EDITORIAL
This
year at the cleanliness and eco drive on 2nd October, 2016 it was a no show.
Not a single person showed up. In yesteryears many children and a couple of
adults would roll up their sleeves and get into it in earnest.
We
are so entombed in our little Brahminical virtues and the caste and class
barrier that binds and separates us, that we are unwilling to break the mould.
We loathe the thought of getting our hands dirty and doing the bidding of a
'shudra'. It is indeed shameful. When are we going to get enlightened? We are
so caught up in our microcosmic world that we practice the most abhorrent form
of apartheid based on caste, culture, creed and colour. Do you need evidence of
this? We live in urban ghettos separated
by all the aforementioned factors. Witness the sales of fairness creams and see
the matrimonial ads. We castigate US for their race relations and the treatment
of blacks. Actually, we are the biggest racists in the world. At the Diwali
melas, I have seen many people from the so called upper caste leaving their
soiled food plates on the lawn for somebody else to pick up. I have no qualms
in picking up somebody else's plate and depositing it in the dustbin. I have
heard refrains, "Ada thodadhe, echhal". Don't touch it, it is soiled.
I don't know the equivalent of 'echhal' in English. I have been told that I
belong to the highest strata of Brahmins. Can you believe it, a caste within a
caste?
We,
as adults, are responsible for indoctrinating the kids with the most
reprehensible practice of caste and changing their innocent minds as they grow
up. I may be a maverick in such people's eyes, but I am proud of the fact that
I am not constrained by these prejudices. Once, I happened to spell the name of
a good friend wrong in these columns, which I admit of, course, was careless of
me. His consternation was not that I had spelt his name wrong but he painfully
pointed out to me that by using the letter 'n' in his name instead of 'm', I
had made him a non-Brahmin. I was aghast. But I don't hold it against him, it
is the indoctrination. He is still my favourite person. I have altered the
alphabets just so that nobody speculates about his identity.
Navratri
was a festive time for everybody. Visits to each others' houses and to the Puja
pandal was the norm. As usual the women looked gorgeous in their silk saris and
gold accoutrements. During Navratri we also had our customary dandia on 8th
October, 2016. This year was different in the sense that we had a dandia
ensemble choreographed by Falguni Bhatt. This four minute dance was a voyeur's,
I beg your pardon, viewer's delight with all the pretty damsels moving fluidly
to the rhythm of clacking dandia sticks in au
naturale choli rears. The crowd was relatively thin due to the awful
traffic on the roads with many people who had gone out during the day not being
able to return on time. Apart from Falguni, the other dancers included Latha
Narayanan, Anu Nair, Sudha Easwaran, Seema Chari, Purnima Satish, Meera Venkat
and Isha Gera. Hats off to them for their awesome performance.
Ramlila
was an all-out children's show with the script written, directed and produced
by Shreeja on 11th October, 2016. The cast consisted of Radhika as the dimpled Ram, Vanshika Rajpurohit as the demure Sita,
Ananya and Adwita as the cute siblings Luv and Kush,and Shashvath as sage Vashisht.
Bhuvana as Hanuman did a good wiggling of the hips, Sai Chaitanya looked the
part as Ravan, and Megh looked the noble soul as Lakshman. The cast also
featured Aruna as Vanar Sena King, Shreeram as Janak, Shivashree as Mandodri,
Aiden as the righteous Vibhishan, Aditya as the saviour Jatayu, Navya as the
golden deer, Vijaya as Meghnath, Sahana played the good and bad roles as
Kaikeyi and Soorpanakha, and Vanshika Arora as Mathara. Back stage assistance
came from Purnima Satish, Chandrakanta and Shreeya. They all gave a good
account of themselves and were cheered lustily by the audience.
This
was followed by a very pleasing diya dance recital by Radhika Samson, Dakshina,
Kiana and Radhika Venkataraman to the strains of Raghupathi Raghava Rajaram. The
grand finale was the consigning to the flames of the demon King Ravan and his
siblings. The blast from the bombs made Ravan keel over. Balaji very kindly
distributed some refreshments to the audience. The participants of Ramlila were
thrilled when Srikant and Soumya took them to Bikanerwala for dinner.
At
this year's AGM held on 16th October, 2016 fewest ever members logged their
attendance. This indifference is either a sign that everything is going very smoothly
or it may be that there is no point airing one's views as things are not going
to change. Either way the Managing Committee will remain clueless The Society
needs feedback to address the concerns of members and the absence from
attending the AGM helps neither. It is true that the MC may not be able to
solve every individual's problems as there could be conflicting viewpoints, as
was witnessed in the debate on the merits and de-merits of pruning trees, the
frequency and the methods adopted. The MC put forth horticulture rules which
was unanimously adopted by the General Body. The horticulture rules lay down
the guidelines for various horticulture related issues. If everybody strictly
follows these rules there will be less grief generally. All the resolutions
were passed unanimously.
Mr.
Kunal Savarkar, S. Srinivas and Mr. Mohan Krishnaswamy were elected as the new
members of the MC.
