Issue No 93 May 2009

Editorial

They say bad news sells and dire news sells better. Thank God we are not in the business of selling news or we would have stopped publishing the Chronicle long ago. We only disseminate information most of which does not fall in the ‘bad’ or ‘dire’ genre. I hope that you tolerate my musings, even if the news I dish out does not meet with your desire for grisly fodder.

The two month long saga which we euphemistically call the elections finally came to an end. Phew!!! Political parties resorting to star power to cobble up votes gives a pathetic account of the maturity of our political system. The latest in the bandwagon are a plethora of stars of yesteryears, who see their reign in front of the camera coming to an end. I am talking about Vinod Khanna, Shatrugan Sinha and Jayaprada among others. There can be few sights more entertaining than a deranged celebrity lecturing the rest of us how to run the country. There is no shortage of ill-informed, smug egomaniacs who believe that because they have fan following, they have a right to inflict themselves upon us. The latest in the line of didactic clowns were Shekhar Suman, Chiranjeevi and Sanjay Dutt. Alas! Some of them do get elected.

There was very little to choose between the political parties in terms of the profile of the candidates. Every party had their share of criminals, turncoats, businessmen with agendas and designer innerwear-sporting Gandhi topiwallahs in khadi kurta-pyjamas. After the results were announced each of the coalition partners starts jockeying for ministerial berths, particularly the lucrative ones, in order to feather their nests. As Ambrose Bierce once said, “An election is nothing more than the advanced auction of stolen goods”. Anyhow, as they say all’s well that ends well. At least we have a Government at the centre which should last its term owing to their numerical strength. The semblance of stability has so energized the bourses from its stupor, that many stocks have touched dizzying heights. I suspect it could be a case of irrational exuberance.

The residents have been by and large very cooperative in paying heed to the Society’s advisory to bring down the pots from the staircase. The Society is indeed very thankful to them. No doubt many have strong emotional bonds with their plants and are loath to lose them. A large number of Kari patta plants have come out of the staircases. For the residents’ convenience, we have replanted them at the end of the blocks or in the park behind the trees. There were however, some residents who did not take very kindly to the action taken to bring down the plants. As you are all aware, we are doing this to enhance the life of the buildings. In most staircases, cracks have appeared, which if left unchecked, could endanger the lives of the residents. The residents should be supportive of the Society’s actions instead of kvetching over minor irritants. In order to make up for the loss of greenery on the staircase, the area on the ground between the blocks is getting a makeover with increased green cover. The dense foliage has seen some exotic birds flocking them. This ornithologist’s delight is only for those who wake up at the crack of dawn and appreciate nature.

If you’ve ever got a bruised rear from parking your chassis on the badly damaged cement bench in the badminton court, or tripped on a dislodged tile in the same area, you can now consign those memories to history. In order to put you out of that misery, the damaged patches on the floor have been redone and the cement bench has been replaced with kota stone bench. The whole area now has a new look. We also have an answer for the litterbugs. Eight attractively designed waste bins have been installed in places more prone to litter. Residents are advised not to throw their household refuse in these bins. These bins are meant for domestics and others who tend to throw supari and gutka sachets in the flower beds, and for children who throw chips packets and empty bottles wherever they have emptied the contents. We hope with this measure, the colony will remain clean at all times.

The patch of land opposite the office has been greened with a nice spread of grass. It did not have the required lumens at night to light up the place. An original dome retrieved from scrap-store was made functional, which not only lights up the path but also the garden. Are we now geared up for winning the Times of India’s ‘Greenest and Cleanest’ award contest? Next week will give us the answer.

Two acrylic sheets now adorn the gate to the lift-well under the club house. This had to be done to prevent the TT ball from falling into the well; also the well can no longer be misused as a garbage dump.

I wonder how many of you have noticed steel bars protruding out of the terraces of C, D and G blocks for the last 30 years ? This eyesore is now history. For those who were not that observant and for those who would like to reminisce of the past, take a look at these pictures!

Through the efforts of Mr.Ramabadhran, we have started a Yamuna website, whose URL is www.yamuna-apartments.com. Apart from keeping everybody suitably informed about the Society, this site will accept complaints regarding plumbing, electricity or any other problem and act upon them. This facility is meant for those people who find it very arduous to come to the office to register the complaints or for those who leave for work before the office opens and return after it shuts down. What spurred me to act on this are the scathing remarks made to me by a resident who castigated me for living in the Stone Age, by not having an electronic solution to registering complaints. Society circulars that will be issued from time to time will also be uploaded on this site. The website will be up and running shortly, once the content is loaded. Suggestions are welcome to make the site more exhaustive.

