EDITORIAL
We mark 26th January as a
milestone in our 64-year history as a Republic, as the world's largest
democratic experiment. The Constitution is a fine document but our leaders pay
scant respect to this remarkable document. Presidents' speeches on the occasion
seem like a cut and paste job of past speeches - remarkably cliché ridden,
tired rhetoric and redolent of a time gone by. The ceremonial Presidency itself
has outlived its purpose if at all it had one! The President taking the salute
is usually elderly and occasionally infirm, a far cry from Heads of State of other
countries, who are very fit and take pride in sporting accomplishments, amongst
others. The Republic Day march-past itself, with its tanks and missiles, is reminiscent
of Soviet style hubris. You could rewind the march-past of 30 years ago and
would not be able to spot the difference except for the extra security
personnel and the more sophisticated arsenal. Where is that inspiring
leadership who are supposed to galvanise the youth, who now constitute more
than 50% of the population? This country needs a makeover and it should come
from the top. At last, out of the woodwork has come a leader who is in sync
with the people. How far Kejriwal and AAP ascend the political hierarchy which
has been hitherto firmly in the grip of the mafia of traditional political
parties, only time will tell.
Repairs to the C Block
Annexe and Canteen has enabled the Society to earn much higher amounts from let
out spaces by giving them to the highest bidders. The C Block Annexe ( Rear
portion) has been given on Leave and Licence basis to Radhika Samson of A-201
for Rs. 16,111for running a dance academy. The front portion Annexe has been
given to Ramanan of C-005 for Rs. 31,000 for running a music academy, the Canteen and C Block Annexe II to Anuradha
Madhusudanan of F-001 for Rs. 8,000 and Rs. 5,000 respectively. Over and above
that the occupants will have to pay for electricity charges as per meter
reading. As against the above maintenance amounts, the erstwhile Dance Academy
was paying a maintenance amount of only Rs. 3,000 which included areas covered
by C-Block Annexe (both front and rear) and what is now occupied by Anita
Suresan. A net gain of Rs.49,611 per month plus electricity charges. For the
canteen which was being run by Kashu, we were getting only Rs.1940. The good
point is that the bidders didn't blanch at the stringent clauses included in
the agreement.
The dance and music academy
has been named Sadhana and was inaugurated on 12th January, 2014. It would be a
good nursery for those inclined towards dance, music and other art forms to
enhance their repertoire and become cultural mavens. Besides, we will have a
steady stream of accomplished performers for our various cultural activities
including Annual Day. The big bonus is that it would serve to wean away the
children from the deleterious effects of watching TV.
The Canteen, as it appears
now, is streets ahead of what it was when it was run by Kashu, particularly
from the hygiene point of view. Anuradha, who is running the canteen now, is a
votary of organic cuisine, driven by a desire to inculcate healthy eating
habits. I have been given to understand that in view of the demand for the
traditional idli and vada that Kashu was serving, she would also offer them,
albeit with non-organic inputs.
The heritage walk to
Humayun's Tomb scheduled for 19th January had to be cancelled at the last
minute as Dr. Ramji Narayanan who was going to be our historian took ill. The inconvenience
caused to all those who were raring to go for the walk is regretted. However,
do not fret. The walk is now planned on 9th February, 2014. Fortunately, the
weather is also going to be a lot more salubrious than the foggy and bitterly
cold weather that we would have encountered had we gone ahead with the walk as
per the earlier schedule.
It has been observed a
number of times that residents are parking their scooters and motorcycles between
the blocks or on the road. We have a designated parking area for all
bi-wheelers in the H Block basement. Residents are requested to adhere to the
parking discipline and park in the basement.
OBITUARY
On 12th January, 2014, Yamuna
lost perhaps its oldest resident and I, my father. My father, C.V. Narayanan, resident of B-002, was
generous to a fault, totally selfless, a friend, guide and mentor to all. In
him, my family has lost a torch bearer and a pillar of strength. He came to
Delhi in 1940 and helped several people who moved to Delhi, find their bearings
and establish themselves. He worked in the Transport Ministry in the War
Department before Independence with the British, who lavished praise on him for
his work ethic and capabilities. The Ring Road, familiar to all of us in Delhi,
was his brainchild, while he was in the Ministry of Transport. He was also
instrumental in planning National Highways. He retired as Joint Secretary from
the Ministry of Defence, Government of India.
