Issue No. 108 I August, 2010

EDITORIAL

The Rain God mercifully kept his wand to himself and allowed us to celebrate Independence Day without much ado. Uttara of A-005, the youngest child in the colony unfurled the tricolour. Helium balloons in the colours of the National flag were let loose. As the balloons soared in the sky the National Anthem and other patriotic songs were sung by the assembled throng to the keyboard beat of Vedika of A-106 and Ananya of G-001. Later Ananyaa of C-106 and Shreeya of C-003 sang a duet. Gita Rastogi, as usual played her part in getting the girls to practice and sing. S. Srikanth’s photos capturing the mood of the day are displayed in the blog. To usher in the spirit of Independence, sweets were distributed. Some people were seen heading to the terrace to fly kites. It seems the practice of kite flying is on the wane as hardly half a dozen kites were seen in the sky.

I was alerted by Srikanth of C-003 that instances of galloping electricity meters were owing to the mismatch between the sanctioned load for the Apartments and the current being drawn. In other words if your sanctioned load is 1KW and you are drawing 3 KW’s of power then your meter is likely to show a very high reading and you are likely to receive a much higher electricity bill than you should. In order that you are not caught unawares please see on the reverse of your electricity bill, where your connected load and current consumption are mentioned. If there is a mismatch between the two as mentioned above, you may need to get additional load sanctioned to prevent your meter from racing. With lot of gadgets having invaded homes in recent times, it is quite possible that you have far outstripped the consumption patterns of yore.

Rain came down in buckets. As the deluge and power failure threatened to derail the Onam feast scheduled for 21^st August, the pookolam was moved to the space under the Club House and the dinner to the Community Hall from the Badminton Court. A five hour power failure in south Delhi just ended about ten minutes before the dinner was to start. Alka Arora of A-106, Anusmitha Kumar of B-202 got the flowers in pouring rain and between them, Girija of D-001 and Sridevi of G-303, made a beautiful pookolam. It had the right combination of colours and design elements. Gita Rastogi, Prema, Rekha, Meera, Mrs. PKK Nair and Anu with typical Onam saris brought visions of Kerala. One hundred and twenty-five residents and their friends partook in the feast. When a satisfied burp rang out from the Hall it spoke volumes on the quality of the feast. It was simply awesome!  I would be remiss, if I do not mention the contribution of Sujata of G-301 in bringing down the per coupon cost of the meal from the caterer.

My wife and I are a little concerned at the standard of English in supposedly reputed schools these days. Seeing the marking on the test papers of my daughters, I do a double take at the howlers that pass off as correct answers. While I always long for grammatically unimpeachable and stylishly extravagant usages, I would gladly settle for simple, well structured sentences. But, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack with today’s kids. Their lingua franca is ‘Hinglish’, a nightmare for both ends of the linguistic spectrum. Parent representatives have a crucial role to play in addressing the infirmities and gaps in the present education system and they must not shy away from it for the sake of the next generation.

The over 30-year-old pipes of Yamuna are breaking like biscuits, leading to seepage of water, dry taps and inconvenience to residents. While we are replacing portions of the pipes whenever reports of leakage are received, we are not able to fix them fast enough owing to the sheer number of complaints. Besides, this is not a permanent solution as soon enough, leaks spring elsewhere. As some of you may be aware, the pipes from the pump house traverse between the blocks and then branch off and run under the floors of the flats to reach the shaft. Leaks that spring under the floors will never get detected and hence, we may be losing a lot of water for which we are paying heavily to Delhi Jal Board. It is advised that if any ground floor resident is intending to lay a new floor, he should lay a subterranean 2-inch PVC pipe from the originating point of the feeder pipe to the shaft. In case the original pipe gives way, he may not have to break the floor. He can thread a 1 ½ inch pipe through the PVC pipe and restore his water supply. Care should be taken to ensure that there are no bends in the PVC pipes. Those who intend to replace their floors may get in touch with Srikanth of C-003 for advice, who is presently getting this job done in his flat.

