EDITORIAL
The latter half of December has been
bitterly cold with the minimum temperatures setting record lows. One normally
witnesses such lows in January. I think we are caught up in a polar vortex-a
spinning expanse of cold air near the North Pole which occasionally gets sucked
down to the lower latitudes makes us plains people dive into our duvets. No
wonder one sees nary any soul when one sets off on a walk in the evening. The
one’s who dare to step out are barely recognizable in monkey caps and
balaclavas.
The month started on a bright note with the hosting of the
Annual Day. Despite the absence of many residents, we had an audience which was
larger than last year. The salient point of this year’s Annual Day was that the
audience stayed on till the last event got over. Generally, the crowd starts
thinning as the night wears on but that was not the case this time, a testimony
of the quality of programme put up. Yamuna is brimming with talent and it was
on display in full splendor at the event. While everybody gave a good account
of themselves, the general response from the audience was that the standout
performances were by the tiny tots in “the enormous turnip”, the dance by
Sivashree and the Kathak fusion dance by Aanchal Sinha. Both these dancers
bring a lot of energy into their dance and their movements are very fluid. They
seem to have dance in their genes. “Desh Raag medley by Subhada, Bhavani and
Sumathi had everyone on the edge of their seats. They seemlessly shifted
between many native songs and their diction was perfect. The punjabi song came
out as fluently as Punjabi gaalis and had you not been looking at the singers
one would have thought the singers were from Jullunder or Ludhiana. Their
vernacular felicity is to be commended. Despite my being in the cast of ‘the
sound of music” it was very well appreciated by all. Thanks to the spirit and
determination that Seema Chari brings to the set, the fairly long musical was
put up with just a week of practice. While the entire cast seemed to struggle
with the lines in the rehearsals, Seema seemed to know everyone’s lines. She oozes
with talent and sets a benchmark which is hard to replicate. I don’t know
whether we got a standing ovation or whether the crowd stood up because the
show was over!!! Either way, we lapped it up.
As usual Subhada’s choir and Sadhana’s programme are always the
main stays of the Annual Day. Apart from that there was Bollywood-Hollywood
dance done by the girls which also drew appreciative applause. All the food
stalls did brisk business. The prizes were distributed by the President, Jt.
Secreatry and the sponsors, while I held on to the mike and dished out some
drivel. It was a day to rejoice and soak it all in.
The plethora of advertisements bombarded from TV channels
puts the viewer in a flux as the constantly shifting dynamics rumble through one’s
cognitive faculties. One ends up buying things out of impulse and find a year
later at the time of spring cleaning that the bloody thing hasn’t been used
even once. We are all going through a painful, contagious, socially transmitted
condition of overload, debt, anxiety and work resulting from a dogged pursuit
of more which could be loosely described as 'affluenza'. There is a tussle
between our visceral need to want everything viz. big cars, big TV sets, fancy
attire etc and our cerebral need to be leaner and smarter. E-shopping has in a
way made us all vulnerable to the lure of the of the pretty and exotic. Mobile
phones and smart devices are promoting apps and social media like Facebook etc
open us to the world of e-shopping where one willy-nilly get dragged into
buying things which may look desirable. During the era of traditional shopping,
so much variety was not available and our choice was limited to the things available
locally. Now the whole world is your marketplace and delivered conveniently at
your doorstep. Every other day one is answering the door bell to receive a
parcel which either the missus or the daughters have ordered. I am told that
this is a familiar story in most families. This phenomena explains the worrying
erosion of my bank balance.
This year’s Christmas Carnival took on an additional sheen
with an amalgamation of the essence of a mela and our traditional carnival.
Extensive publicity ensured that we had a decent crowd. All the stall holders
did really well. The frigid weather of the season was tempered by the warmth
provided by the gas heaters and the jostling crowd. A new food stall going by the
esoteric name “Orphic Artisan Bakery” had a Cordon Bleu, Paris trained chef
with a variety of food offerings. Going by the taste of the Pizza’s from the
wood fired oven, a queue formed soon and the waiting time was forty minutes!
The Yule tide spirit was in full tilt with the stage bedecked
with well lit and adorned Christmas tree, streaming small lights radiating from
the corner of the stage to the concrete arch and a manger with Baby Jesus
nestled in it. The ever reliable Seema Chari had prepared the children to do
the Nativity Play and sing the carols. Lutz Konnermann then ascended the stage
and gave a German rendering of the carols in his baritone voice accompanied by
the talented Ramanan on the guitar. Seema did not let that faze her and came up
with a carol in Italian. Santa Claus played by Venkatesh of E-106 was caught up
in the notorious Delhi Traffic, made a late entry and was promptly mobbed by
the kids for the goodies he doled out. I must thank Sujata Sundaresan who
ensured that we had a few sales stalls for the Flea market. The Giant wheel
operator was kept busy and the balloon seller did brisk business. The music on
request stall manned by senior and junior Prashants was handled with aplomb.
Jr. Prashant recorded all retro numbers
apart from the current favourites and the senior Prashant exercised his vocal
chords to lend a voice to listeners choice. The dancers who among others
included Deepak Varma, Meera and the kids, who flew diown from Mumbai to be at
the carnival let their hair down and lit up the dance floor The atmosphere was
electric and did not vane until well after eleven when I had to perforce abort
the music to stop the dancers on their track and bring down the curtains on a
very enjoyable and festive carnival. Mrs. Abraham gifted Christmas cakes to
defray part of the costs of holding the carnival. I thank everybody who made
this year’s carnival special.
