Issue No. 148 I December 2013

EDITORIAL

I have not come across a more benign December in several years. Temperatures have been well above normal except the days after Christmas leading to the New Year. Barring a few foggy or overcast days, the sun has shown as brightly as possible through the thick shroud of smog. Despite the lack of severity on the cold front, senior citizens have a tough time combating the vagaries of the weather. That along with the illnesses and ailments the cold weather and pollution brings at this time of the year, make many think of migrating to warmer climes in the South. Adequate protection and suitable diet are ways of staying healthy during the winter months. For younger people, winter is the time to spend more time outdoors basking in the sun or going on picnics, shopping or sundry outings. Winter is also the time when there is plenty happening on the cultural front, weddings and parties notwithstanding.

One of the ways to stay in good shape is to get a good oil massage. Oil as a hair and body care product is probably applied nowhere else in the world to such an extent as in India. Mothers slathering the viscous mass on the children to keep their skin and hair healthy has been in practice since eons. The plethora of hair and body care products available from all corners of the world cannot hold a candle to the good old oil. The benefits of this oleaginous massage cannot be overstated and there is no better time than winter to soak in its benefits.

There is a swathe of saffron in the four states that went for elections in December. It really augurs well for BJP at the forthcoming national elections. We hope Modi can change the fortunes of the country which have plummeted to ever lower depths. A lacklustre second term of UPA was just the tonic that BJP needed to turn on the screws. The emergence of AAP as a game changer could probably provide a new twist to the polarised polity between secular and non secular parties. Their platform of corruption free India has found resonance with the youth which now constitutes a large percentage of voters. Interesting times are ahead.

Malls were decorated in colours of red, green and white heralding the arrival of Christmas. There were more gawkers and onlookers than real shoppers in the crowded malls. Yuletide excitement has pervaded the Indian milieu like never before.

The Christmas carnival at Yamuna was the time to feast on plum cakes, cinnamon rolls,  baked potatoes and cream, carrot cake and imbibe a brew of indeterminate origin. The stage was bedecked with trinkets, baubles, pine cones, and a Christmas tree and festooned with a holly wreath, berries and mistletoe. Despite some notable absentees like Sundaresans and Savarkars, this year's Carnival drew a fairly large  hedonistic crowd, eager to let their hair down and soak in the Carnival atmosphere. The setting for the Nativity scene made by Alka and Vidya Venkat looked authentic with Baby Jesus lying in the barn with Mary and Joseph looking over. The Christmas carols were sung by Aparna Krishnan, Aparna Varma, Shreeya, Shreeja, Kiana and Radhika. Aparna Krishnan trained the children on a regular basis for them to pass the audition. They were ably assisted in the Nativity scene by Shashvath, Dhruv, Vanshika, Samarth, Anjali, Anushka, Bhavana, Devyani, Navya and Sahana Iyer. Shreeja as the prancing reindeer made a grand entrance. The entire ensemble looked very attractive. Vedika as the quintessential Santa Claus  distributed goodies.

Radhika Samson on the Sitar, Pranav on the Tabla, Ramanan on the Lead Guitar and Rangu on Bass came up with a sublime performance of fusion music, sound glitches notwithstanding. The winter catwalk had many enthusiastic participants amongst the children but the older children and adults needed a lot of cajoling to flaunt their clothes, amongst other things. I must confess that the style quotient amongst Yamuna residents has gone up a notch after we introduced the ramp walk. For example the boots worn by Shreeya and Medha and head gear of several contestants had the quality and style of bespoke design houses.

Attractive prizes for the winners of the catwalk were donated by Mr. P. H. Narayanan and Dr. Abhilash Pillai (the perennial donors). The winners were:-

	WINTER CATWALK PRIZE WINNERS
PRIZE	NAME	ADDRESS
	SMALL CHILDREN
FIRST	ADWITA NAIR	B-107
SECOND	SAHANA IYER	C-003
	OLDER CHILDREN
FIRST	VEDIKA ARORA
SECOND	SHREEYA SRIKANT	A-106
	LADIES
FIRST	REKHA RAGHAVENDRA	A-001
SECOND	SUDHA EASWARAN	H-202
	GENTS
FIRST	P.K.K. NAIR	H-308
SECOND	DEEPAK VARMA	H-208

There was plenty on offer on the food and drinks front and as the crowd swarmed the food counters the offerings flew off the griddle as if everybody  had starved for the occasion.

