EDITORIAL
A toxic cocktail of gases, bio-mass fires,
dust and tailpipe exhausts assaults Delhi’ites and sends them scurrying to buy
masks and air purifiers. Farm fires from stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana
are suspected to be one of the main causes. I have reasonable cause to believe
that the air we breathe out must be cleaner than the air we breathe in as all the
pollutants must be getting entrapped in our lungs! The quality of air early
this month was so hazardous that we had to defer the badminton and TT
tournaments by ten days as we could not subject our children to this trauma. I
have this fierce urge to file a public interest litigation against Chief
Ministers for a crime against humanity because of their apathy to take steps
against air pollution. Apart from the danger to people’s health, air pollution
has huge economic costs as it adversely affects tourism, productivity and
commerce. Wake up to this peril, folks and start a movement against this
scourge. It could turn out to be apocalyptic if we stay as mute spectators and
do not work towards eliminating the causes of air pollution in our everyday
lives.
In honour of Mr Ashutosh Dikshit, Founder
President of Citizen’s Alliance who unfortunately passed away at a relatively
young age of 57 years, a prayer meeting was held on 3rd of this
month at Chinmaya Mission in Lodhi Road. It is a travesty of justice that a a person who selflessly fought bureaucratic apathy and political intransigence with
a missionary zeal should be snatched away from our midst at such a young age.
The importance of the man can be gauged from the fact that the large Chinmaya
Mission Hall was overflowing with admirers and there was not even standing
room. Mr Arvind Kejriwal’s message was read out. The Deputy Chief Minister of
Delhi, Mr Manish Sisodia and Mr Saurabh Bharadwaj who were present, paid
glowing tributes. It is not often that you come across a person who is so
committed to civic causes, so well-read and a repository of facts and figures.
His oratory both in English and Hindi was mesmerising. He fought against the
scourge of pollution and for the cause of women’s safety, rights of pedestrians
and several other civic issues. He died of lung cancer, probably falling a victim
to air pollution, a cause he espoused so passionately. Above all he was a very
humble and nice person. He will be missed by all the residents of Alaknanda. May his soul rest in peace.
Diwali day or a day close to Diwali is
celebrated as “Dikshitar Day”. Yamuna Gana Sabha decided to celebrate this day
as ‘Trinity Day’. The conventional way would have been to invite singers to
sing compositions of the trinity. Yamuna colony has a glorious tradition of
holding various competitions (sports , quiz , painting , rangoli and even
culinary). So we thought a society with such heightened sense of culture will
welcome a music competition as part of the Trinity Day celebrations. The other
idea that cropped up was to have an eminent artist to perform live which would
enable rasikas to enjoy a concert. The logistics proved difficult and so as a
via media, the screening of a concert was taken up. With YouTube and Apple Music
being available for concerts, a rare recording with a message was selected. Lastly,
the participants for the singing competition were invited to make their musical
offering. All in all, it was a fulfilling day, albeit a long one. A note
regarding the competition: There were two categories 1) Varnam 2) Kirtanam
There were 3 participants for the Varnam category and 14 for the Kirtanam category
though 19 had registered. There were two external judges: Mrs.Anuradha Prasad
from Saket and Subhashri Ramamurthy from Vijay Enclave. The Judges chose the
same participants as winners in both categories! Varnam category:1st prize-Shriya
Sreekrishna (disciple of Jayanti Aiyyar) 2nd Prize-Sivasree (Her guru is in
Chennai) Kirtanam category 1st prize: Shriya Sreekrishna 2nd prize Sivasree
Consolation prize: Shashvath Arun (disciple of Subhada Arun). The above
write-up was given by Mrs. Tara Natarajan of C-106 who conceived and organised
the programme in the Community Hall on 3rd November 2019 with the
able assistance of Bhavani, Subhada, Sumathi, Aruna and Seetha.
We did away
with the idea of inviting Chief Guests for the Annual Day some years ago and
the reasons for the same are the following. We introduce chief guests as people
who do not need any introduction and proceed to give a lengthy biographical of
their impressive track record. The worthy individual then will say that he
would only speak a few words because he doesn’t want to stand between you and
the entertainment that is to follow. He doesn’t then stay to the script and
gets carried away with the inflated idea of his self-importance fuelled by the
lengthy introduction by the host and sends the audience on a reverie for the
next half hour. Only a muted applause at the end of the speech wakes up the
audience who heave a sigh of relief that the ordeal is over. I have rarely been
enthralled by a speech. It requires a different set of skills and comic relief
to keep the audience spellbound and in splits. The political variety and those
who have reached positions of acclaim seldom are gifted with this attribute.