I was invited by the President of Godavri Apartments for
their Sports Day on 25th December, 2018 where Mr. Bhadana, the local
councillor was the Chief Guest. The Godavri President was addressing the
residents that they had been fined eight or nine times for not segregating the
garbage and disposing of construction debris. He mentioned that each time the
local councillor had got the fine waived. He further stated that Mr. Bhadana
has clearly told them that he would not bail them out anymore. It has therefore
become very clear that non-segregation of garbage will not be tolerated and
punitive action will be taken against defaulters.
In a world so caught up with troubles with neighbours, global
warming, pestilence, terrorism, unemployment, starvation and the like, if one
comes away unscathed one should consider the year to be good. In that sense
2018 has been a good year. We wish all Yamuna residents a great 2019- a year of
hope, accomplishment, peace, health and happiness.
The last day of the year is a time for celebration of the
good times we had in 2018. The young at heart like to let their hair down and
party hard. It usually encompasses music, dance, eats and other stimulants. One
such party took place at the Club House The place was transformed by Lavanya to look like a high end disco cum club with
strobe lights, lot of bling on the table ware, cut glass domes etc to add to
the glitz. The lights were dim and a lot of writhing bodies could be seen doing
contrortions on the dance floor to some of the season’s favourite music.The
revellers must have readily succumbed to spirited entreaties (pun intended) as evident
in their over the top cheery disposition at the midnight cake cutting. Several
people descended to the Club house from their respective watering holes. This
year’s cake was baked by Shini Harish of E-305 who has become a very
accomplished patissier. There was a lot of bonhomie with plenty of hugs and
kisses as the clock struck 12.01. A loud cheer reverberated in the Club house.
It just went to prove that Yamuna is one large family and everybody loves each
other and willing to go the extra mile to help in case of need. If there was
one word that did not represent the atmosphere it was sobriety!!!
SNIPPETS
Mr. Govil’s granddaughter Kritika Goel (B-106) is a travel
and lifestyle blogger and YouTuber. Among other things, she writes about how to
be one’s own boss. It is a mantra for all those who wish to choose blogging and Youtubing as a
business proposition. The site goes by the name blogofthethings.com. For those
of us who are generations apart, it seems quite far fetched that this could be a
revenue generator, but you would be amazed to know that many of them go on to
earn millions. We wish Kritika.the very best.
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Yamuna women are taking the
media world by storm.
Subhada took on the fashion world with a Kancheevaram sari
featuring Kalamkari patches and was featured in page 3 of Times Now. She also
wrote a saree story,”the black saree” and got the first prize of Rs. 10,000.
That makes it three first prizes in the space of two months. Two in the sports
competition and one here.
Seema Chari is blazing a trail in cookery channels with her
lessons on South Indian cooking. That actually takes me by surprise as
wheneever I have been invited to her house she has served only pasta and she
has done the same for the Yamuna cooking competition. So, where does her culinary
heft in South Indian cooking come from? Not from Kunal, I hope!
Seema and Kunal also featured in a Telugu newspaper in
Telengana awarding prizes to Intach conducted Quiz competition winners. This
was reported by Mr. Satyanarayana of G-303.
**********************
Sunil, Seema, Punit and Harshita Jamba and their dog have
moved to their own flat in Faridabad from C-008 after a fairly long innings in
Yamuna. They have been a family who were very co-operative despite a slew of
problems with seepage. We need more people with such mindset.
***********************
Return of the native was personified by Tarun Balakrishnan of
A-102 who came back to Yamuna from Chennai to take on a new assignemnt with
Bloomberg New Energy Finance while his wife Shobana is working as the Managing
Editor of Cactus Communication. It is indeed a nice feeling to see them back in
Yamuna.
*************************
Mr. G. Satyanarayana of G-303
has taken on rent G-304. Maybe he is taking it for his son Sravan Kumar who is
getting married in February. It will be very convenioent for the young couple
to have parents so close and yet far enough to have their privacy..
Mr. Masodkar of E-102 has donated a few string lights to
adorn the plants in the park. He has also penned a beautiful poem in
appreciation of the effect it has on the viewer. Read below.
Night Lights
These tiny glowing pixie
lights,
Myriads of yellow and greens,
Multitudes of scarlets and
violets,
Lend an air festive,
To this lonely night,
Which was otherwise so glum
and restive.
Against the cold dark velvet,
These merry lights shine,
Bringing with them a slow delight,
That warms into the vision,
Of a dreamland afar, and bright.
These do not merely glow with light,
These are treasured gems of this night
Sapphires of serene blue, Cat’s Eyes of
gold,
Vie with hordes of Rubies and the verdion
Emerald,
Magic patterns form and heave,
From lights aglow on tree and vine,’
A sense of joy gets infused,
In the deep crevices of the mind,
So like the picturesque shining lights,
That shone many coloured, prismatic,
On thst long forgotten New Year night.
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CALENDAR
OF EVENTS FOR JANUARY, 2018
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DATE
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TIME
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ITEM
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VENUE
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5.1.19
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9.30 AM
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NATURE WALK TO ARAVALLI BIO DIVERSITY PARK
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FROM
A BLOCK GATE
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20.1.19
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10.00 AM
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HERITAGE WALK TO SUNDAR NURSERY-A WORLD
HERITAGE LISTED SITE BY LONELY PLANET
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FROM A BLOCK GATE
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26.1.19
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12.00 NOON
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POT LUCK LUNCH
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MAIN LAWN
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