As usual the dancers were in high spirits and showed their moves on the dance floor. Anu, Meera, Sudha, Rekha amongst the women, Deepak, Abhilash, Sreekumar Madhu amongst the men, Medha, Soumya, Nandita, Manisha amongst the senior girls and Kiana, Shreeja, Shreeya Aparna amongst the junior girls showed off dance moves that could make Bollywood stars proud.

The bonfire thankfully lasted the through the evening and kept everybody warm on what was otherwise a very cold night.

After making no headway with the traffic police to give them permission to bring the trunk line from Tughlakabad to Alaknanda, IGL finally decided to use the trunk line from Chittaranjan Park to feed Alaknanda. Our pipeline will therefore come through Ganga Apartments. As per the information I got from IGL, work in our colony will start in two months time.

The cold and damp New Year's eve did not dampen the spirits of the usual culprits who show up at the midnight cake cutting ritual to usher in the New Year. There was much back slapping and hugging in the fervent hope that 2014 will bring in a lot of cheer. We wish the rest of the Yamuna residents who were not present at the zero hour a very rewarding New Year.

SNIPPETS

Another flat in Yamuna went under the hammer. A-010 has been sold by Mrs. Saroja Seetharaman.

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Mandakini Malla has moved into A-302 from Narmada apartments. She is working as Associate Vice President programming for NDTV Good Times. The programme is aired every Saturday at 8 pm. She is very fond of travelling which gels very well with her role in the travel channel. The decor in her house is very pleasing. She has a pet cat called Kiko. We welcome Mandakini into the Yamuna family. She can be reached on 09560061530.

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Tejaswini and Kapil Raina have moved to Noida from H-002 . Tejaswini had endeared herself to all the children, as she has tutored them at different times during her stay in the colony. She was  omnipresent between G&H and has been a very popular resident. She and Kapil (who maintained a low profile), will be missed by the residents.

MIRTH CORNER

The Income Tax Department (ITD) decides to audit Grandpa, summons him to their office. The auditor was not surprised when Grandpa showed up with a lawyer. 

The auditor said, 'Well, sir, you have an extravagant lifestyle and no full-time employment, which you explain by saying that you win money gambling. I'm not sure the ITD finds that believable.' 'I'm a great gambler, and I can prove it,' says Grandpa. 'How about a demonstration?' The auditor thinks for a moment and said, 'Okay. Go ahead.' 

Grandpa says,  “I'll bet you a thousand dollars that I can bite my own eye.”  The auditor thinks a moment and says, 'It's a bet.' Grandpa removes his glass eye and bites it. The auditor's jaw drops. Grandpa says, 'Now, I'll bet you two thousand dollars that I can bite my other eye.' The auditor can tell Grandpa isn't blind, so he takes the bet. Grandpa removes his dentures and bites his good eye. 

The stunned auditor now realizes he has wagered and lost three grand, with Grandpa's lawyer as a witness. He starts to get nervous. 'Want to go double or nothing?' Grandpa asks  “I'll bet you six thousand dollars that I can stand on one side of your desk, and pee into that wastebasket on the other side, and never get a drop anywhere in between.” 

The auditor, twice burned, is cautious now, but he looks carefully and decides there's no way this old guy could possibly manage that stunt, so he agrees again. Grandpa stands beside the desk and unzips his pants, but although he strains mightily, he can't make the stream reach the wastebasket on the other side, so he pretty much urinates all over the auditor's desk. The auditor leaps with joy, realizing that he has just turned a major loss into a huge win. 

But Grandpa's own lawyer moans and puts his head in his hands. 'Are you okay?' the auditor asks.  'Not really,' says the lawyer. 'This morning, when Grandpa told me he'd been summoned for an audit, he bet me 25,000 dollars that he could come in here and piss all over your desk and that you'd be happy about it!

Television (Roald Dahl)

Television rots the sense in the head !
It kills imagination dead !
It clogs and clutters up the mind !
It makes a child so dull and blind !
They can no longer understand
A fantasy, a fairyland !
Their brains becomes as soft as cheese !
Their powers of thinking rust and freeze !
They cannot think - They only see !