We need to sooner rather than later lay completely new pipelines. Unfortunately, the Society does not have a corpus of fund large enough to undertake a work of this magnitude. We will be proposing a sinking fund payable every month in the forthcoming AGM to address issues of high capital intensive projects.

The Commonwealth Games is expected to throw everything into a tizzy. People living and commuting in Delhi will have to put up with chaos on the streets. Since the schools and colleges are closed during this period many residents are planning vacations in order to get away. We are also planning a trip to Ranthambore, famous for its tiger sanctuary and ancient fort between 8^th and 10^th of October. Those who are footloose and fancy free and yearn for the great outdoors are welcome to join the trip. We will be travelling in individual cars. It is a 7-hour journey via Jaipur with convenient halts in between. Those who do not have cars may team up with others who have spare room. Two nights will be spent in a resort in Ranthambore for which the individuals will have to pay. Please give your names and addresses to the office for coordination, latest by 7^th September.

This month onwards, we are starting a Recipe of the Month column for all gastronomes. Anybody wishing to share their culinary expertise can contribute to this column. A picture of your dish accompanying the recipe could make the salivary glands go on overdrive. Innovativeness is the key.

SNIPPETS

Mr. N. Meyyappan has moved into C-203 from Chennai. A lawyer by profession, he works as assistant to Mr. Mohan Parasaran, the Additional Solicitor General of India. An eligible bachelor, Meyyappan is a photographer and a soccer fan. He can be reached on 9971621212.

Recipe of the Month

Honey Ginger and Dry Fruit Cake

This rich fruit cake has been adapted from a recipe by Elizabeth Pomeroy using locally available ingredients. The sugar-and-lemon juice icing is excellent and easy to make. 


Ingredients:
100 g butter (Amul /Vijaya Butter works fine)
200 g honey
150 ml milk
2 eggs beaten
50 g fresh ginger cut fine
200 g maida
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
Spices: 2 tsp dry ginger powder (MDH or any similar brand) , 1 tsp ground cinnamon (dalchini)powder, ½ tsp nutmeg (Jaiphal), ¼ tsp cloves (laung) powdered
Chopped dry fruit (3/4th cup) : kishmish, dates, almonds, anjeer (dry figs) {Alaknanda Dry Fruit store stocks all of this.}
Icing: Powder ¾ cup sugar and place in a katori. Add the juice of a lemon slowly and mix with a spoon till the mixture resembles “dosa batter”.
Method:
Lightly grease and flour a 7-8 inch cake tin (I use a non-stick tin that doesn’t need greasing). Preheat the oven to 150 ° C.
Heat the butter and honey in a pan till butter melts (in a microwave this takes 30-45 seconds). When cool, add 150 ml milk. Cool further and mix in beaten eggs.
Sieve together 2-3 times, the maida, soda bicarb and spices. Slowly mix melted honey, butter, eggs and milk into the flour. Do not mix vigorously.
Gently add dry fruits, mix and pour into the cake tin. Bake for 1 hr 45 min – 2 hrs. Your cake is done when a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Cool the cake and plaster with lemon icing.

 (Shanti Chandrashekaran- H-107)

(Send in your contributions to the Chronicle by e-mail. Traditional recipes not seen around much these days are very welcome. )

BLOOPERS !

If you ever feel a little bit stupid, just dig this up and read it again; you'll begin to think you're a genius..


1. Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?
Answer: "I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever." --Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest.


2. "Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life."
-- Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign.


3. "It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it." -- Al Gore ( ex Vice-President, USA)


4. "Traditionally, most of Australia’s imports come from overseas." --Keppel Enderbery


5. "We don't necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people." -- Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instructor.


6. "I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body" --Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.

CALENDER OF EVENTS – SEPTEMBER 2010

                         02.09.2010                                                        7.30 pm.

Krishna Leela on the small stage in the Badminton Court enacted by children. Ground decorations will be put up at various places. Please come in large numbers to cheer the children.

EVENTS IN AUGUST

Saare jahan se achha, Hindustan hamara....

Pookolam artists at work 

All set for the Onam Sadhya

View more pictures at these links:

Independence Day

Pookolam & Onam Sadhya