EDITORIAL
This is the 200th issue of the Yamuna Chronicle. The previous
199 issues carry the memorable events that shaped the journey of Yamuna through
the times. Many of them are happy memories but along the way we lost some near
and dear members and residents to age and other unfortunate events. We cherish
their memories. When you go through the old issues some of the names that
feature there don’t ring a bell, a testimony to the times we live in,
transitory and fleeting acquaintances.
April usually marks the advent of summer but a spell of
unseasonal rain midway through the month meant that we could enjoy really
pleasant weather right upto the third week of the month. Summer also spells
doom for the colurful winter flowering plants. However, fortunately all the
Jacaranda trees planted in the border of the badminton court are in full bloom
and bathed in lilac. In a few years when the trees mature a liitle more and
when the season arrives, leaves will not be visible. You would only behold a
sea of purple infloresence. It would be a magnificent sight and serve as a
backdrop for taking pictures.
As we all know temperature and humidity are set to rise in
the coming weeks when even an illusion of coolness is a priceless gift indeed.
People living in the top floor must be experiencing a sauna effect.
Many people from all strata of society lead their lives on
the outer edge of sanity. They are either bigoted or sexist or morality
upholders or just vagabonds, eager to join any mob at a price to wreak havoc.
They play to the basest and most primal impulses of paranoia, conflict and
violence and use them in an effort to create schism in society to justify its
most regressive attitudes. Take the case of the screening of Padmaavat, cow transportation violence,
or targeting women with brutality for visiting pubs. These things have no place
in civilised society, yet the vast majority remain silent when mobs inflict
such mayhem. Complicity of legislators in the rapes of young girls in Kathua
and Unnao was a new low. Can we really call India a civilised society, I
wonder. If there was a need for judicial outreach, this is where it should
begin. The judiciary should not take shelter on the plea that no witnesses came
forward when such people are either caught on camera or seen openly threatening
or even admitting to news channels that they were behind the incidents. Why are
the legislatures and judiciary giving
such an anaemic response? This is what disgusts many of us.
Normally, we take a recess during the hot summer months from
April to July from hosting any cultural event but we were pleasantly surprised
to get a classical performance treat from Sadhana School of Music and Arts in
the amphitheatre adjoining the badminton court on the 7th of the
month.
I saw a cartoon in the Times of India of 19th
April, 2018 where humans are shown to have evolved from monkeys and apes. So far so good, but
following the human was an ass, implying that humans have become asses, in a
derogatory sense. I strongly resent this drawing of parallels, not because
humans are behaving in a manner that is totally irresponsible and unpardonable
but in our attempts to draw similarities between animals and the failures of
human beings, we are not being fair to the animals in question. “He is an ass” and
“lame duck politicians” do not do justice to the animals. The injured parties
are the asses and the ducks. For decades, the extremely industrious and hard
working ass with a pannier full of load on its back and the long suffering
water fowl have had aspersions cast on them for no fault of theirs. Who are
humans to lay the blame on the doors of these humble creatures when all that
our species is doing is to collectively ensure that life gets extinguished on
this planet with our avarice and self seeking ways. Instead of pointing
fingures at others and being judgemental, we should look within.
A new pup has made its home in Yamuna. Pups are cute, is a
universal truism. I am quite fond of canines so long as they are not the biting
kind and do not mess up the road with their poop. Sorry, it should read that
the masters/dog walkers do not do the duty of scooping the poop. The dog does
not know. It is just doing its constitutional.
Public sector in the service sector remains an anachronism in
the age of free enterprise. At last the powers that be have realised that Air
India should be sold. But who will buy a behemoth which has debts coming out of
its ears, a recalcitrant, unwieldy, inefficient, and lethargic work force?
Another public sector enterprise, ITDC, also needs to be put on the block.
Holding prime property, it is another example of service sector business in the
wrong hands.
