EDITORIAL
It
was a Eureka moment for the members of the Society when the Registrar Of
Co-operative Societies finally recognised the members of the Society as the
owners of their respective flats and forwarded the list to DDA. With this came
to an end thirty-six years of frustrating helplessness as regularisation proved
elusive. All along the members were de facto occupiers but with this missive
they become de jure owners. The matter was taken up in right earnest with the
Registrar's office (ROCS) about six years ago on the strength of a letter by
the then Lt. Governor who absolved the wrong procedure followed by the Society
at the time of allotment of flats in 1980. However, this effort had to be put
in cold storage as somebody challenged the authority of the Lt. Governor to
waive this condition in respect of some other Societies, in court. The Court declared
the Lt. Governors' waiver as ultra vires. Since we had got the same order of
waiver from the Lt. Governor, the RoCS were loath to take up our case, citing
that the matter was sub judice. In the beginning of 2015, the Court rescinded
their earlier order on the basis of an appeal by some other Societies, thereby
paving the way for us to pursue the matter. The President put together a team
of people to pursue this matter with the Registrar's office. It has been a hard
slog for the last six months with most of the Managing Committee members taking
turns going to the Registrar's office almost on a daily basis. The RoCS wanted
separate files to be prepared for each and every member with a plethora of
documents to prove that they were the rightful owner. Unfortunately, when the
records were examined, in almost all the cases some document or other was
either missing or defective in some way. The Society had to devise some
unconventional methods to fill the breach and exert influence from several
quarters. The results are there for everybody to see. As the beat of the dhol echoed through Yamuna, residents
trooped out and were greeted with the good news. P. K. K. Nair was ecstatic and
showed it by dancing non-stop to the dhol
beat.
Ramabadhran,
P.K.K. Nair, N. L. Ganapathi, P. Krishnamurthy, Seetha Venkataraman and Poornima
Narayanan were almost on full time basis on this job but many others in the Managing
Committee and some members also chipped in at other times. Sudha Umapathy and
Anita Suresan put in their might towards the latter period of the exercise. I
am not naming each of these individuals for fear of missing out some names. The
Society is eternally grateful to all these persons. The Society also thanks all
the members for their co-operation as otherwise this matter would not have come
to fruition. The office staff particularly Mercy and Victor Thomas bore the
brunt of the load of clerical and sundry activities. The plumber Rajesh also
did the rounds of the RoCS when Thomas was on leave. Now is the time to
celebrate. The Society is also very indebted to Dr. K. Madhavan Kutty who
facilitated the process at the ROCS. Mr. Srivatsa Krishna Also used his good
offices to exert influence.
In
the course of this relentless pursuit with the RoCS certain other matters of
importance, particularly the seepage issue could not be satisfactorily addressed.
The MC regrets this delay but you will all agree that the regularisation issue
could not have been concluded satisfactorily had a daily follow-up not been
maintained. Now that it is behind us, the other areas will receive the required
thrust.
The
early part of winter felt more like spring. Winter has become more of an
evanescent phenomenon in recent times. El Nino is a much feared word worldwide.
Global warming is making weather patterns very unpredictable and playing havoc
with peoples' lives and ruining economies. The Chennai flooding has left many
near and dear ones adversely affected both materially and personally. Mr.
Kailasam who was a former member of Yamuna and lived in H-106 before he sold
his flat, lost his life during the Chennai floods.. We are living on a
precipice with global, natural and manmade events making our chances of
survival independent of old age and
disease.
Some
time ago Kunal Savarkar had tagged a quote of Ralph Waldo Emerson on Facebook
which read, "Let me not fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am
persecuted whenever I am contradicted". Most of us often fall into this abyss and take
umbrage at the slightest remark which may militate with one's views. It is this
intolerance of a viewpoint, alien to one's own which is the cause of so much
strife around the world. People are on such short fuse these days that anything
even trivial can trigger a storm of protest. People draw guns and shoot on
account of road rage. Years of friendship are torn asunder over the slightest
of disagreements. Obduracy, egos and a belief that there can be no other valid
viewpoint other than one's own is the cause of this malaise. Let us all cool
down, as in the total scheme of things, these small disagreements count for
nothing. True friendship means you can even be politically incorrect and it
will be taken in good spirits. Life is so short. Only if we rid our mind, body
and psyche of emotional detritus, can we remain composed.
The
movie going habits of Yamunaites are based on which Khan's movie is releasing.
