EDITORIAL
We
could not have asked for better weather for the Society's Annual Day function
on 9th December, 2017. It was under clear blue skies that we began the
preparations and as the day wore on and night fell it was balmy and not
bitterly cold as you would expect at this time of the year. Everything went
like clockwork from the refreshment to the prize distribution ceremony and so
on. The performers dressed in their costumes added colour and panache to an
otherwise monochromatic prize distribution function. Mrs. Rajalakshmi Kalyan
and Sridevi distributed the prizes.
Despite
minor glitches we finished the programme on schedule and then settled to
partake in the food. Since almost half the members of the colony were involved
in some item or the other it is not possible to name all of them but I would be
failing in my duty if I did not mention the key players in the choreographing
and the acts. Seema Chari who was the director, singer and script-writer of the
marquee item, "Seven Decades of Cinema", Anu Shekhar who choreographed
the Fancy Dress, the dance item "Jimikki Kammal" and the music, dance
ensemble of "Seven Decades of Cinema" and performed in the latter two,
Subadha Arun who sang the invocation song, choreographed the choir singing
groups and sang and acted in Seven Decades of Cinema, Bhavani Krishnan who too
sang the invocation song and co-created and sang in Seven Decades of Cinema, Aanchal
Sinha, a new comer to the colony who danced in gay abandon in her Kathak performance,
Kiana Abraham in her Odissi recital, Sai,Shashvath, Radhika, Bhuvana, Vaidehi,
Anoushka, and the biggest surprise of all, Aseem Kumar, whose commentary on
Seven Decades of Cinema with impeccable diction and dialogue delivery left one
asking for more. Back stage, Madhavi Samson did the compering with great
confidence, Prashant Sr. was the music co-ordinator. Besides all of them,
Ananya Satish, Samiksha, Sahana and Tanvi Savarkar in their various roles did
an extremely good job.
Raghav
did an impromptu stand-up comedy act. Actually, I don't think the performance
was really impromptu. It was too crafted and spunky to be entirely spontaneous.
He did a marvellous imitation of the Haryanvi dialect. He brought in a bit of
humour and suggestive dialogues to send the audience into raptures.
We are
indeed grateful to the following people who through their financial and
material support contributed to the success of the event.
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SPONSORS FOR ANNUAL DAY 2017
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|
|
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S.NO
|
NAME
|
FLAT NO.
|
AMOUNT
|
|
1
|
MR. M.
ANAND
|
H 101
|
10000
|
|
2
|
MRS.K.
SRIDEVI
|
G 303
|
10000
|
|
3
|
MRS.
RAJALAKSHMI KALYAN
|
G 106
|
5000
|
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4
|
MR.
N.A. SESHADRI
|
D 103
|
2000
|
|
5
|
MR.
P.H.NARAYANAN
|
C-007
|
MISCELLANEOUS
GIFTS
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I
wanted to pen a ditty as a tribute to Seema who has been repeatedly carrying
the entertainment package of the Annual Day on her shoulders with the staging
of the main act which had hitherto been a play. This year for lack of time and
non availability of key cast members she conjured up a musical act of equal, if
not better quality and scale. Never in the history of Yamuna have we had so
many cast members in a single item. It is unlikely that this record would ever
be broken unless Seema wants to prove a point. Please sing this song to the
tune of the song "How Do you Solve A Problem Like Maria" in Sound of Music.
How do you solve an enigma like Seema?
How do you take her quill and set it aside?
How to choose the cast and pin them down?
A magician, a Bully, a Boss.
Many a time the cast has no time to practice,
Many a time they just do not show up,
Many a time somebody drops out,
A magician, a Bully, a Boss.
How does she remain sane and listen to all the
excuses?
How do you raise a toast in her name?
How do you solve an enigma like Seema?
How do you solve an enigma like Seema?
A lot
of back office work is done which nobody notices and quite often leaves the
doers unsung. Let me acknowledge the contribution of Seetha Venkataraman and
Poornima Narayanan who selected, bought, packed, catalogued, and arranged the
prizes for the prize winners, Mercy Nair who prepared the certificates, Victor
Thomas who ran several errands and did duties on the day of the event, Pappu
the electrician who along with Manoj and Narain put up all the lights, Charan
and Raju who ferried stuff and did the cleaning.
A
group of monkeys came calling at Prashant Sr.'s door. Prashant panicked and
shut the door behind him. He wasn't
expecting any guests but monkeys are not supposed to fix appointments
and come. They were just hoping for a repast and didn't expect to encounter
such a rude host. They then moved elsewhere to try their luck. I told Prashant
that this was no way to treat his guests. He almost biffed me on the nose for
pulling his leg.