The pavement outside Yamuna and leading up to the market has
at last been fixed but not until many twisted ankles and broken bones bore
testimony to civic negligence. When many officials lower in the pecking order
did not respond favourably – although all of them promised to get into the act
– one had to finally call Mr. Saurabh Bharadwaj, the sitting MLA, for the job
to be done. Although promises galore were made before AAP came to power, once
elected, they bore the same stripes as that of Congress or BJP – lackadaisical,
corrupt and inefficient. Saurabh Bharadwaj seems to be an exception.
The fourth estate needs to clean its stables by removing the
nattering anchors of negativity from all the TV channels. They funnel and
glorify only the negative news with nary a thought to portray the good things
that are happening in the country. This negativity has a pernicious effect on
the psyche of individuals and leads to bouts of depression as though doomsday
is nigh.
I was collared the other day by Sudha Sundaram who remarked
that I had made a politically incorrect statement by sending a message to
residents alluding to the safai karamcharis as “jamadars”, an apparently
derogatory slur. While I referred the term with the intent of easy
comprehension, I realised my faux pas. We have the most reprehensible habit of
imposing caste markers on people. Other casual invocations of identity also
extract huge moral costs. I stand chastised. Thanks Sudha, for pointing it out.
I want to take the liberty of proffering some unsolicited
counsel and tips to the residents regarding garbage segregation rules made
mandatory in NCR. While several messages have been sent explaining the
principles of segregation, it is also important to enlighten the maids and
children about the do’s and don’ts. At the cost of repetition, only kitchen
waste consisting of fruit and vegetable peels, and leftover food should be put
in the wet waste bag; all other dry waste like plastic sachets, bottles, both
plastic and glass, waste paper, metal cans, etc. are to be put in the dry waste
bag and handed over to the waste pickers.The reason we are stressing this point
is because the Delhi Government is putting the necessary wherwithal in place to
conduct random checks of tippers coming out of gated communities, to monitor
whether proper segregation has happened. If it is observed that proper
segregation has not happened there will be huge penalties that will be imposed
on the Society. In the initial stages, the authorities may be lenient but
repeated offenders will be severely dealt with. While the Society have put the
onus on DDSIL, we as residents need to be cautious, as it will be too much to
expect DDSIL to sift through foul smelling contents of each garbage bag.
A hastily planned potluck dinner was organised on Friday, 20th
April, 2018 in the badminton court. A dust storm earlier in the evening had
ensured pleasant weather by the time we assembled. As usual at the appointed
hour, only two residents were present but by 9 p.m., a sizable number showed up
for the shared meal. A group of residents who had planned an antakshari with
50,000 smackers as prize money, did not fool most. Everybody knew there was a
catch to it. The singing was incredible. I have not seen a better bunch of
singers anywhere. All the women with their dulcet voices and melodious singing,
transported us to another world. It was absolutely ethereal. The event was well
contested and the winning team won 50,000 in worthless Uzbek currency! But
nobody complained as it was a wonderful evening. Aseem Kumar, Bhavani Krishnan
and Sumathi Chandrasekharan had put up an interesting song quiz and Aseem as
the compere did a splendid job. The food was divine and everybody dived in with
gusto. An ice cream cart was arranged for residents with a sweet tooth to
satiate their cravings. However, everyone including diabetics partook, throwing caution to the wind.
It is observed that some residents have handed over their C
Block gate access card to their maids. It was mentioned in the very beginning,
when the automatic access gate was installed, that the access cards should be
used only by the residents and that the same should not be handed over to
anyone else. This is a big security risk. Whosoever has handed over their
access card to their staff may please retrieve it from them. Henceforth, if any
staff is found using the access card, it shall either be confiscated or the
access electronically blocked.
With the exams over, school children have moved to the next
class. In former times one moved to the next class only after the summer
vacation. However, these days they promote them to the next class so that they
can burden them with homework and wreck their mood for the holidays. However,
Yamuna kids being very bright, manage this admirably and can be seen spending a
lot of time playing in the badminton court. Midday summer heat doesn’t bother
them.
