EDITORIAL
I generally like winter for the balming influence of the midday sun and the cosy feeling and sound sleep one gets under the quilt at night. One also doesn’t get tired roaming during the day. Picnics and golf games are enjoyable. Not so this winter. This has been the most miserable winter I have endured and so too say others with whom I have interacted. The bone-chilling cold and cloudy, smoggy and rainy days and anaemic sun at other times have made both the days and nights a frigid nightmare. It is attributed to global warming. Strange are the ways of nature. You wonder why global warming should cause colder winters. The answer is not that simple. The circulation of the trade winds has got skewed with the unusual weather conditions caused by global warming. As a result, Moscow which normally is 20°C colder than Delhi was actually warmer than Delhi. Heaven help us if we continue with our indulgent ways.
The city is in the throes of elections. The periodic polling exercise is expected to convey to us, among other things, that democracy is alive and kicking. Whether the elections materially alter the lives of the citizens is not of concern to the politicians. It is a way to trick us into voting again with promises of Shangrila, by fooling everyone to believe that if we didn’t vote for them, the other option would be too dire to even fathom.
AAP came as a breath of fresh air over five years ago on the heels of the Anna Hazare movement, with a promise to bring probity in public life. After much puffery at the start of their innings, AAP took pot-shots from all and sundry owing to their own misdeeds. Politicians everywhere bear the same stripes and AAP had proven that they were no different from others. The Chief Minister was luxuriating in an exaggerated pantomime, praising himself from billboards and newspaper ads while a mountain of promises remained unimplemented. Consequently, they drew a blank in the Lok Sabha elections. This seemed to have chastised them and they have since done some course correction to blunt the faultlines. Hence, for the State elections, they seem the favourites. Even opponents will grudgingly agree that on education and health fronts, this government has made the grade and that’s a start. Besides, they have also kept water and power rates in check, introduced CCTV’s all over the city to improve safety and security. They still need to do a lot more as Delhi is languishing at 200th spot in the Swacch Bharat initiative. Cities like Indore have transformed dramatically.
Five years ago, Arvind Kejriwal announced that he would make Delhi like London and Mamata Banerjee said the same thing for Kolkata. A walk along the broken pavement to Alaknanda market, past jagged kerbstones, dodging errant trailing cables, and derelict and rusted power or telephone distribution boards and sundry obstacles will reveal how Londonesque we are. Why this obsession with London? All we need is a clean orderly, civilised and unpolluted city with well-paved roads and pavements, where rule of law is respected. Is it too much to ask? This is the situation despite the fact that the local AAP MLA, Mr Saurabh Bharadwaj, is easily approachable and delivers on most of his promises. As politicians go, he is definitely not made of the same feather. But, he is also stymied by the system. Even a people-friendly politician like him, who is a paragon of transparency is not able to deliver on all that he says. Therein lies the dilemma.
Owing to complaints from residents that there is no parking discipline with cars straying from their allotted spaces, painting of parking slots was done to enable residents to park their cars within its confines. Giving credence to a request by a member in the AGM, the speed-breakers were also painted to alert drivers of an approaching mound. Unfortunately, due to the bitter cold, the paint took time to dry, consequently, movement of human and vehicular traffic over wet paint left it smudged or obliterated in several places.
An orange tree in front of E-004 is bearing several fruits. The vista of big oranges laden on the branches is a delightful sight. I cannot hazard a guess as to how many years it has taken for the tree to bear fruit but it is worth planting more orange trees so that in due course we get a lot more fruits. I happened to taste one of the oranges. It was very sour. I have been given to understand that as the tree matures, the fruit in the following seasons will get progressively sweeter.
