EDITORIAL
The Navratri festival had women and girls trooping in and out of houses in beautiful kanjeevarams. It made for a very pretty picture. How I wish these days would never end. Alas! one will have to wait for another year.
The dandiya dance which was moved from the earlier scheduled date of 1st October, 2011 seemed like a godsend. There was renewed enthusiasm for the event. The number of women, men and children who showed up to dance in traditional attire exceeded all expectations. A stall selling puri-chole, masala dosa and sabudana wada did brisk business. Kunal’s meagre preparation of pasta disappeared as soon as it appeared and had people asking for more. The dancers didn’t want to stop and kept going merrily, well past the curfew hour of 10 pm. It made for a fabulous evening. I would like to thank the ladies who lent their dupattas to drape the stage. Srikanth was the DJ and official photographer, when he got time off from whetting his insatiable appetite! Photos taken by Srikanth can be viewed on the Yamuna Photo Album.
The countless imploring metronomes assaulting ones eardrums suddenly ceased late last month, much to my relief, when TRAI put a stop to bulk messaging. The sheer volume of messages careening down the information superhighway often fell prey to the delete button, but their annoying frequency peddling anything from insurance policies to 3-bedroom flats must have been big business for mobile phone companies. I am so chuffed by the verdict that I am tempted to write the epitaph of bulk messaging.
Crippling inflation has only one bogeyman for the RBI. They have increased the interest rates thirteen times in the last one year, thereby dampening sentiment and demand for goods and services. That the prices of oil and commodities are not governed by domestic factors and are a consequence of historically low interest rates globally seems not to register with the wise men of RBI. Keynesian economic theory, which they seem to be applying, was relevant more than 100 years ago when the price of goods and services were determined only by local demand and supply factors. In a globalised economy this bears little or no relevance. As a consequence of low demand the collection of excise, sales tax and income tax has fallen thereby increasing deficit financing. Everybody knows deficit financing is inflationary. In the end RBI is ending up doing just the opposite of what they are intending to do. They seem to be suffering from the tyranny of anticipated consequences from the wrong assumptions.
Diwali Mela on 22nd October, 2011 was full of verve, vitality and gaiety. The milling throng was a tribute to the popularity of Yamuna’s melas. Even the flies which were attracted by the lights found the mela hard to resist, much to everybody’s annoyance. However, the bonhomie did not translate to the cash registers. The people who had taken stalls were a tad disappointed at the lack of will amongst the guests to open their purse strings. Nevertheless, everybody had a whale of a time. The irrepressible Prashant Senior and his junior namesake regaled the crowd with some nostalgic Bollywood hits. The dress competition for the retro Bollywood theme was won by Nalin Rastogi for his Pran lookalike. Sujata Sundaresan took the ladies prize. I must confess that there were several others including the aforementioned DJ’s who could have taken the bite of the cherry. Radha Mani, Deepa Rastogi, Malu, Aditi Rastogi, Shanta Varma and Sudha Easwaran amongst others, were all in contention. Mrs. Seetha Venkataraman donated gift coupons to the winners. The grand finale jam session had the crowd on their feet. There was not a body part not in motion. The sheer energy was kinetic. Alas! It had to finally come to an end. I would like to thank Thomas Abraham for the posters he made which helped spread the word about our Mela. Thanks are also due to Sujata Sundaresan, Mr. P.K. K. Nair and Srikanth Murthy who arranged for the sale of stalls. I am indebted to Deepak Varma for arranging sponsorship from Kotak Mahindra which helped defray part of the expenses. I would also like to thank all the others who did their bit to make the Mela a resounding success. Photos can be viewed in the Yamuna blog.
The result of the Diwali rangoli and illumination competition upset the applecart. A&B blocks, who were in the doldrums for a number of years, finally got their act together and in the opinion of all the judges turned out to be unanimous winners. The only reason one could fault A&B was the lack of walking space around their designs. Besides, their theme was not awe inspiring. G&H blocks, who have been a thorn in the flesh of all the other blocks, finally bit the dust. While G&H did not do enough this year to crown themselves winners for the nth time, they certainly didn’t deserve to come last. It was a blip in their glorious history of wins. I am sure they will come back strongly next year.
If one were to dissect the verdict of the judges, criteria wise, the following is what emerges. On theme and originality C&D and E&F shared the top spot with A&B following close behind and G&H bringing up the rear. On illumination, A&B were runaway winners, followed by C&D with G&H and E&F sharing the last spot. As far as rangoli was concerned A&B and G&H were joint winners with C&D and E&F following behind. On overall impact C&D came on top followed by A&B, E&F and G&H respectively.
