Issue No. 162 I February 2015

EDITORIAL

Butterflies in the stomach is the common feeling among students who appear for the school finishing Board Exams, no matter how bright the student is. This one exam can determine the child's future. With so much of one's academic equity resting on a single set of exams, there is absolutely no room for an off day or illness or traffic snarls. No matter what, one is required to peak at the right time both physically and mentally. Even luck is required to play it's part. Where even a fraction of a mark can separate a person who makes it to the course and college of his or her choice, can the students be anything but nervous? This must be the most stressful exam in the world. If you think children appearing in the exams are the only one's going through a nervous breakdown, think again. Parents have palpitations until their child returns after the exam. Parents and society at large should not measure any child's intelligence based on the marks obtained in the Board exams. This will go a long way in preventing depression and even suicide instincts amongst children who do not make the grade. Having said that, on behalf of the Society, I would like to wish all the children appearing in the Board exams a successful crack at it.

Selfies have become a social media pandemic with everyone taking a million pictures of themselves with others. There seems to be a narcissistic obsession to admire oneself. You may as well carry a mirror with you! These photos are so fleeting that they do not stay in your memory for long. I have a partiality towards the photos of yore, which were clicked and printed. They were few and far between and found a place in one's photo album. They served to remind one of the times gone by and captured one's personality, vintage, changes over the years and brought about a tinge of nostalgia. In the present world of use and throw, the pictures lose relevance after a while as there are too many to sift from and nobody has the time to mull over them or connect the dots concerning where and when the photos were taken. The digital world with its temporal timelines is ideal for this kind of forgetfulness. The dynamics of our social life make things that happened a month ago seem old and what happened a year ago, forgotten. However, it is a passion with some and so long as it gives them a high, they should continue to be trigger happy and click away. I may be an exception to the 'want to be clicked every second’ phenomenon. I see at parties, people craning their necks to squeeze into the frame for the selfie moment. This is what keeps the wheel of FaceBook moving. I wonder if Mark Zuckerberg has sponsored this whole selfie craze.

I have had the privilege to notice from close quarters that the middle aged crowd not only enjoy a degree of affluence and security denied to earlier generations, but also look younger and fitter. There is however, a growing body of evidence that suggest that as they edge towards retirement and enter their golden years, their health is worse than their parents. Part of the reason is sedentary lifestyle, binge drinking, fast foods and inadequate sleep. Those who enjoy good health today even with poor eating habits and lifestyle should realise that the pinnacle of good health would not always be available to those guilty of dietary waywardness. It's like trying to make hay when the sun is tending to set.

The painting competition was held under benign skies on 7th February, 2015. Most of the Yamuna children were present with their kit full of palettes, boards, paints, brushes, crayons and an iron will to show their painting skills to good measure. The theme, a choice between a fairy tale or a jungle safari was very assiduously worked upon. The result was very pleasing. Many of the paintings looked like masterpieces when you factor the age of the painter.

Mrs. Saroj Arora of A-106 was very kind enough to distribute a packet each of chips and biscuits to all the participants. Renu Garg contributed the drawing sheets and, along with Seetha Venkataraman, helped with the organisation of the event. The number of prizes varies in different age categories depending on the number of entries in that age bracket. Sudha Easwaran, herself a good artist, was the arbiter and judge. Her verdict is listed below. Congratulations to all the winners and cheers to all the participants.

		PAINTING COMPETITION RESULTS-2015
PRIZE	AGE CATEGORY	NAME	ADDRESS
	6-7 YEARS
1		ANOUSHKA NAIR	A-203
2		DHRUV SUTTAR	H-106
	8-9 YEARS
1		ANJALI GARG	G-106
2		ANANYA SATISH	A-202
3		VANSHIKA ARORA	A-106
	10-11 YEARS
1		ANUSHKA BEHARA	C-207
2		SAISHA SUBRAMANIAM	A-309
3		KIANA ABRAHAM	A-008
	12-15 YEARS
1		TANVI SAVARKAR	C-208
2		APARNA VARMA	H-208
3
	ADULTS
1		POORNIMA NARAYANAN	B-002

The Delhi elections threw a very unexpected result. While AAP were tipped to win, nobody remotely expected such a drubbing of the Congress and BJP. The voters were turned off by Congress's drift and venality and its preference for welfare handouts over fostering opportunity. In the case of BJP, surprisingly, while there was hardly a dent on their vote share compared to the 2013 Assembly elections, the complete capitulation of the Congress ensured that AAP got all the switch votes. What we should be happy about is that the local MLA Mr. Saurabh Bharadwaj is very pro-active and we have a personal rapport with him. In fact he has given us three street lights which we have installed in the park for better illumination.

