EDITORIAL
There was not much time to recover from the Diwali Mela before Diwali came and went like a breeze. The Diwali Illumination Competition held on 5th November did not throw up any surprises, as the favourites – G&H blocks – crowned themselves yet again with the coveted trophy. There was a stiff competition between the remaining three blocks as a mere three points separated them. A&B took the second spot followed by E&F and C&D. Having said that, the competition didn’t live up to the high standards of a year or two ago. It is obvious that ennui has set in and people are running out of ideas. Residents are also complaining of the high cost of inputs and the desire to excel does not lend itself to holding back. While, the victor is seen grinning from ear to ear like a Cheshire cat, the vanquished feel let down by the judges. After the results were announced, I was gheraoed by a large group of ladies from E&F blocks who were very much peeved with the result. I could not fathom the reason they vented their ire at me. If I had any role in the judging then A&B blocks wouldn’t have been winless in the last ten years. The fact is all the blocks put in so much effort, money and passion into the exercise that they tend to overlook the flaws in their creations and discount the efforts of the others. The judges when they view the effort dispassionately, as they do not belong to the blocks that they are judging, look at things more objectively and come up with their marking. Besides, art being so subjective to interpretation, one person’s view could differ very much from another’s.
The Sports Day held on 14th November was much anticipated by the children. Many of them were seen warming themselves up much before the bugle sounded the start of the event. Only, in this case, the bugle was the lowly whistle. Due to lack of space I will only report those events which were a cause for mirth. To start with, the under 5 years age, “Picking the toffees” event had the children lined up at the starting line with no clue of what they were supposed to do. There was much coaxing and tutoring by parents and when the children entered the ring for picking the toffees, all hell broke loose. Parents and supporters of each child were seen yelling instructions to the children and the crescendo seemed akin to a bull or a cock fight. Finally, the person who collected more toffees than he could eat in a month was Samarth of H-208 with a whopping 61 teeth destroyers. He was followed by Abhimanyu of A-205 with a more modest 47. I cannot figure out why parents put so much pressure on their young ones. Surely, it would not be good for their psyche.
Since there were many ladies participating in the “Lemon and spoon” race and “Needle and thread’ race, some of the senior ladies didn’t want to get pitted against the younger and nimbler contestants. A person who had the temerity to ask the age of a woman to separate the younger from the older ones almost got biffed in the nose. Here is the witty part. While the desire to win is high, no lady wants to give the impression that she is older than the other. This was a dilemma some of them were confronted with. Finally, the ones who wished to win desperately ran in the seniors group.
The “tug of war” between the men and the women was the humdinger. Having been humbled by the women the previous year, the men came all braced up to extract revenge. In the best of three tries, they did win the first round. Having got the better of the ladies, Kunal wanted to break for lunch. The ladies would have none of it and came roaring back in the second round. There was much accusation that there were too many ladies and counter accusation that the centre point was skewed in favour of the men. The men did not want to go down fighting. They wanted to win it at all costs. With this resolve, in the final round, they gave such a heave that the ladies fell at their feet, hands folded in supplication as if to say “you are the lord and master, what can I do for you?”. My wife, Poornima, who was looking over my shoulder as I typed this, almost strangled me. I was delighted at the score sheet: Men: 2, Women: 1
The athletes who excelled on the day, winning multiple podium finishes are Abhimanyu Rao, Tanvi Savarkar, Avantika Shankar, Shreeya Srikant, Srilakshmi Mani, Ram Srinivas, Tejaswin Shankar, Yohaan Abraham and Parvathy Easwaran. Kudos to them! The programme concluded with Musical Chairs.
The Telecom Minister Raja finally got the heave-ho. However, since he belongs to a coalition partner there will be no JPC probe and his misdeeds will get whitewashed with embarrassing cravenness. If it’s the DMK at the Centre, it’s Congress in Maharashtra and BJP in Karnataka, who are all caught in the cleft of thievery. Probity in public life is not the watchword of Indian politicians. Both in rapacity and thickness of skin, the current set of rulers have outdone their predecessors thereby setting a new benchmark.
The Quiz competition held on 28th November had a surfeit of participants. As a consequence, instead of four teams of four members as originally envisaged, we ended with six teams. The teams came up with esoteric names like Zingari, Xanadu, Samurai Warriors, Blue Barracudas, Clueless and Quiz Wizards, to add some zing to the competition. The Quiz Master was the redoubtable Sumathi Chandrashekaran of H-107, whose penchant for the unpredictable has now become legendary. The “pore over GK books” contestants would quake in their shoes at the unique and off beat style of quizzing that she has perfected to an art form. Yet most of the teams were not found wanting in their answers, showing thereby that we have residents who are not only well read and well informed but have true interests in fields far removed from the common fare. Sumathi was ably assisted with video projection by her cousin Shalini Narayan. Scoring was managed by Kavya Narayanan. Sumathi must have spent over a month planning, collecting and putting together the videos and other questions, thereby drawing on the resources of her father Chandu and mother Shanti. I am sure if she ventures out to start a quiz show commercially, she will be very successful. Zingari, consisting of Kunal Savarkar, Seema Chari, Sahana Savarkar and Anish were runaway winners with 105 points. This was a formidable team as Kunal Savarkar himself is a quizzer. Besides, the rub of the green went in their favour as they had easy pickings with some questions. Nevertheless, they would still have trumped the others as they could answer most of the passed-off questions from the other teams. The Blue Barracudas consisting of Tarun, Anjali, Aditi and Mansa were runner-up with 70 points, thereby pipping Xanadu by 5 points who in turn were just 5 points ahead of Clueless. Quiz Wizards brought up the rear, but to be fair to them they probably got the toughest questions. In the audience, Poornima Narayanan answered the most questions and collected a lot of Kit Kats as prizes, followed by Seetha Venkataraman and Vatsala Zutshi amongst others. All in all it was a very interesting and absorbing evening. Many thanks to Sumathi who made it happen.
