Issue No. 130 I June 2012

EDITORIAL

June has been a scorcher with temperatures always in the mid forties. Those who went on a vacation escaped the torrid heat. The rest of us plebeians had to brave the elements. Plants that were being watered everyday were also wilting. On top of that we had to put off the rain dance as many children who like to frolic in the giant portable tub and under the sprinklers were cooling their heels in Leh, the US West Coast and Singapore, amongst other places. I hope we have a bountiful monsoon until we grow weary of it.

In the last issue of the Chronicle I had mentioned that Mukesh Eswaran of E-101 with 80.6% in the XIIth class got the highest marks in the Science stream. Information has now filtered in that Prachi Shrivastava of B-003 has pipped him to the post by securing a very creditable 87% marks. But Mukesh has no reason to moan as he has got the mother of all prizes. He has secured admission in IIT. Madhuri Zutshi popularly known as Dolla, remains the undisputed queen of Humanities with a whopping 95 % marks. Kudos to the high achievers.

It is an onerous task to get the Yamuna staff – who barely get the prescribed minimum wages – to do their chores, as they are fully cognizant of the fact that with the crying shortage of labour they can pick up better paying jobs anywhere. It is a cruelly taxing schedule for office-going MC members to return from work to attend to the residents’ complaints and get work done from an increasingly recalcitrant staff. In the light of this, it is very vexing to hear from residents, words to the effect that the office-bearers get to exercise their outrageous powers of patronage to sort out their own problems while ignoring the rest. Little do they know that there is an unwritten rule, that MC members are to get the last priority in complaint redressals.

What is it about new age gadgets that make grown men and women behave like ditzy pre-teens at Disney? I cannot under most circumstances find a better use for a mobile phone than to make calls, send sms’s or e-mails. My daughters think otherwise. They conned me into buying a Samsung Galaxy when my Blackberry started malfunctioning. The moment I return home from work, they pick up my Galaxy which is loaded with applications, , and start playing some inane games on it. One particularly mindless game is called “Fruit Ninja” where you notch up points as you keep finger slicing various, multi-coloured fruit that keep popping up across the screen. They could spend the whole day playing this or other equally mindless games. Well, you could argue that they are only teenagers, but of late I have seen grown men and women fall to the faux charms of these games. If this is not nipped in the bud we will soon have an army of zombies with absolutely no social skills. Yamuna is already witness to this. One can see queues of people outside Apple stores across the world whenever a new model of iPhone or iPad is launched. I frankly can’t get to use all the applications on my 4-year-old HP laptop. I, therefore find the frenzied rush for new gizmos baffling. Is it only an urge to show off the new acquisition or is there more to this madness that I cannot fathom? Unfortunately, the cornucopia of options available is immense and so is the erosion of the bank balance of many a hapless parent.

In accordance with contractual obligations, the company which laid the interlock brick road has rectified the broken/chipped blocks by replacing them free of cost. They also undertook the work of installing the blocks displaced by us for rectifying the submersible pump. In addition, they have kept in our custody, 70 blocks for contingencies.

The drain outside Yamuna has got an annual cleaning. It was amazing to see the amount of muck accumulated in its cavernous precincts. We should count our blessings that the cleaning has happened just before the monsoon. Hopefully, the drain will not overflow this monsoon and bring sewage into the colony. We also undertook the cleaning of the water harvesting pits and all the internal drains. Thanks to our water harvesting pits, our ground water level which had fallen to 200 feet some years ago is now at a very healthy 80 feet.

We should consider ourselves fortunate that we are not plagued by power cuts and water shortage that is affecting other colonies. Even posh colonies like Vasant Vihar are facing severe water shortage and residents are having to buy water from tankers at scalpers’ rates. In the light of this, it is galling to witness the tolerance levels of Yamuna residents running thin (including my wife’s) if running water is denied to them even for a short while due to some glitch. Nonetheless, the availability of water should hardly be the reason to waste water on frequent washing of the staircase or the landing.

When the wooden office cupboard was made a meal of by the white ants, it was time to act as they were beginning to attack the files. Fortunately, Bhavani Krishnan of E-005 donated a nice large almirah to the Society which has come in handy. Good deeds don’t end there. After seeing the plight of the security staff getting baked in the security cabins without the comforting breeze of a fan, Vani Chandrasekhar of G-201has donated two brand new fans for the security cabins. She was also moved by the plight of the presswalahs and donated two fans to them as well. We are indeed grateful to these residents.

It is very heartening to note that the entire expenditure to do up and equip the Doctor’s clinic has come through donations. We have run into a marginal surplus which will be used for other improvements. For lack of space it would not be possible to acknowledge each of the donors in the Chronicle. Please peruse the Notice Board where the list of all the donors has been putup. We can’t thank the good Samaritans enough for this act of generosity. 

SNIPPETS

Mr. K. Jagadeesan and Mrs. Saroja Jagadeesan of D-101celebrated their Sadhabishekam in Bangalore on 7th June, 2012. We wish the couple a very long, healthy and fulfilling life. Mr. Jagadeesan will join an illustrious band of octogenarians who have been honoured at the Annual Day function of the colony.

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Srivatsa Krishna of D-004, Yamuna’s prodigal son, who straddles the world of administration, energy and music among others, has added another feather to his cap. He has debuted as play back singer in the Hindi movie, Shanghai.  It is unlikely to top the charts because it doesn’t fall in the usual Bollywood genre. Nonetheless, he becomes only the second person from Yamuna to hit the big time in the Hindi tinsel world after KK. I get a sneaking feeling that more people will get to know him eventually as a play back singer rather than as an IAS topper!

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It is going to be a big day for M. Mallika of H-304 on 7^th July, 2012. Her Bharatanatyam Arangetram is going to be held at India International Centre at 6.30 pm on that day. That will add another feather to her already overcrowded cap.

MIRTH CORNER

The professor of a Contract Law class asked one of his better students, "If you were to give someone an orange, how would you go about it?"    The student replied, "Here's an orange."  The professor was outraged. “No! No! Think like a lawyer!" The student then replied, "OK, I will tell him this: I hereby give and convey to you all and singular, my estate and interests, rights, claim, title and advantages of and in, said orange, together with all its rind, juice, pulp and seeds, and all rights and advantages with full power to bite, cut, freeze and otherwise eat the same, or give the same away with and without the pulp, juice, rind and seeds, anything herein before and hereinafter or in any deed, or deeds, instruments of whatever nature or kind whatsoever to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding.” A foreigner had a very spicy Indian dinner. Next morning he came out of the toilet and said: “Now I understand why Indians use water.  Tissue can catch fire!!!” Girl to her brother: What are you going to gift grandma on her birthday? Boy: A football. Gal: But Grandma doesn’t play football? Boy: On my birthday she gave me books. Little boy: Dad can we go to McDonald’s today. Dad: OK, but only when you spell McDonald’s correctly. Boy thought for a moment and said: Ok forget it dad let's go to KFC A psychology report ....When two couples come face to face??? WIVES look at each other’s sarees and HUSBANDS look at each other’s  wife!!.. And the best one ... A drunk guy falls from the first floor. People gathered around and asked him: What happened? He said ..." I don’t know, I also came down just now !!"

 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR JULY, 2012

DATE	TIME	EVENT	VENUE
14.7.12	6.30 PM	RAIN DANCE	MAIN LAWN
EVERY SUNDAY	6.30 AM	CLEANLINESS AND ECO DRIVE	AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS EACH WEEK