On Sunday, 5th January 2020, Citizen’s Alliance visited Yamuna on behalf of the Delhi Government and gave a presentation on the benefits of harnessing the power of the sun in generating free electricity, notwithstanding the high capital cost. Mr Saurabh Bharadwaj spoke briefly to the audience. We were fortunate that the architect of our apartments, Mr Ranjit Sabiki was also present. He allayed the fears of residents on the structural stability of the building. He mentioned that there will be no harm that will be caused by the installation of the roof-top solar panels. He also mentioned that we could also check with Mr T. S. Narayanaswamy, the structural engineer who did the structural design of the building. Be that as it may, ultimately the members have to take a call. Mr Sabiki has written a book titled Cityscapes, published by Harper Collins, where Yamuna Apartments figures prominently with two photographs. This book is available in the office for people to read.
In order to bolster the security of the complex, the Gatekeeper app of Apna Complex has been activated at the gates, whereby any visitor coming into the complex and wishing to go to a particular flat is screened at the gate by the guard messaging residents or calling them to ascertain whether the visitor should be let in. At the same time, the guard also takes a photo of the visitor. While no security system can be fool-proof, this is an additional measure other than the CCTV cameras to monitor the movement of visitors. When one uses any new system of verification, glitches will come to the surface and one keeps ironing them out as one goes along.
India celebrated the seventy-first year of turning a Republic in 1950 when we finally rid ourselves from the yoke of the British Empire. From that day we ceased to be a dominion territory of Britain and stopped owing allegiance to the Queen. Has becoming the Republic with the longest Constitution in the world rid us of all the ills? It’s been a mixed bag. Many countries who were behind us economically have stolen a march over us, as our questioning and challenging of every action while making us democratically vibrant, has acted as brakes to development. China which was way behind us when we turned a republic, is the second biggest power in the world both economically and militarily. With their expansionist ambitions, they could threaten the very existence of India. During the Indo-China war in 1962, we ceded Aksai Chin. The ceding of Gilgit-Baltistan to China by Pakistan from POK due to a Nehruvian blunder gave China a land border with Pakistan. Pakistan’s precarious financial position is propelling them to China who now has a stranglehold on them. It won’t be long before China will become the de facto ruler of Pakistan. Because of their economic and military heft, they are virtually dictating terms to Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and to some extent, Bangladesh. If Bangladesh capitulates, they would have effectively encircled us. We need to stay united to counter this threat and not take exuberant pride in a democracy which questions everything. Liberal attitudes are an import from the West who themselves don’t practice them when it comes to geopolitical compulsions. We need to be pragmatic and not get romanticised by the notion of liberalism because in the hard-scrabble world of geopolitics nobody messes with powerful entities like the US and China even when they deny civil liberties to immigrants and their own people in Tibet and Xinjiang respectively. After all, money and military might speak.
Indians by nature are secular and the Constitution guarantees it. No government can do anything that is against the Constitution. There are legal remedies. Then why protest? Protests should be the last resort, not the first. If there is umbrage, people should approach the courts. Why park yourself on the streets and block traffic? Miscreants and vagabonds join the protestors to pickpockets or burn buses and damage property. Many of them don’t even know what CAA and NRC means. These protests affect commerce and the livelihood of thousands of people whose establishments are shut because of these bandhs and protests. An already crawling traffic comes to a standstill. A commute of half an hour takes one hour. I had to go to Noida one day. It normally takes me half an hour through Kalindi Kunj. It took me two hours. It was very frustrating. That was one way. I had to return also. I was cursing under my breath. Imagine the plight of people who have to do this every day. This is anarchy. Are streets going to solve the concerns? Have debates, approach courts and meet the powers that be and put your point of view across. Without exhausting all other democratic means, if we have to resort to rebellion, a democracy cannot function. A majority vote has brought the government to power. Everything the government does may not suit everybody. That is why the ballot is there. I am fine with opposition parties or civil society protesting but when political parties make universities a hub of political unrest, it does not augur well for places of learning. Universities are places to gain knowledge and conduct research, invent new products, file patents and do other things which are academic in nature. If any person wishes to enter politics from a college they should do so after finishing their education or if they are in a hurry, should leave college and join a political party. Why make a place of learning a hotbed of politics, demonstrations, raise slogans and invite the ire of students of an opposing point of view resulting in clashes and bringing in the police to act in the way they know best, which in most cases is not the right way?