Therefore, this year too we will avoid inviting a Chief Guest.
Whilst on the
subject, those who are in a position to do so, please sponsor the prizes,
scholarships etc. Their contribution will not only be acknowledged in the
chronicle but they will also be invited to the stage so that the audience can
appreciate their contribution. They may contact Mrs. Seetha Venkataraman or
myself for the same. Lastly, those crooners, dancers and stage performers etc.
whose talents have gone unnoticed, please step forward and give your names for
performing at the Annual Day as this is the mecca of all cultural activities
and your time in the limelight can be the harbinger of greater things. Some of
the people who have performed on the Yamuna stage have gone on to gain National
and International fame and recognition. I can name a few; KK, Maha Krishnan,
Chitra Jagadeeshan etc. No more solo performances this year, please.
In an
interconnected world where work-life and study-life balance is seriously askew,
one seeks relief from multiple stress points. To alleviate from this troubled
eco-system plaguing today’s generation, we have planned a distraction, which if
last year’s successful conduct is any indication, should bring cheer to a lot
of people. I am talking about the Christmas Carnival which had all the elements
of a mela. This year too we will plan a grand Christmas Carnival on 24th
December, 2019 with games stalls, food stalls, sundry sales stalls, giant
wheel, winter ramp walk and Prashant’s favourite-“Music on Request”. Just let
your hair down, if you have any that is and live the moment and forget your
woes.
After a whole
week of thick smog, the weather cleared up to sunny skies with a light breeze
wafting across the lawn on 17th November, 2019. It was a beautiful
day and the perfect setting for the Annual Sports Day. While the children
gathered in the lawn and started practising in earnest, it required a bit of
prodding for the late risers to come to the lawn. It eventually got underway
to the raucous cheering of the kids under five, for picking the toffees. The
athlete of the day was undoubtedly Anoushka Nair who got multiple prizes. In
the sprint, she showed a clean pair of heels to the chasing throng who were left
way behind in her wake. One would imagine wearing a sari to the sports day would
render the person seriously handicapped. Subhada did not let that bother her as
she romped home way ahead of the field in the lemon and spoon race. While
others were making heavy weather of the balancing act, it seemed like Subhada’s
lemon was glued to the spoon, the way she briskly made her way to the finish
line. Vaishali Sharma demonstrated that she has eyes of a hawk as she threaded
the needle in a jiffy and galloped to the finish line. In the lady’s sprints, Purnima Satish reigned supreme, in the men’s sprints Prashant Gopal rocketed to
the finish line. The family honours were taken by Aditya Santosh and Varun
Santosh who won multiple prizes in the boy’s section. The amusement was left to
the Tug of War where the men were pitted against the women. However, this time
the men came on top in the best of three contest. Their cheering would have
been short-lived as they had to return home to their wives where it would be
amply demonstrated as to who is superior! The battle of the sexes got balanced
out as the girls easily overcame the boys in the tug of war. Shashvath Arun
amongst the boys and Anoushka Nair amongst the girls won the 400 metres road
race which some generously allude to as the ‘marathon’.
The
participants for the badminton and TT tournaments got whittled down because
some of them were pre-occupied with studies for their pre-board and other
exams. Consequently, the remaining field did not produce any surprises and the
favourites won. Very few adults wanted to participate but there were not enough
to have a contest. The winners are listed below. Prashant Sr. conducted the
matches with his customary panache.