And in its place you can install,
A lovely bookshelf on the wall,
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks -

Then, in a about a week or two,
Of having nothing else to do,
They will now begin to feel the need,
Of having something to read.

And once they start - Oh boy, Oh boy !
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills the hearts. They will grow so keen
They will wonder what they had ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen !
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did !

(Contributed by: Srikanth - G-305)

CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR JANUARY 2014

DATE	EVENT	TIME	VENUE
13.1.2014	LOHRI BONFIRE	9.00 PM	BADMINTON COURT
19.1.2014	HERITAGE WALK TO HUMAYUN'S TOMB WITH DR. RAMJI NARAYANAN	10.30 AM	MEET AT A BLOCK GATE

Issue No. 147 I November 2013

EDITORIAL

The Diwali celebrations started in earnest on Saturday, 2^nd November and stretched on to 3rd November as a consequence of the seers not settling on a uniform lunar calendar. The South Indian Diwali was celebrated on the morning of 2^nd November and the universal one on 3^rd November. As usual the upholder of tradition, Mr. Mani, announced the arrival of the mother of all Hindu festivals with a burst of crackers at 3.30 in the morning. This dual day Diwali came as a breather to the folks toiling on the ground making rangoli.

This year's illumination competition lacked some of the passion and rivalry of previous years as a consequence of a more benign awards system. With no outright winner to be proclaimed, most people retreated to their homes after doing the rounds of the blocks. There was no anticipation and whoops of delight at the announcement of the winners for the various categories. However, this did not deter the creative abilities of the residents. The blocks vied with each other for a lion's share of the eyeballs. C&D was outstanding and G&H not far behind with great creations. E&F Blocks made Capital of their limited space and came up with few but notable rangolis. While A&B also put in a lot of effort, the end result was a little lacklustre with uninspiring sketches and insipid colours and it showed as they came empty handed in the share of the spoils. The Madhubani creation under the Club house was the cynosure of all eyes and was considered the most outstanding piece by the jury. E&F Blocks took the prizes for creativity and neatness. Their Mohini attam creation and the dancing Nataraja were outstanding. Drawing the dancing Nataraja is very challenging as it is very important to get the scale and proportions right. It is very easy to blunder and this iconic image could look like an octopus! The jury felt that although the colour was muted, they nailed the illustration. The other outstanding sketches were the Jamini Roy painting of C&D, the Joker and the monochromatic yet superb Yin and Yang floor mural of G & H. Both C&D and G & H lost out to E & F for creativity by just one mark. G&H took the prize for illumination as both A&B and C&D were docked 9 points each by the jury for violating the 'no decorative lights code'.

The Sports Day was held on 10^th November under clear skies. What alarmed me most was the depleting rate of both participants and audience over the years. For example, at one time, the under 5 age group for picking the toffees used to boast a strength of at least seven or eight children with their parents in attendance adding to the raucous atmosphere, where the parents and residents' favourites, were being egged on to grab the maximum toffees. This year, the number had dwindled to just two girls. Likewise, in former times the number of ladies and gents participating in their respective events had to be split into two or three heats as we could not accommodate all of them in one race. This year we had to cancel items because there were not enough participants. I wonder if it is a case of ennui or shrinking population in the colony or a combination of both that is responsible for the dwindling participation.

Be that as it may, sibling rivalry started in earnest with the picking of the toffees, where the younger sibling bested the older one with the lion's share. There was healthy participation only in the age range of 7 and 12, amongst girls. The field amongst boys, ladies and gents was very limited. The Savarkars turned in a great performance with all the family members notching up victories. I was gobsmacked by the sheer speed and yardage of Kunal's victory in the 100 metres sprint. His feat was truly amazing. Anjali Garg, Shreeya Srikant, Shreeram Prakasan and Vidya Nair showed their athletic prowess by coming first in multiple events. Women's power was in evidence in the "Tug of War". Stung by the pasting they got in the event last year, the eves mustered their forces and mounted a strong challenge and hauled the men to their side in the first try of the best of three. The men marshalled reinforcements and pulled one back in the next try. The women not to be outdone, dug in their heels in the third try and yanked the men off their perch who fell at their feet, hands folded in supplication. In the girls vs. boys "Tug of War", numerical superiority of the girls was too much for the boys and they succumbed in successive tries.