OBITUARY
Mrs. Kanakam Menon, wife of former YCGHS President, Mr. C.S.
Menon (H-302), passed away in Mumbai on 4th April, 2018. She was
staying with her son, KK. Yamuna residents convey their heartfelt condolence to
the bereaved family.
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Mr. P.N.V. Kurup of B-205
passed away in Sama Hospital on the morning of 27th April, 2018. He
was ailing for a while. Paneenazhikath Narayana Vasudeva Kurup was an
Indian Ayurvedic physician, and the founder director of the Central
Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRIMH). During his illustrious
career, he served as Vice Chancellor of the Gujarat
Ayurved University, Jamnagar and was advisor to the Indian Systems of Medicine
and Homoeopathy (ISM&H) of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. He published several
articles and a book, “A Handbook on Indian
Medicinal Plants”, on the traditional Indian medicine system. The
Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour the Padma Shri, in 2005,
for his contributions to Indian medicine. Our heartfelt condolences go to the
family. We will all miss him. May his soul rest in peace.
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April has turned out to
be a month of tragedies. Mr. A.T.K. Raman of E-104 came to his neighbour Mr.
P.D. Gopalakrishnan at 8.45 am on 29th April, 2018 complaining of
breathlessness and wished to be taken to the hospital. Mr. Goplakrishnan’s son
Srihari rushed him to Batra Hospital where they tried reviving him but failed.
He died of a massive heart attack. Only yesterday he had come to the Society
office to enquire about something. He was alone in the house as his son and
daughter-in-law had left for Mumbai yesterday. They had to rush back to cremate
his body. He was Proffessor in Amity Buisness school. After his retirement he
has been a visiting faculty to many institutions. We convey our heartfelt
condolence to his family.
SNIPPETS
Mr. Narendra Nath and his wife Pratibha have moved into F-004
with their daughter Ruchi and grandaughter Kamakshi. Mr. Nath was a Professor
of Physics at Kurukshetra University. At 85 years, he is still revered and is a Technology Angel
in Electronics and Physics
as a Member of the National Panel,
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. He is very erudite and has
six patents to his credit. .He would like to share his I P R experience with younger
people in Yamuna who have the urge for innovation and creativity. His wife,
Pratibha retired as a school teacher. His daughter, Ruchi was also a school
teacher but is now keen on a desk job preferably with an NGO. She likes singing
Bhajans. His grand-daughter, Kamakshi is pursuing a Bachelors degree in Social
Sciences and Humanities from Ambedkar University. She is also fond of singing
and loves to play badminton. Mr. Nath can be reached on 9813510661 and Ruchi
can be reached on 9991602559.
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Renuka Ramkumar, daughter of Radha and Ramkumar (Kumar) of
B-003 got married to Mukund Ganesh on 22nd April, 2018. It was an
exhausting and elaborate set of rituals that spanned four days in Yamuna and at
Airport Residency. However, this exhaustion did not show on the couple’s faces
as they looked bright and fresh right through. Yamuna residents were present in
large numbers in one or more of the functions. At the reception held on the
evening of 22nd April, 2018, Renuka was dressed in a shimmering
Rajasthani lehenga-choli and looked every bit a royal bride. Radha and Kumar
were great hosts. Renuka will be winging her way to Romania where her husband
will be posted. We wish the couple the very best.
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Vinod Balakrishnan of F-204 has bought F-001 and will be
moving there with his wife, Priya. It will afford privacy and more elbow room
to the young couple and at the same time Vinod will be within shouting distance
of his parents. I wonder who will need whom more. I am sure when a baby comes
along,the parents will become saviours
with their baby sitting duties. Vinod’s presence in the vicinity will be a big
moral support to Shobha, her mother and Mr. Balakrishnan in their advancing years.