My mother Vijayalakshmy,
sister Latha, brother Sukumar, my wife Poornima and myself were greatly moved
by the love and affection showered on him during his days in Yamuna. We are indeed
grateful to all those who came to convey their condolence and partook in the
feast on the 13th day.
******************
The cup of woes didn't end
there. On the heels of my father's demise, S. Gopal of C-202 lost his mother,
Mrs. Shyamala Shankaran on 14th January, 2014. A very pious lady, she could be
seen every day, walking on the perimeter road of the colony, picking flowers
for puja. She was a frequent visitor to the temple. Loss of such a soul leaves
us bereft of sage counselling. We convey our heartfelt condolences to Gopal's
family.
SNIPPETS
Medha Narayanan of D-204 got
married to Mayank in the Yamuna lawns in an elegant ceremony on 5th January,
2014. Padmini and Ramji Narayanan were gracious hosts.
We wish Medha and Mayank
sunshine throughout their lives.
*********************
Breaking the unrelenting
trend of female offspring in Yamuna, Kirti of G-103 delivered a baby boy on 22nd
January, 2014 and aptly named him Krishna. Supposed to be born in February,
Krishna could not wait to explore the world and arrived a fortnight in advance.
He will have a field day playing with the countless gopis in Yamuna. Grandparents
Savita and Aseem have their task cut out, changing nappies, wiping the drool
and generally playing the role of nanny.
Letters
to the Editor
I wish to bring to the notice of the Society office
that some residents seem to be in the habit of tossing cigarette butts around,
including into the shaft, as well as flushing them into the toilet. Even more
seriously, in a recent incident, the toilet drain pipe running along the inside
shaft wall was found to be blocked because of what appeared to be a
"pochha cloth". This had caused the drain pipe to clog/ choke
up, creating back pressure resulting in leakage of the drain pipes as well as
seepage into residents' flats.
This kind of carelessness causes a lot of nuisance
to the residents living below - leakage of the pipes, seepage of toilet wastes
into the flats, damaging the masonry and plaster, physical inconvenience, smell
etc. Carelessly thrown cigarette butts may also lead to a fire hazard.
I would strongly urge the Society to come out with
a notice/ circular requesting all residents to be mindful of the way they
dispose of things, NOT flush the wrong objects down the toilet, and not throw
things into the shaft or out of the balcony.
I hope the Society will take this matter seriously
and keep up the high standards of community living that Yamuna Apts has always
been proud of.
Thanks and best regards,
Sudhir
G-001 Yamuna Apts.
G-001 Yamuna Apts.
Sadhana
School of Music Dance and Arts
The erstwhile Alaknanda Music Academy downed
its shutters in 2012 and in its place was born Sadhana-School of Music Dance and Arts run by
our in-house musician/dancer (Ramanan Venkatraman, C-005 and Radhika Samson,
A-201). The School had a grand opening on 12th January with performances by the
music and dance teachers. The event saw a massive turnout by residents as well
as others who were invited from the neighbouring colonies, some in the audience
not finding spaces to stand. The chief guest for the evening was Pandit Barun
Kumar Pal who is a well known Hansveena exponent and one of Late Pandit Ravi
Shankar’s seniormost disciples. The event started with an Odissi recital by two
of Radhika’s youngest students, followed by an Odissi performance by Radhika
herself. The dance was followed by a Hindustani classical concert by a trio of
young musicians - Debojyoti Mukherjee (sitar) and Shubro Paul (flute), who were
accompanied on the tabla by our very own Pranav Ramji. This was followed by a
phenomenal solo performance by Ramanan Venkatraman on guitars accompanied by
his battery of gadgets and gizmos to assist him in bringing out brilliant tunes
of his own compositions.
The function ended with snacks and beverages
for the guests. The music school is open for
admissions with a variety of art forms on
offer. Please feel free to visit the place and explore your
creative side.
Radhika
Samson (A-201)
The 1970s Reloaded…
1. At the age of 12-17 years, you were very proud of
your first "Bell bottom" or your first "Maxi” or your first
"Apache" jeans.
2. Phantom and Mandrake were your only true heroes.
The brainy ones read "Competition Success Review"!
3. Your "Camlin" geometry box &
Natraj / Flora pencil were your prized possession.