The wanton digging that is going on in all of Alaknanda to make covered drains has left the area as a bombed out war zone with nary any space for pedestrians and shrinking the already limited room for cars. If that was not enough, the process of digging is not monitored by any supervisor. Recently, in the process of digging with a JCB outside Shivalik Apartments, a massive tree got uprooted and as it fell, it narrowly missed the car of Aruna and Raju. Due to Raju;s presence of mind he could ask Aruna to slam the brakes; as a consequence only a few small branches fell on their car and they escaped from what could have been a very tragic incident. The callous ways of the civic authorities are shameful, to say the least.

The Quiz competition with Sumathi got underway on the 23rd of November, 2013. Unfortunately, the date clashed with the Annual Day celebrations in two schools where many of the colony kids are studying. Consequently, the parents of these children could not participate in the Quiz. We could barely muster enough participants to constitute four teams, namely, "Yamuna Ke Sholay", “Filmi Freaks", "Blockbusters" and "5 Idiots". Sumathi decided to pick a very plebeian subject, “100 Years of Indian Cinema”. Bollywood and cricket are considered the two main religions of India and Sumathi fell prey to cinema’s faux charms. Nevertheless, as is her forte, she came up with a very engaging and craftily made quiz format. The lead changed hands several times but eventually "Yamuna ke Sholay" constituting Seema Chari, Kirti, Savita and Vishnu Prasad took the first prize and "Blockbusters" constituting Aseem, Bhavani, Lata and Vidya came second. Seema has been a winner in all editions of the Quiz thus far, thereby establishing her status as 'Diva of Trivia'.

I happened to go to the bijou residence of Vidya and Sreekumar Madhu which has seen a recent makeover. I am amazed at the versatility of present day women. Vidya has skilfully transformed  her old kitchen door into the dining table top and sideboard flank and used the original pelmets as table legs. Her eclectic taste and funky ideas have made the humble Yamuna abode into a charming and esoteric pad. With amateurs turning out to be such hot designers, the tribe of professional interior designers seem endangered.

We have had very generous contributions from Yamuna residents for the scholarship winners. Mr. N. A. Seshadri (D-103), Sudha Sundaram (A-310), Deepa Rastogi (G-003) and P.K.K. Nair have contributed Rs. 1,000 each for the scholarships to be awarded to the Class XII toppers in the colony and to children who have excelled in sports at the national level. The Society also received gifts from Mr. P. H. Narayanan of C-007 and Poornima Narayanan of B-002 for the winners in other fields.

The Annual Day programme on 30^th November, 2013 turned out to be an unqualified success. When the programme started, it seemed we would see a repeat of last year’s relatively low turnout. But the crowd soon swelled up and we had a full house. Mr. Bhotlu, one of the senior most residents, was at hand to give away the prizes to the winners in academics, sports, quiz, painting competition and illumination competition amongst others. The absence of a Chief Guest really helped matters as we could get on with the programme on time. The invocation song choreographed by Subhada and melodiously sung by her and Seema Chari really set the tone for the items that followed. Sreekumar Madhu exercised his corporate heft with CII to enlist an acoustic professional to set up the sound system. Consequently, the sound quality was outstanding.

The variety entertainment programme started with Guru Vandana, a Bharatanatyam recital by Sahana Savarkar and Saisha. Unfortunately, the music tripped twice thus derailing the girls and driving Netra who had worked so hard training the children, to tears. The item that followed was a solo Odissi performance by Dakshina. Her graceful dance was an eye opener.  "Kolattam" by the ladies was the item that followed. Looking resplendent in their Kanjeevarams and set to a catchy Tamil ditty, the ladies who were trained by the very able Sukanya Sundaresan, were very graceful and executed the steps to perfection. It was refreshing to see the ladies do the dance after several years. The Odissi dance that followed was choreographed by Radhika Samson and performed by the quartet of Sahana Iyer, Aaria, V.Radhika and Bhavna who had delighted us at the Janmashtami festival. This item was however, a departure from the conventional Odissi dance as Radhika brought a contemporary jazz twist to it. It was well appreciated by the audience. It was time to up the tempo and in came the children with the song medley of southern pot pourri. The group of children led by the irrepressible Sahana Savarkar sang with gusto and did not get a note wrong in a language alien to most, if not all. Credit for this exemplary performance goes to Subhada who has trained most of the children in Yamuna in the subtle art of singing both classical and folk.  Poorvaja came on next with a popular film number. The audience joined in. While Poorvaja sang very well her body language displayed a kind of diffidence. Her mother told me that she is a lot more exuberant when she sings at home. Stage fright could throw off a lot of people made of sterner stuff. It was time for some dance and in stepped Aditi Ganapathy and Vedika Arora who changed the tone from the preceding classical and folk song and dance sequences. They did a self choreographed free style dance number which showed their creative skill.