Some of the women, including my wife, swear by Shah Rukh Khan and some others
like Asha, Anu etc. by Salman Khan. Bollywood is a Mecca of the Khans. They
rule the roost. Starting with Salman Khan and Shah Rukh, the convoy of Khans
doesn't stop. You have Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Imran Khan, Fardeen Khan and
a host of wannabe Khans who are still trying to find their feet in the tinsel
world. The truth is almost every living ethnic Khan is the fruit of Genghis
Khan's prodigious loins, a fecund ruler who sired innumerable children through
motley wives and concubines and some of the Khans of Bollywood are following
suit by leaving behind a trail of wives and girlfriends. Salman has dated
innumerable stars including Aishwarya Rai and Katrina Kaif amongst others, Aamir
and Saif have married twice. We do not know of their dalliance otherwise. The
saying goes that there are only two true religions in this country – cricket
and Bollywood. Notwithstanding the popularity of Amitabh Bachchan, the cash
registers are rung by the Khans.
"Katrina
Kaif and Ranbir Kapoor caught kissing in the balcony" makes headline in
the newspapers. What are we stooping down to? Unfortunately, as I said cricket
and Bollywood rule the eyeballs. People in the public eye need to be wary. Privacy
is the first casualty in a world obsessed with shooting and posting images
online and one can't be sure of not being caught en flagrante delicto even in the privacy of one's home. The public,
hungry for gossip, spend hours trawling the Net in search of salacious
paparazzi pictures.
Renu
Garg and Vidya Nair are doing a magnificent job engaging the children in the
library every Sunday evening. It has become more than a borrowing and reading
rendezvous. Story-telling and Quiz competitions are also being conducted
regularly. Prashant senior is chipping in with his effort in this. It is very
important to keep children away from the malefic influence of TV, video games
and FaceBook. When I burst upon children poring over books like savants in the
library, I reflect on my youthful days in the British Council library when
reading books was a favourite pastime for many people. Alas! It is a dying
phenomenon.
The
Society office had become run down with seepage and years of neglect. The sepia
tinted walls would have made even a DDA flat look better. Ram took it upon
himself to get the office renovated. Gayatri Ganapathi, who is an interior
designer was roped in to make it a more functional and user friendly office, to
enhance its appeal and usher in efficiency. Bulk of the renovation is over, the
result of which is there for all to see. LED lights have been installed to
reduce power consumption and improve illumination. It is still a work in
progress. We are very grateful to Mercy and Thomas for playing a major role in
the shifting and putting up with the inconvenience. Apart from Gayatri, Seetha,
Poornima and Ram played a crucial role in co-ordinating with the vendors and
contractors to get the job completed.
Lohri
is celebrated to signify the end of winter after the winter solstice and the
advent of Makar Sankranti. It also heralds the harvesting of the Rabi crop. In
the north, particularly in Punjab it holds a lot of significance. I am a
traditionalist and it gives me great pleasure to celebrate festivals as it is
one way of bringing people together. At the same time I am an environmentalist
with concerns over the deteriorating air quality because of high particulate
emissions. Therefore, I was caught in the horns of a dilemma over the lighting
of the bonfire to celebrate Lohri. A via media was found by reducing the size
of the bonfire so that the embers don't last all night. Most of the children
assembled well before the pyre was lit. The adults slowly streamed in and
everybody had a good time offering Lohri goodies and generally chatting in the
warm glow of the fire. It took some time for the wood to catch fire but once it
did, it was burning rapidly and as planned it died by 10.30 pm. Unfortunately,
none of the singers were around and it seemed a rather sedate and quiet Lohri.
Normally winter abates after Lohri but this time it came back with a bite for a
couple of weeks.
'Thyagaraja
Aradhanai', a tribute to the legendary saint and composer Thyagaraja was
conducted in the Community Hall on 30th January, 2016 to commemorate his 169th
birth anniversary. Students and teachers of Carnatic music within and outside
Yamuna congregated to sing Thyagaraja's compositions. There were solo and group
performances by students of Subhada and some others. The climax was reached
when everybody joined to sing the Pancharatna Kritis. We were just transported
to heaven by the divine singing of Kalyani, Bhavani, Subhada, Sumathi amongst
others. It was pure bliss. We are indeed blessed to have such great singers.
The
pavements outside the apartments leading upto the market have been repaired
after the matter was taken up by the Society with the local MLA, Mr. Saurabh
Bharadwaj. While the rectification job has been shoddy, at least the
depressions in front of Godavari Apartments where several residents have
tripped and fallen in the past have been set right. Bollards have also been put
at the end of the pavement outside A Block gate to prevent motorcyclists from
using the pavement to drive their vehicles when the main road is clogged.