I would like to thank Manoj Subramanian of G-206, Mr. Narayanan of C-007 and B. Kumar of B-202 for providing complimentary gifts for the Quiz contestants amongst others which will be given to them at the Annual Day function.
View more Sports Day pictures here)
SNIPPETS
The last of the Yamcult bachelors has bitten the dust. Kartik of H-303, after holding forth gamely all this while he has fallen for the wily charms of the fairer sex. He let go his grip on bachelorhood when he got engaged to Rashi Jain in a ceremony held in Yamuna on 21st November. Rashi has done MCA and is working as a software executive in a company in Noida.. Parents Venkatasubramanian and Radha did not have to make an effort to find a match for either of their children. The marriage will be held next year in Saharanpur, where Rashi’s family resides.Former President, Mr. K.V. N. Iyengar turned 80 on 27th November.. A small and intimate ceremony with close friends and relatives was held at D-203, followed by lunch in the Community Hall. Mr. Iyengar loves children and is very well informed about the affairs of the Society. Failing eyesight has however, restricted his activities. We are indeed very privileged to have a wise shoulder to lean on in case of any crisis. His younger son, Badri and family were here from the US to join in the celebration. We wish him long years of fulfilling life in Yamuna.
There is no dearth of relatives for Srikanth in Yamuna. Now, his wife Soumya has added to the tally. She has opened her account, as her sister Smitha and her husband Hariharan have moved into G-302 from Ganga Apartments. Smitha is a software engineer with HCL and Hariharan works for Blue Star. While not working, Smitha loves to read and listen to music. Hariharan is partial to sports and is an avid tennis and badminton player. They may be committing treason if their support for C&D blocks for the Illumination Competition continues after they have moved to G block. They can be reached on 26001636.
Another young couple has moved into A-208 from Goa. Kumar Chiplunkar is an Art Director with Entertainment Design Company. His other interests include painting with water colours and Hindustani classical music. His wife Meghna is also Art Director and Copywriter with the same company. She loves decorating homes and the effects are visible in their very tastefully designed home. The only thing incongruous is the entrance door which is not their doing. Kumar is Maharashtrian and Meghna is Kannadiga. This ethnic diversity adds flavour to Yamuna. They can be reached on 9999956992.
We welcome both these families to Yamuna.
Recipe of the Month
Frijole Mole (say “fri-ho-luh-mole” !)
½ cup kabuli chana
2-4 green chillies, seeded and chopped fine
2 tablespoons olive oil (or any other veg. oil)
2 tomatoes, blanched, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, chopped medium
Tabasco or other chilli sauce
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons sour cream or hung curd
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon coriander leaves, chopped fine
4 spring onions with greens, chopped
1-2 tablespoon black olives (optional), salt to taste
This easy-to-make recipe is a simplified version of the Mexican original by one of my favourite food writers, Vasundhara Chauhan. It’s delicious and loaded with nutrients. Best of all, it’s versatile – you can use it as a party dip with nachos, potato wafers or freshly cut vegetables like carrots, cucumber and mooli. When hunger pangs strike you at an odd hour, slap it onto a slice of bread and toast lightly for a warm, crunchy snack !
Soak kabuli chana overnight. The next morning, drain chana and boil with salt in about a cupful of water till tender. Simmer for about 30 min after full pressure has been reached in a pressure cooker. Drain and keep aside the cooking liquid. Heat oil in a frying pan. Saute onions and garlic till golden. Add lime juice, onions, garlic and any oil that remains in the pan to the cooked chana. Whiz in a mixie until almost smooth (can be a little chunky). If the mixture becomes too thick, just add a tablespoon of the reserved liquid.
Transfer the mixture from blender jar to serving bowl, taste and adjust seasoning. Stir in chopped spring onions, chillies, tomatoes, Tabasco, sour cream and coriander. Garnish with pitted and halved olives, cover and refrigerate.
This keeps well in the fridge for up to a week. If you want to keep it longer, leave out the tomatoes and add them just before serving. Makes about 2 cups.
(Poornima Narayanan)
CALENDAR OF EVENTS – DECEMBER 2010
| DATE | TIME | EVENT | VENUE |
| 4.12.10 | 4.30 PM | ANNUAL DAY-REFRESHMENTS,PRIZE | MAIN LAWN |
| DISTRIBUTION, VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT, | |||
| 25.12.10 | 6.00 PM | CHRISTMAS CARNIVAL-FOOD & GAMES STALLS/MUSIC/DANCE | BADMINTON COURT |
| 31.12.10 | 12.00 | MIDNIGHT CAKE CUTTING TO USHER IN THE NEW YEAR | COMMUNITY HALL |
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