My take on the competition is that C&D over the years have been the most innovative with both the theme and materials used. Their Optical Illusion theme one year was absolutely brilliant in both concept and execution. Their use of fruits and grains in the rangoli another year, albeit a little controversial, was again very innovative. This year their economy of colours and expense was both noticeable and admirable. E&F have always raised the bar with their innovative themes. G&H have been head and shoulders above the rest with their rangoli, but their illustrations of late have become too predictable. A&B barring this year, have been middle roaders. The good thing is that the change of baton will keep the competitive spirit alive. At the end of the day, rivalry apart, we are all friends.
We have a busy month ahead with badminton and TT tournaments, quiz competition, sports day and Annual Day. Every participant will have to hone his or her skills to take the lolly at the Annual Day prize distribution. A separate circular has been sent to inform participants whom to contact for participating in the various events. Please don’t waste time and get in touch with the respective individuals, lest you lose out on the opportunity to participate.
The grill work on the front boundary wall, the concertina wire security fence in other areas and pipeline work will get completed by the end of November 2011. The C-Block access control with smart cards will also get implemented during the month of November, 2011. Residents will then have free access through this gate any time between 6 am and 10 pm. A separate circular will be sent to residents when the same gets implemented.
SNIPPETS
Read the books to know him better.
M. Anand of C-001 does not believe in small measures. For his second daughter Ananditha’s marriage to Ganesh he pulled out all the stops! In wedding festivities spanning four days (from 16th to 19th October, 2011) and three different venues which brought out influences of south, north, east and west with music, cocktails, dinner, janavasam, wedding and reception, everybody got their eyeballs worth. Ganesh looked dapper and with his charming bride by his side, they seemed ‘made for each other’. May their future together bloom.
The legal fraternity in Yamuna got more heft with two more lawyers moving into G-305. Ana Chandy is a lawyer working with a law firm in Greater Kailash. Anukriti Yadav is a lawyer with ICICI Bank. Both have interests in playing basketball, TT and tennis with a bit of movie-going thrown in. Ana can be reached on 98732315 and Anukriti can be reached on 9654915208. We welcome them to Yamuna and hope that they are able to integrate into the cultural milieu of the colony soon and participate in all the events.
MIRTH CORNER
Rajnikanth Jokes – Mind it!
When Rajnikant was studying in Class III....someone stole his rough note-book....and
Now they call it .............Wikipedia
Crazy people!!!! ;)
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When Rajnikant was a student, teachers use to bunk classes!!!
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Rajnikant started a college. All students were confused while taking admission because the name of the college is "Rajnikant's Medical College of Engineering for Commerce".
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THE MOST NEGLECTED FACT OF THE ENTIRE DECADE!!!!
Sachin Tendulkar's mother’s name is RAJNI Tendulkar.
And his coach's name is RamaKANT
Need we say more ???
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Rajinikant got 150 questions in an exam paper asking - "Solve any 100 questions"
He solved all 150 and wrote, " Rascalla!, CHECK ANY 100!"
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One day Rajni felt like playing cricket in the monsoon and rain stopped due to play.
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Rajnikanth's next project is Titanic in Tamil. However, Rajni has twisted the climax. Both the lead actors survive. Rajni swims across the Atlantic Ocean with the heroine in one hand and... the Titanic in the other .
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Who says the world will be destroyed in Dec 2012 ? Rajnikant just bought a laptop with three years warranty.
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Rajni’s Law of Conservation
All scientists failed to answer this but Rajnikanth did...
Ques: Which liquid turns solid on heating?
Ans: Dosa... mind it!!!
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Once a photo of Rajnikant was given for Xerox. Don't even try to guess what happened.
We got two copies of the Xerox machine.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR NOVEMBER 2011
| DATE | TIME | EVENT | VENUE |
| 6.11.11 | 6.30 PM | QUIZ COMPETITION WITH SUMATHI | BADMINTON COURT |
| 13.11.11 | 9.00 AM | SPORTS DAY | MAIN LAWN |
| 26.11.11 | 4.30 PM | ANNUAL DAY-REFRESHMENTS,PRIZE | MAIN LAWN |
| DISTRIBUTION, VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT, | |||
| FOOD STALLS |
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