Issue No 99 November 2009

Editorial

There is nothing as edifying or as cathartic as public outrage. The continuous flow of sewage originating opposite St. George School and flowing through the gutter and the road outside our gates was so offending that residents felt it was their right to vent anger at the office bearers and me in particular. There are many things the office bearers can do which are within their control, but if you have to depend on the civic authorities or the elected beacons of our democracy to get the job done, it’s better to raise the white flag. Umpteen letters to the top leaders, meetings and phone calls only evoked assurances. The ground reality is indifference. Bharti Ramakrishnan gave an earful to the concerned person in MCD in order to get him to start the work. Many other residents also pitched in. Amongst them, Anand Sundaresan used a contact to petition the CM and Purnima Satish called the CM’s helpline on a daily basis. Eventually, the work did get started albeit with much fanfare. The local MLA, MLC and sundry other functionaries inaugurated the work amid breaking of a coconut and distribution of sweets. It seems ironic that political mileage was sought to be derived from such an incident. Here are some pictures taken on the occasion !

The movie, Dil Bole Hadippa, screened on 7^th November was another treacly song and dance travesty with cricket matches thrown in for popular appeal. Not a great movie to liven up the evening, but what followed made up for the ennui. The pot luck dinner evokes enduring images of community, camaraderie and conviviality – so essential and intrinsic to a meal shared together.

The Sports Day which started on time on a bright and sunny morning saw the children, ladies and gents in great spirits. Tanvi of G-204 who excelled in the sprints, the long distance race and the three-legged race with Aradhya, was easily the best athlete of the Sports Day. Tejas of G-106 with two first place finishes and one second place finish was the best amongst the boys. Meera of H-208 with two first place finishes was the best amongst the ladies. In the road race for boys, Anirudh of H-308 scorched the asphalt with such a turn of speed that all that the trailing mob could do was vie for second place. Padma of A-110 ran the road race with such élan that that the rest of the field was left to admire her derriere. Kavya pipped elder sister Divya to the post to take the second place, in the process tallying three medals for the day.

I threw a challenge at the women that 10 men would compete against 20 women in tug of war. I was banking on Hari Shankar, Deepak and Manoj among others who are over 6 ft tall with an equally impressionable horizontal canvas, to haul the dainty women onto their side. Little did I know that they were full of beer gut and hot air. It was comical to see them brought to their knees in a jiffy. A rematch citing unreadiness only ended in ridicule as this time the supposedly weaker sex gave such a tug to the rope that our gallant men were left prostrating in front of them. It was a repeat performance when the girls challenged the boys. Ladies can no more be labelled the weaker sex.

The Quiz competition held on 21st November at the Badminton Court presented a logistical nightmare. There was a stall of Barclays Bank with blaring music and tambola vying for attention. However, when that got sorted out, it was a challenge to form the teams with last minute drop-outs and several new entrants. The hastily assembled teams may not have had the ideal mix. In fact one of the teams ended with two adults and one didn’t have any. The quiz with complete audio-visual rounds was painstakingly put together by the Quiz Master, Sumathi. That it was a novelty both in terms of the theme and the presentation is an understatement. Those who would have pored over GK books in preparation for the quiz may have been a tad disappointed. However, the competition itself was , with two teams namely, “The Champs” and “The Hornets” fighting neck and neck till the end with the Hornets eventually pipping the Champs 75 marks to 70. The ladies representing the the two teams, Ms. Anita Suresan and Ms. Latha Narayanan were outstanding. The Hornets who had the benefit of another adult in Manoj made the difference. The third placed team were the Hogwarts, followed by Nitro and Hot Spot. My sympathies were with Nitro who did reasonably well without any adult in their midst. Sumathi had brought two boxes of Munch for the right answer from the audience. The audience were very active and Gita Rastogi walked away with quite a few Munch’s. Everybody seemed to have a jolly good time. Kudos to Sumathi and her assistant Shalini. Kavya kept everybody abreast with the scores. The prizes for the quiz which were distributed on the Annual Day were donated by Mr. Manoj of H-206 and Mr. Narayanan of C-007 and Poornima Narayanan. Many thanks to them.

The 29^th Annual Day on 28th November started on a good note. The refreshments served in the evening were very tasty. The Chief Guest Mr. Ajay Maken had last minute orders from Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to fly with her to Jharkhand for election campaigning. This meant that we could start the programme on time. Dr. P. N. V. Kurup very kindly agreed to officiate as the Chief Guest. Half way through the Prize distribution ceremony the former Municipal Councillor, Mr. Virender Kasana arrived to give away the remaining prizes. In his speech which may sound like music to the ears of Yamuna residents (who have for years tolerated the filthy park on the way to the temple), he mentioned that orders have been issued to make the MCD park into an ornamental one. Work on the same has commenced.