4. The only "Holidays" you took were to go
to your grandparents' or your cousins' houses.
5. Ice-cream meant only either an orange stick
(costing about 4 annas), a vanilla stick or a Choco Bar if you were better off than
most.
6. You gave your neighbour’s phone number to others
with a ‘c/o’ written against it because you had booked yours only 7 years ago
and were still waiting for your number to come!!
7. Your first family car (and the only one) was a
Fiat or an Ambassador. This often had to be pushed by the entire family to get
going.
8. The glass windows in the back seats used to get
stuck at the two-thirds down level and used to irk you greatly! The window went
down only if your puny arm could manage the tacky rotary handle to pull it
down. Locking the door was easy. You just whacked the other tacky, non-rotary
handle downwards!
9. Your mom had stitched the lace curtains for all
the windows of the car. They were tied in the middle and if your dad was the
comfort-oriented kind, you had a magnificent small fan upfront
10. Your parents were proud owners of HMT watches.
You "earned" yours after HS/SSC exams.
11. You have been to "Jumbo Circus";
have held your breath while the pretty young thing in the glittery mini skirt
did acrobatics, quite enjoyed the elephants hitting football, the motorcyclist
vrooming in the "Maut ka Gola" and it was politically okay to laugh
your guts out at dwarfs hitting each other's bottoms!
12. You at least once heard "Hawa Mahal"
on the radio and would invariably check your watches/clocks for their accuracy
at 9 PM when it started.
13. If you had a TV, it was normal to expect the
neighborhood to gather around to watch Chitrahaar or
the Sunday movie. If you didn't have a TV, you just went to a house
that did. It mattered little if you knew the owners or not.
14. Sometimes the owners of these TVs got very
creative and got a bi- or even a tri-coloured anti-glare screen which they
attached with two side clips onto their Weston TVs. That confused the hell out
of you!
15. Black and white TVs weren't so bad after all
because cricket was played in whites!
16. You thought your Dad rocked because you got your
own colour TV when the Asian Games started. Everyone else got the same idea as
well and ever since, no one came over to your house and you didn't go to anyone
else's.
17. You dreaded the death of any political leader
because of the mourning they would announce on the TV. After all how much
"Shastriya Sangeet" can a kid take? Salma Sultan also didn't smile
during the mourning. After Salma, came Meenu (the English news reader) in the
80s.
19. The only "gadgets" in the house were
the TV, the fridge and possibly a mixer.
20. All the gadgets had to be duly covered with a
crochet cover and sometimes even with ingenious, custom-fit plastic/cloth
covers.
21. Movies meant Rajesh Khanna or Amitabh Bachchan.
Before the start of the movie you always had to watch the obligatory
"Newsreel".
22. You thought you were so rocking because you knew
almost all the songs of Abba and Boney M.
23. Your hormones went crazy when you heard
"Disco Deewane" by Naziya Hassan & Zoheb Hassan.
25. Photography was a big thing. You were lucky if
your family owned a camera. A reel of 36 exposures was valuable, hence it justified
the half hour preparation and "setting" and the "posing"
for each picture. Therefore, you have at least one family picture where everyone
is holding their breath and standing at attention
26. During Diwali celebration it was family clothes
tailored from our favorite tailor down the road.
27. We walked to school or took a bus... the ones
who got dropped by car were always RICH ones.
28. Our outdoor games were gully danda, marbles,
stick in the mud, langdi taang, chupan chupai.
29. Going out to eat in a restaurant was an occasion
may be once or twice in a year.
30. Mostly we managed with one pair of shoes for the
whole year at school, our elder brother/sisters clothes, books were passed to
us for school...
31. "Duckback" raincoats were premium what
we could get starting the school in rainy season every year...
32. Sparrows often made their nests in our homes.
Bumble bees and wasps were a common sight. We could even see butterflies flying
around and garden lizards moving around stealthily.
CALENDAR
OF EVENTS - FEBRUARY 2014
|
DATE
|
EVENT
|
TIME
|
VENUE
|
|
2.2.2014
|
ON THE SPOT PAINTING
COMPETITION
|
9.30 AM
|
BADMINTON COURT
|
|
9.2.2014
|
HERITAGE WALK TO
HUMAYUN'S TOMB WITH DR. RAMJI NARAYANAN
|
10.00 AM
|
MEET AT A BLOCK GATE
|