I read through the Act just to ascertain if I was missing anything. All that CAA does is to reduce the period of waiting for religiously persecuted minorities from the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to apply for citizenship from 11 years to 5 years. For all others, 11 years waiting continues to apply. It does not affect any Indian citizen. Why should reducing the period of waiting of those who are already living in India, from 11 years to 5 years cause such a hue and cry?
It is just a political act gone horribly awry, creating chaos and denting the image of the country overseas and consequently investments. All political parties are to be blamed. BJP is to be blamed for not explaining the intent and transparency in CAA and the form of verification for NPR that is mandatory for proving that one is a citizen, and assure the public that there is no scope to exclude genuine citizens on the basis of caste, creed or religion. Opposition is to blame for whipping up controversy without effectively challenging it in Parliament or Courts. On January, 3rd, 2009 Mr Chidambaram of the Congress party in a TV interview to veteran journalist Shekhar Gupta mentioned that the UPA government had an ambitious project to create a National Population Register which would serve to curtail the illegal immigration of people that changes the demographics of the region. When the same thing comes as NRC from NDA all hell breaks loose. This is because BJP has been painted as a non-secular party by all the opposing parties with the intention of capturing minority votes. The gullible public is just fodder for these parties. They are just vote banks and nothing else, otherwise, how can one explain this ethical dichotomy and the level of poverty amongst Muslims in 60 years of Congress rule? Any kind of discrimination is bad, whether it is caste, religion or gender. These are issues we should collectively address.
India sealed the T 20 series In New Zealand with a mind-blowing performance by snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. To prove that it was no flash in the pan, they repeated the feat in the Super Over in the very next match. This team has a never say die approach, a trait which is a rarity.
SNIPPETS
Mr G. Ravindra, who moved into C-001 only in April 2019, got fatigued by the long commute to work every day and decided to move to Faridabad to their own flat. Their daughter Bhairavi, who took to Yamuna like a fish to water, became a leader of the pack of kids within the first week of her being in Yamuna. She will miss Yamuna for sure. This family in such a short time contributed much to the cultural activities of Yamuna Bhairavi’s mother Amba performing in the last Annual Day and Bhairavi also playing Santa Claus at the Christmas Carnival.
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Mr Harish Nair has purchased G-302 from G. Umapathi in the name of his mother, Sarasa Nair. Unfortunately, he cannot move in because his parents are not fit enough to climb the stairs. He, therefore, intends to rent it out. The present tenant, Mr Vinod Asthana, will continue to stay till then. Harish is a faculty member of Mass Communication Research Centre of JNU. He is also a writer and director and has made seven films in Hindi, Marathi, Konkani and Malayalam. His wife, Tanushree is HR Head in Sage Publications. His son is in the XIth class In K. R. Mangalam School. They are presently staying in S-108, GK 2. He can be reached on 9818665271.
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Aanchal Sinha of A-007 did a Kathak recital in Sadhana School of Music and Dance on 26th January 2020. She is such a consummate artist that dance comes naturally to her. The fluidity of her movement and her smiling countenance stands testimony to her oeuvre.
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Rekha Raghavendra’s sister, Janaki Sabesh, had a storytelling session at Sadhana School of Music and Dance on 31st January, from the book she has written for children. She had the children in splits with her intonations, play-acting and dancing to a very participative audience consisting of children and adults. Janaki is also a very talented actress, having acted in several films and on TV. Kudos to her.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR FEBRUARY 2020
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DATE
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TIME
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VENUE
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2.2.2020
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4.00 PM
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THIAGARAJA ARADHANA
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COMMUNITY HALL
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9.2.2020
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10.00 AM
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PAINTING COMPETITION IN THE LAWN FOLLOWED BY POT LUCK LUNCH
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MAIN LAWN
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