Such encounters
of the unexpected kind have become the norm with the monkey brigade laying
siege in Yamuna. There was a brief respite when Srikant got a pot shot at the leader of the pack with
his paint ball gun. They avoided Yamuna
for a few days Now that they are back with a vengeance. Brace up as further
simian shenanigans cannot be ruled out.
The
BJP juggernaut rolls on as the number of states under their control swelled from
an abysmal 6 states to 19 in a space of 3 years. BJP's charismatic leader PM Modi
who has the vision, attitude, 24/7 work ethics and immeasurable guts to face up
to adversity is the man the country needs to take this indisciplined and at
times anarchic populace to the next level. I do not, however, have such a
benign attitude towards the party or their ideological masters, the RSS. On the
other hand the main Opposition party seems defunct. Its electoral moral is
sticky. It coddles incumbents and stymies newcomers. It will not be the
presiding generation of leaders who will attempt reconfiguration due to dynastic
compulsions. Its antediluvian mindset is in the marrow. The party Vice
President cannot even inspire kids in a juvenile home, let alone the country.
Its performance in the polls in Himachal and its loss in Gujarat shows that
they are in a downward spiral. Its modest showing in the Gujarat polls was more
because of local leaders representing Patidars, SC's etc who took away the
votes from BJP and Congress by default got the benefit.
Christmas
Carnival brought Yuletide party atmosphere to the fore. This year in a change of theme, Nandita, with
the able assistance of Kavya, trained the kids for the a Christmas story as an alternative to the
traditional Nativity Scene. The children of course did a great job. Carol
singing was at its best. This was followed by the arrival of Santa Claus bearing
sweets much to the delight of the children. Sai played Santa to the T.
Dakshina, Manisha and Aishwarya (Mr. Natarajan's daughter) then regaled us with
some English songs. Then the Yamuna regulars, Seema, Bhavani, Raghav, Sree
Kumar Madhu amongst others broke into Mohammed Rafi songs as a tribute to the
great artist on his 93rd birth anniversary.
To
induce some pep into the proceedings, Raghav prepared a jar of a strange brew
which sent the imbibers spirits soaring.
No
Christmas carnival can be complete without the Christmas ramp-walk. Much to my
amazement both children and adults displayed a measure of bashfulness not
apparent in previous years. This runs against the grain of increasingly bold
accoutrement and behaviour visible in today's world. As a consequence, barring
the category of under-12 girls, the other categories had just one or two participants.
Dr. Abhilash and Julius Samson sponsored the prize money. Mr. P. K. K. Nair, with his trench coat and hat, portrayed a cross between a law enforcement officer and a mafia don. Take your pick.The prize winners
were :-
|
S.NO
|
NAME
|
FLAT NO.
|
AMOUNT-RS
|
|
UNDER
12 YEARS GIRLS
|
|||
|
1
|
Sahana
Iyer
|
E-101
|
500
|
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2
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Adwita
Nair
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B-107
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300
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OVER
12 YEARS CATEGORY
|
|||
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1
|
Sahana
Savarkar
|
C-208
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500
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LADIES
|
|||
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1
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Seema
Chari
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C-208
|
500
|
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MEN
|
|||
|
1
|
P.K.K.
Nair
|
H-308
|
500
|
New
Year's Eve witnessed the cutting of the customary cake in the Community Hall
where residents poured in from their respective watering holes to greet each
other with warm hugs under heavy breath – hic! Bonhomie over, they returned to
their hedonistic partying till the wee hours of the morning.
We
wish all the residents of Yamuna a happy 2018. These days, if no cataclysmic
event happens, we should reckon that the year went off reasonably well. From
that perspective 2017 was not a bad year. As New Year approaches, people make
resolutions invariably to do things that they wanted to but could not do
before. New Year resolutions for the most part are the infiltration of homilies
that one could not carry through in the years before.
OBITUARY
Mr. R.
C. Warrier, an ex-member and resident of H-202 breathed his last on 7th
December, 2017 in Trivandrum after a brief illness at the age of 91 years.
Yamuna residents convey their heartfelt condolence to the bereaved family.
SNIPPETS
The
month of Marghazhi is the high point of Chennai's cultural calendar. Dakshina
Raghavendra has done Yamuna proud by performing at two venues, one being the
prestigious Narada Gana Sabha. Kudos to her.
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS JANUARY 2018
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DATE
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TIME
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EVENT
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VENUE
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21.1.18
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10.AM
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HERITAGE WALK
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START FROM A BLOCK GATE
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