Ram
highlighted the achievements of the committee in the past one year. The most
significant achievement was the one relating to the regularisation of Flats by
the ROCS. We sincerely thank Kumar for arranging complimentary refreshments.
The
Diwali Mela on 29th October, 2016 in the badminton court and in the adjoining
areas was a hit although the enthusiasm amongst adults and children leading up
to the event was very tepid. At many times the thought of abandoning the Mela
came to mind as none of the children wanted to stand in the stalls. They only
wanted to enjoy. As a last resort they were asked to retain all the earnings
and not give anything to the Society. Upon this announcement some children and
adults agreed to man the stalls. I must thank Satish for arranging the Sony sponsorship
and Mr. S. Krishnaswamy for sponsoring some gifts for Lucky Dip and Hoopla.
Prashant. Sr. and junior as usual kept the crowd alive with their comments and
music. Sumathi was a great help. The winner, however, was the crowd of visitors
that made it an evening to remember. Only the success of this year's Mela
stands between the thought of discontinuing the Mela and carrying on this
bittersweet experience.
Another
tradition that will not last till posterity is the Diwali illumination
competition. With children not so enthused with tradition and culture and the
adults complaining of creaky knees, fatigue and debilitating backs there is a
call to either abandon this event or truncate it. Although I am a diehard
traditionalist, I have been pressured to announce the simplification of the
event. From next year the contest between the blocks will be decided on only
one Rangoli.
Be
that as it may, there was quite a good show put up by the blocks this year.
There was no flagging of enthusiasm. Despite a woeful shortage of manpower
E& F put up a magnificent show and shared the first prize with G&H for
the best overall impact. Bhavani, almost
single handed, put up E&F's best show ever. G&H's theme of beti bachao
, beti padao got a lot of resonance and they were rightly awarded the first
prize for the theme, A&B with their theme of Goddesses of the world took
the second prize. C&D got the first prize for illumination and G&H came
second in this category. For the best single Rangoli, A&B got the first
prize for their interpretation of Goddess Kali, E& F came second for their
interpretation of Kalinga Nartanam. C&D's theme of airborne vehicles of the
world starting with the Pushpaka Vimanam and ending with a rocket was unique.
G&H showed their true mettle after a long hiatus with an all-round show to
bag maximum prizes. They reminded us that yesteryears champion can be written off
only at your peril. For the first time after twenty five years of illumination
competition, the event got press coverage when Jaya TV carried the story with
pictures and interview of residents in their news channel. We must thank Mala
Sundaresan for arranging this.
We
are just a month away from the Annual Day. Residents are requested to give
their names for the events to either Anu Shekhar or me. Please begin practice
in earnest in order to put up a good show. Only few solo performances will be
considered.
MCD
has started an initiative to change the power hungry sodium vapour lamps to LED
lamps. Some of the lights on the perimeter road have been changed. The Society
will shortly undertake to change the other lights to LED to improve the
illumination of the colony.
Crime
outside Yamuna is spiralling out of control. Mr. Arvind Rajpurohit's (F-004)
car was deliberately punctured by two motor-cycle borne youth. One of them
pointed to a flat tyre and when Arvind and his driver got down to examine the
wheel at the rear, the first one grabbed his brief case kept in the rear seat
and ran across the road where his accomplice was waiting for him astride a
motor cycle. Both Arvind and his driver ran across the road and with the help
of our security guard Khan, managed to lunge and topple the bike. The thieves
fled on foot. The bike was then brought and parked in the basement. Arvind then
went to the police station to lodge an FIR and the police tried to dissuade
him. He managed to pull some strings and got the FIR lodged. The next day the
thief was paraded in the police station and Arvind identified him. This clearly
shows that there is an unholy nexus between the cops and the thieves. Many such
cases relating to Yamuna haven't been solved. Maybe the cops wanted to return
the bike to the thieves which is why they were caught.
SNIPPETS
Akshay
of A-205 will be seeking his fortunes in Singapore after leaving IFC and
joining PWC. He is moving out with his wife Aditi and everybody's sweetheart,
Myrah. While we wish them good luck, we are sorry to see them go.
****************
Our
resident doctors Sharada Vinod and Vijay Shankar of G-302 have also
unfortunately moved out. Fortunately, they have not gone far afield. They have
moved next door to Narmada Apartments.
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR NOVEMBER 2016
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DATE
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TIME
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EVENT
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VENUE
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5.11.16
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7.00 PM
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QUIZ COMPETITION WITH SUMATHI
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BADMINTON COURT
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6-15.11.16
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7.00 PM ONWARDS
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TT AND BADMINTON TOURNAMENTS
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UNDER CLUB HOUSE & BADMINTON COURT
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19.11.16
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6.30 PM
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MOVIE SCREENING AND POT-LUCK DINNER
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BADMINTON COURT
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20.11.16
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9.30 AM
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SPORTS DAY FOR ALL AGE GROUPS
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MAIN LAWN
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