The Thyagaraja Aradhana on 14th February was held in the Community Hall. There were solo performances from Poorvaja, Purnima, Shreeya, Jayashree, Bagirathi Eswaran, Seema and Sukanya Sundaresan. Poorvaja, Shreeja, Ananya and Purnima sang a group song under mentor Kalyani. This was followed by another group song by Samiksha, Sahana, Tanvi, Avantika, Radhika, Mani, Dhanya, Advita, Shivashri, Shashwat, all trained by Subhada Arun.

The accompanists from outside the colony on violin and tabla acquitted themselves well. Ramanan provided a glimpse of his amazing talent with a sublime rendering of a Thaygaraja kriti on Hansa Veena (not his preferred instrument). The best was reserved for the end when accomplished singers Kalyani, Bhavani, Sumathi and a few others settled to sing Thyagaraja's  Pancharatna Kritis. The singing was evocative and exhilarating. Towards the end, as it reached a crescendo, the reverberations swept the Hall, inducing a feeling of nirvana. Delicious kesari and sundal from Yamuna Canteen was served prasadam at the end of the performance.

Our wait for the coveted gas pipeline will get a trifle prolonged. On enquiring with IGL, I was informed that they received permission from MCD to excavate for laying the pipeline in Ganga only in February 2015. Since the pipeline has to traverse Ganga to reach Yamuna, it will push the work to commence in Yamuna to March. Let us hope it does not turn out to be like "Waiting for Godot".

Radha Kalyana Mahotsavam conducted by Balaji and his family has become a feature of the February social cum spiritual calendar. This year too, it was held in the lawn on 21st and 22nd February amidst much fanfare. It was presided by Guru's Krishnanda Teertha Mahaswamigal and Krishna Premi Anna. Singing and dancing by the devotees and the feast at the end of the mythological wedding rounded up the two day event. Kalyani, Mala and several others actively participated and helped in organising this function.

In the light of the prevalence of swine flu residents should advise their domestic staff and drivers to desist from spitting in public, which has become a menace lately.

The Union Budget has been a tight rope walk for the Finance Minister. He had to juggle between the aspirations of the youth, the financial security of the elderly, the need to foster investment, appear socialistic and at the same time rein in the deficit. He has attempted to do all without falling between two stools. Yet, it does not seem a path breaking or big bang budget that a lot of people anticipated. If wishes were horses one could address every constituency but the numbers wouldn't add up. I would give him seven out of ten.

SNIPPETS

Aditya Vasudevan of A-209 was so smitten with his colleague at work, Vinita Sainani that he took the next logical step by getting married to her on 5th February, 2015 at Hotel City Park. The wedding was solemnised both in South Indian and Sindhi custom. The wedding venue, bedecked with flowers, looked very festive. The food that was on offer was a gourmand’s delight. Meena and Vasudevan were excellent hosts. Yamuna residents were omnipresent. We wish the couple a fabulous wedded life.

******************

Sreeja, the expatriate daughter of Mr. N.V. Verghese and Elizabeth Verghese had got married to Paul Gorman, in ireland earlier this year. To celebrate the event, Mr. and Mrs. Verghese  hosted a reception at Gymkhana Club on 22^nd February. Sreeja and her husband looked very relaxed and happy in each other's company. The venue was tastefully decorated and the food and drinks on offer satiated the taste buds. The weather was awesome and it was an evening well spent with Yamuna friends. Elizabeth and Mr. Verghese were gracious hosts. We wish the couple an enjoyable life together.

*****************

Mr. Arun Viswanathan and his wife Sukanya's  brief stay in A-304 came to an end when they moved to Pune to take advantage of an exciting career opportunity.

MIRTH CORNER

A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.
"House" for instance, is feminine: "la casa."
"Pencil," however, is masculine: "el lapiz."
A student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?"
Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether "computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la computadora"), because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;😂😂
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;😜😜
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and

4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your pay check on accessories for it.

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine ("el computador"), because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on😝
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;😄
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE  the problem;😜
and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.
The women won.😜

CALENDAR OF EVENTS - MARCH 2015

DATE	EVENT	TIME	VENUE
6.3.2015	HOLI MILAN with Chole-Kulcha stall for lunch	10.00 AM	MAIN LAWN
21.3.2015	TAMBOLA, GARDEN GAMES & DINNER FROM STALLS	7.00 PM	MAIN LAWN
28.3.2015	GOURMET CHEF-COOKING COMPETITION FOR	6.30 PM	BADMINTON COURT
	STARTERS, MAIN COURSE AND DESSERTS