put up websites. Boodles, one of the oldest London clubs, has one still “under construction”, but other famous clubs in the city already have elaborate websites which are a pleasure to browse. At a mouse click I discovered that the Athenaeum in London has had among its members, fifty-two Nobel laureates, in all the areas covered by the prize. Besides being a remarkable factoid it makes one realize how significant a part of civilization clubs are.

Closer to home, the Bengal Club, the Calcutta Club and the Saturday Club have well-designed websites; as in our own country do the Chittagong Club and Gulshan Club. So you will no doubt agree that our own hasn’t appeared too soon.

Websites are useful and valuable because they can provide what other things, like printed brochures, cannot. They cannot go missing, they do not take up any space, and they are always a mouse click away. Our website offers, at a glance, the long and chequered history of the Dhaka Club, information on the facilities it provides, and club news. And it can be used by members to communicate with us. We fondly hope that to members sojourning far from us the website will be a “virtual club” which they will enjoy accessing. This is just a beginning; members are welcome to suggest improvements.

I wish to extend profuse thanks to all those who have contributed to the making of the website.


Sadat Hossain Salim
President
Dhaka Club Limited