After
much delay, the work on the IGL gas pipeline has commenced. Due to the
topography of our plot and zig-zag pattern of construction, devising an optimum
route without causing much damage to our paved areas has been a challenge.
Eventually the least disrupting plan was approved. The work on the pipeline
should hopefully get completed in eight weeks time. The pipes will eventually
be fed to the kitchens from the shafts except in the case of E & F Blocks
and all the kitchens facing the exterior in the other blocks. Use of PNG will
involve change in the burners and surrender of LPG cylinders. You will receive
a separate communication on this.
Sadhana
Music and Dance Academy celebrated their second anniversary on 16th January,
2016 with a tabla duet by Pranav Ramji and Faisal Yusuf Khan in honour of the
Late Ustad Sabri Khan. Pranav kept the audience spell bound with his felicity
on the tabla. He is bound to go places with his art. This was preceded by a
music recital by the students of Sadhana which featured Navya Sinha and Samarth
Varma from Yamuna. Unlike other music and dance academies which dot the
landscape, Sadhana specialises in training the students to perform in front of
a live audience which helps them blossom and gain confidence.
Pranav
also performed on the tabla at the Habitat Centre on 22nd January, 2016 accompanying singer Mitali Bhowmik.
SNIPPETS
Mallika,
Shreeya and Shreeja did a Bharatanatyam performance in Tirupathi which was
telecast live on 24th January, 2016. While, to be invited to Tirupati to
perform would be anybody's dream, a
live telecast of their performance would have brought their art to such a wide
audience which they would never have envisioned. Way to go, girls. Three cheers to you.
******************
FUNNY
RIDDLES
(Answers at the bottom of the page)
1. How
many months in the year have 28 days?
2. A
question in a math class. You have 2 apples in your hand plus another 4 apples
in your hand. What do you have?
3.
A man on a flat soccer field kicked a
soccer ball 40 feet away. The ball came back immediately at the same speed. No
one else and no object have been involved. The ball didn’t touch anything on
its way. How did the man do that?
Letter to the Editor
Over
the years, I have known Ram to come up with setting up goals for himself which
are unique in themselves and the path towards them usually unexplored and
unheard of – and he has the knack of working towards them to the finish!
However the goals so far had been somewhat realistic and achievable as it would
have involved mainly his vision and probably my inputs occasionally..
The
Yamuna Project involved far too many consolidations at various levels than one
can actually perceive – even to accept to take it up along with other work
commitments involved a lot of courage
and determination, which is hard to find! It meant to be able to
organise a whole dedicated team as it could not have been possible
individually.. and what a superlative organiser he has proved to be!..
With
so many adversaries at work, difference of opinion, indifference, many
negativities floating around, I would have liked him to take the easier path of
staying away from this social responsibility or at best , take it up to an
extent which is normally expected out of an honorary portfolio.
But
that is just not his style!
Once
he had this task up his sleeve, nothing could come in his way..it even meant
telling me that he was at a meeting while he was actually cooling his heels
without lunch at the RoCS... it had Aryan asking me one day what exactly was RoCS
:-)
Though
he may not acknowledge, I know of the many things which have taken a backseat
in the last 5-6 months at a personal level. On a lighter vein, I accept that I
have cursed Mohan and Poornima who had walked in home unassumingly one day, and
had put across a faint proposal of Ram becoming the President of Yamuna , a
year before and to have got him into this at first place!!
Of
course today, though I had absolutely no contribution to this project apart
from regular in-house opposition and taking care of family while Ram was at it,
I , much like many of us in Yamuna feel a great sense of pride and
belongingness over this stupendous achievement, which is a direct result of
months of cohesive team work, tireless efforts by a few residents on behalf of
everyone, and Ram in particular, to have led all efforts to the finish and for
working so selflessly and showing the perseverance needed to accomplish great
jobs such as these for the community! The man with the Midas touch strikes
again!
I
may not have acknowledged your efforts on this one ever Ram, but I mean it when
I say that you are a true winner and I'm proud of you!
Cheers!
Lata
CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR FEBRUARY, 2016
|
DATE
|
EVENT
|
TIME
|
VENUE
|
|
7.2.16
|
PAINTING COMPETITION FOR ALL AGE GROUPS INCL.
ADULTS
|
10.00 AM
|
BADMINTON COURT
|
Answers to riddles: 1. All of them. 2. A very big hand. 3. He kicked the ball up in the air.
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