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S.NO
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CATEGORY
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BADMINTON TOURNAMENT
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1
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SUB-JUNIORS SINGLES
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NIVETA REDDY
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A-309
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FIRST
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ADITYA SANTOSH
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E-002
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SECOND
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2
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JUNIORS SINGLES
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ANOUSHKA NAIR
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A-203
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FIRST
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VANSHIKA RAJPUROHIT
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H-206
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SECOND
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3
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JUNIORS DOUBLES
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ANOUSHKA NAIR/JAYASHREE K
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A-203/B-206
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FIRST
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ADWITA NAIR/VANSHIKA RAJPUROHIT
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B-107/H-206
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SECOND
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4
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SENIORS-SINGLES
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RADHIKA V
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C-005
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FIRST
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SHASHVATH ARUN
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G-306
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SECOND
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5
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SENIORS-DOUBLES
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RADHIKA V/SAMIKSHA NAIR
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C-005/B-107
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FIRST
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SHASHVATH ARUN/SAHANA SAVARKAR
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G-306/C-208
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SECOND
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TT TOURNAMENT
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1
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SUB JUNIORS
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ADITYA SANTOSH
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E-002
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FIRST
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NIVETA REDDY
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A-309
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SECOND
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2
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JUNIORS
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SAHANA IYER
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E-101
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FIRST
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VANSHIKA RAJPUROHIT
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H-206
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SECOND
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3
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SENIORS
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SHREEJA SRIKANT
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C-003
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FIRST
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SAHANA SAVARKAR
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C-208
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SECOND
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There has
been an overwhelmingly good response to the request to donate clothes and
footwear for the poor and destitute. Let us hope the residents largesse will
keep the poor warm in the cold and harsh wintry nights. The two large plastic
bins were overflowing with clothes and footwear. They were eventually taken
away by Goonj (an NGO) who undertake to distribute them to the poor and needy.
A good deed is very gratifying to the giver and receiver.
Four people
in the colony are not paying a part of the maintenance or building repair and
maintenance fund passed by the General Body. Bonafide criticism of a decision
of the General Body is not taboo but thwarting or encouraging people to thwart
the legally binding majority decision is not warranted. The decision of the General Body is final and
binding and cannot be countermanded as per the provisions of the Delhi
Co-Operative Societies Act, 2003 and Delhi Co-operative Societies Rules,
2007. After all we have chosen to be
wedded to the rule of law as provided in the aforementioned Act and Rules
respectively. It is a universal principle that the majority view enjoins upon
everybody the obligation to follow it even if it militates with your world view
of things. This is jurisprudence in its essence. The defaulters who are holding
the whole Society to ransom by not paying their dues are harming the fabric of
co-operative and social living that we have so assiduously built up over the
years. We hope wiser counsels prevail and they pay up.
OBITUARY
With great sorrow, I
wish to report the sad demise of Mrs. V. Sarojam, wife of ex-member and long
time resident of E-304, Mr. K.S. Sivaramakrishnan in Thrissur on 7th November,
2019. Mr. Sivaramakrishnan and both their daughters Meera and Vidhya were by
her side when she breathed her last. Yamuna members convey their
heartfelt condolence to the bereaved family.
SNIPPETS
Mr. Sudhir
Dua has moved into B-005 with his wife Sarita from Vikas Puri where they lived
for thirty-five years. Mr. Dua was a partner in a jewellery firm, J. D.
Jewellers but decided to call it a day and decided to spend his sunset years in
spiritual bliss. While Mr Dua likes to croon and also follow sports and news
on TV both Mr. Dua and his wife get their greatest joy attending satsangs. They
can be reached on 9873601313.
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Vidyut
Mohan’s (G-206) company, ‘Takachar’ has been given the Best Indian Social
Enterprise Award by Action for India at ISB, Hyderabad on 7th
November, 2019. This kid has a penchant for notching up awards across the
globe. He may not like being referred to as a kid but he has grown up in our
midst from his early school days. He makes us really proud. He has a bright future ahead of him. We wish
him the very best.
*****************************
Raghavendra Subramanian aka Raghav (A-001) is used to donning
several hats but the latest one that crowns his head is that of a Producer. He
has started a production company, “Arts Unlimited” which will promote all kinds
of performing arts. His debut production, called ‘Bhakti and Sufi Night on Stage’ featuring two playlets, Meera and Sobhat was held on Sunday, 24th November 2019 at Apparel
House (Epicentre), Gurgaon, to rave reviews. A very promising start indeed. We
wish him good luck.
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CALENDAR
OF EVENTS FOR DECEMBER 2019
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DATE
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TIME
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VENUE
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7.12.19
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4.30 PM
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ANNUAL DAY-REFRESHMENTS, PRIZE DISTRIBUTION,
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MAIN LAWN
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VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT AND DINNER
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15.12.19
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10.30 AM
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HERITAGE WALK TO RED FORT WITH DR. RAMJI-PLEASE CAR-POOL
OR TAKE A METRO TO FUVARA
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FROM A BLOCK GATE
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24.12.18
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6.00 PM
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CHRISTMAS CARNIVAL/CAROL SINGING/WINTER RAMP WALK/MUSIC/DANCE/FOOD
STALLS
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BADMINTON COURT
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31.12.19
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12 MIDNIGHT
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CAKE CUTTING AND USHERING IN THE NEW YEAR
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COMMUNITY HALL
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