The business end of the evening started with the Tamil play, "Pativrata". The story was conceived, written and directed by Mrs. Pattammal Murthy, popularly known as Pattumami. Even the jewellery and accessories were designed and handmade by Pattumami. Talent seems to oozing out of every pore of her body. The play was about examples of devoted wives from Indian mythology. A woman was supposed to be loyal to her husband physically, mentally and spiritually, traits unfortunately not in evidence in today's world. Competent performances by the entire cast kept the audience amused throughout the duration of the play. Kudos to Pattumami for such a fabulous job.

The Bollywood hit "Lungi Dance" was replicated on the Yamuna stage by the young brigade under Radhika Samson’s guidance. A tribute to Rajnikanth, the kids showed all the famous mannerisms of the demi-god! The scene then changed to the accomplished professional duo of Rangu and Ramanan playing the bass and lead guitars respectively; to make it a trio they gave a moniker to their laptop which was playing the percussion background by calling it McMohan Venkataraman. They played three of their own compositions, a blend of classic rock with influence of Carnatic music. One of the numbers featured Radhika Samson dancing to the tune like a ballerina. There was pedigree in evidence here. We were well past 8 pm by then. In the normal course, half the crowd would have drifted to the food stalls and the rest would have melted into the night. It was not to be on this night. Everyone was waiting with bated breath for the grand finale featuring the Indian take on spaghetti westerns – "Sholay". But they had to wait for a peppy dance number by another group of kids tutored by Netra and Anu.

I might seem the odd man out who hasn't seen “Sholay”. After I witnessed the Seema Chari written and directed version of the iconic film, I cannot imagine that the original could have been any better. The play was engrossing, engaging, entertaining, enthralling and downright witty. Nothing could have bested this effort. All members of the cast got into the skin of their characters. Nanu as the bumbling cop, Abhilash in a triple role as Surma Bhopali, Daku and Bhanjara, Deepak as Viru, Raghav as Gabbar, Rekha as talkative Basanti and Subhada as the mausi were particularly outstanding. While they were flubbing their lines in the rehearsals, when put under the arc lights, they were the consummate professionals, reeling off their dialogues as though they were born mouthing them. The taut script and awesome acting kept the audience glued to their seats. The seductive quintet in the dance number were also raising the temperature among other things. I have reasonable cause to believe that an alternate career awaits Seema and the entire cast at Bollywood.

SNIPPETS

Radhika Samson lit up the stage in IIC on 2nd November, 2013 with a scintillating Odissi performance. Her unhurried and graceful movements and tremendous balance spoke volumes of the dedication and rigour put in her practice sessions. A smiling countenance greeted the audience throughout the dance recital. She is training under Smt. Sujata Mohapatra, a leading soloist and disciple of late Padma Vibhushan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. A Nritya Bhushan from Pracheen Kala Kendra, Radhika is also an artiste of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations. She is also proficient at sitar. Her students are lucky to be taught by such an accomplished artiste.

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A-309 has a new tenant in Meshach Arun. He is the Operations Director for India with an NGO called Hope Education. His wife Usha works along with him. He has a son who is in Class XI and a daughter who is in Class VIII. Both the children are studying in Mumbai. Mr. Arun shuttles between Mumbai and Delhi spending equal time in both places. He can be reached on 09004469199.

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Three flats in Yamuna have got sold in this month. The flats that have changed hands are B-006, H-002 and F-003. As a consequence,  Amitava Sanyal and Katherine Rose of B-006 have moved to Chittaranjan Park. Amitava and Katherine's presence will be missed.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS - DECEMBER 2013

DATE	EVENT	TIME	VENUE
24.12.2013	CHRISTMAS CARNIVAL	6.30 PM	BADMINTON COURT
31.12.2013	MID-NIGHT CAKE CUTTING TO USHER IN 2014	MIDNIGHT	COMMUNITY HALL