My debut speech as President was a non-starter. A bout of laryngitis smote me down and I was rendered speechless. Just as well, as it helped speed things up. All the programmes from the Invocation song to the renderings of the Yamuna Rock Band showed the immense talent that exists in the colony. Radhika’s Odissi dance and Netra’s Bharatanatyam made a pretty picture. Avantika’s felicity with the higher octaves, in the Hindustani composition Raag Des was well appreciated. The fancy dress by the kids was both a pleasing sight and also brought about a lot of laughs with their cute and bumbling ways. Bam Bam Bole by the kids, Just a Prayer by Prakriti and Sri Lakshmi and the solo song by Sandhya Srishankar had the crowd engrossed. The tabla recital by Anirudh and Tejaswin showed how Anirudh has matured over the years. The timbre from his tabla resonated like Ustad Allarakha of the Punjab Gharana. Wake up Sid, was very well enacted by the kids and drew encomiums. Des rangila, a folk dance had all the elements of what we call folk. To the shore’a dance ballet with flowing robes was very artistic and colourful. The show stopper of the day was the Marathi Koli dance by the ladies. It had a lot of verve, vitality and energy. The ladies put their best foot forward and pirouetted on the stage to wolf whistles from the audience. Meera, as the lead dancer, was exceptional with her expressions and deservedly pocketed the Best Performer award instituted by our ex-member, Mr. Lele. The Arabian Belly Dance by Shahin was very enthralling. The anecdotal evidence of the next two items which I unfortunately missed, was that they were well received by the audience. They were the Medley Dance and ‘Heal the World’-a tribute to Michael Jackson. I returned in time for the ‘grand finale’ which threw up the pyrotechnics by the Yamuna Rock Band. They essayed a classical number and followed it up with two other conventional rock numbers. They have brought to their repertoire a refreshing variety that evidenced the honing of their skills. They paid tributes to their ex-band mates Vinayak and Rahul who are now residing in the US. The curtains finally came down on another successful and enjoyable Annual Day. While all the items had class, the judge picked Meera Verma, the cast of Wake Up Sid and Avantika as the stand out performers.

It would be remiss on my part if I do not acknowledge the contributions of the people who worked behind the stage. The choreographers for the various items were Bhavani, Lalitha, Charu, Anuradha Nair, Prema, Prakriti, Gita Rastogi, Meera Venkat, Radha Mani, Meera Verma, Netra and Soumya. The whole ‘programme’ was shepherded well by Gita Rastogi who worked long hours with all the choreographers to select the cast and do the rehearsals. S. Srikanth as the sound engineer made everybody’s task easier by doing the sound mixing and splicing to fit the part for each item. Mrs. Gauri Raghunathan worked with Gita to plan out the whole programme of events, to make sure everything worked to perfection. Aparajita Kumar (Kirti to most of us) did the job of the compere with aplomb. Lastly, thanks are in order to our ex-resident, Mr. Venkat who came from Vaishali to help with the stage setting etc.

Enjoy the vast array of Annual Day photographs taken by Ramabhadran here.

OBITUARY

Mr. Ramu Raghavachari an ex-member who used to reside at H-102 passed away at the ripe old age of 95 on 23^rd November. Yamuna residents convey their heartfelt condolence to the bereaved family.

SNIPPETS

Mr. Ganesh Ponnuswamy, Brand Manager for Hamilton, (part of the Swatch Group )has moved into E-205 from Saket along with his wife Shahin and son Shourya, who is ten months old. Ganesh plays badminton and jogs in his spare time. He also loves watching movies and listening to music. Shahin quit her job with ad agency JWT to deliver their baby. She loves reading, dancing, writing poems and skits. This couple needed no time to integrate as within 20 days of their moving in, Shahin performed a scintillating belly dance at the Annual Day. We welcome them to the Yamuna family.

In a move that didn’t cause too much of a bother, Mr. Ganapathy and family of F-003 have moved to C-207. This transition should see them enjoying their winter more and dreading their summer.

Fortunate are a few blessed souls who are able to celebrate their Sathabishekam. Smt. T. S. Meena Krishnan and Shri. N. Krishnan are the kindred souls who did so on 29^th November at their home in E-004. Lunch was served at the Community Hall. The signs of their popularity could be seen by the milling crowd at their home. We wish this couple many many more years of happy wedded life together.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR DECEMBER 2009

24.12.09 X’mas Eve Carnival 6.30 pm at Badminton Court

An evening of music and dance with plenty to eat and drink. Sigris to keep you warm will be placed!

31.12.09 Cake cutting at Community Hall to usher in the New Year.

Time: Midnight

Yamuna Quiz Competition

Full house at the Yamuna Quiz

Quiz master Sumathi gets going !