The two students who have passed out of school have done it in commendable fashion. They should not break a sweat trying to get admission to a course of their choice.

S.No	NAME	FLAT NO	% MARKS
1.	P.Raghavendra	B-304	93.2
2.	Vidyut Krishnaswamy	G-206	89.5

Children no more fret about passing or failing as in our times, when passing meant wild celebrations and failing meant hiding behind the curtains. I have done my share of hiding. These days it’s more about who cracks the 90’s and who doesn’t. Most of our Class X students too, came out smelling like roses. Everybody isn’t given to academic brilliance. There are many intelligent students who cannot perform to rigid academic curricula like Albert Einstein, who incidentally dropped out of school. They should be measured by the success they achieve in life. Success stories abound of people with very modest scholastic achievements. So if you find yourself not topping the mark sheets, maybe your destiny lies elsewhere. There is no need to mope.

S.No	NAME	FLAT NO	% MARKS
1.	Abhinav Kumar	E-301	93.2
2.	Shruthi Srinivas	A-108	87
3.	Medha Nair	A-003	85.5
4.	Keshav Viswanath	A-305	83.4
5.	Aishwarya Iyer	B-301	82
6.	Vinayak Subramanian	C-007	80
7.	Netra Sundaresan	H-308	75
8.	Rahul Subramanian	C-007	73
9.	Nandita Krishnamurthy	A-104	72

A couple of students who have strong connections with Yamuna, have also done exceedingly well. Aparajita Madhavan who used to stay in B-203 has scored a whopping 93% marks in the XIIth class and Sashank whose grandparents live in C-201 has also got a very commendable 89% marks in the X th class exams.

Sales in the Yamuna Stores have recorded a phenomenal increase. If this trend continues, the Store can redeem all the debts and pass on further discounts to the customer. Take the case of Aashirwad wheat, which the store buys for Rs. 75 for 5 kg bag and sells for Rs.91 (about the same as the cheapest store in the Alaknanda market). Once all the debts are paid off, this bag could be sold for less than Rs. 85. This would apply to all products. Thus, conservatively speaking, for a family of four, the grocery bill per month could come down by more than Rs. 200 per month, compared to buying from anywhere else. Therefore, in order to help yourself in the long run, please frequent the Stores and buy all your groceries there. The more you do, sooner will be the date by when prices will be reduced.

SNIPPETS

Madhu and Vidya are back in A-205 after a three year sojourn in the US. They have returned with their bundle of joy, their 20 month old daughter, Anoushka. It is inconceivable to imagine that a child so small can turn out to be a thief! With her cute smile, she stole my heart and that of many others in the badminton court, which she visits every morning with her parents.

YAMUNA’S TREES

Amaltas (Cassia Fistula)

It was difficult picking a tree for the month of May because there were so many beautiful ones in bloom. A young friend of mine very aptly observed that Yamuna has trees in flower the year round. My choice for this month is the Konna (Malayalam) , Amaltas, or the Golden Shower tree.

The Golden Shower tree has chandelier like clusters of yellow flowers amidst pale green leaves. Sadly, there are not too many of them in our colony, but there is a nice specimen between the E and F blocks. Also called Vishu Konna in Malayalam, Konra (Tamil), Amaltas (Hindi, Urdu) or Bahava (Marathi) its botanical name is Cassia fistula and it belongs to the Gulmohr family.

This tree, though native to India, is found all over South-East Asia. It is the official state flower of Kerala and its flowers are of ritual importance in the state’s Vishu festival. The Golden Shower tree is also the national flower of Thailand and symbolizes Thai royalty.

A postal stamp issued by the Indian Postal Department to commemorate this beautiful tree .

The tree flowers in April and peaks in mid May . It is widely cultivated for its beauty as an avenue tree in Delhi. The dark-brown fruits (pods) that are ~ 2 ft long mature when the hot and dry “loo” of summer blows across Delhi in June. The seeds - flattish, brown (~ 100 per pod) are poisonous but the blackish pulp of the pod has long been used for its medicinal properties. In traditional medicine, the tree is known as the `disease killer’ or aragvadha and has many therapeutic uses . The wood is strong and durable and is widely used for furniture.

(Shanti Chandrashekaran)

Yamuna on Google Earth !

(Picture courtesy:Sandeep Unnithan B-203)