OH21 Elections and responsibilities of residents.

So, the 2nd elected committee of OH which brings in mostly new faces and few from the earlier elected members has wound up their tenure in almost 1 year and little more. We in OH are seeing 3rd election in a span of 3 years. The election date is fixed on Jan 12th.

The elections in a society should be fought for the betterment of the place rather than making it a political issue, which has been done in earlier elections. In last election, the popular election issue was created by one of the group was gujarati vs non-gujarati. We have studied divide and rule by Britishers and here it's being used as a regionalism tool.
In the last committee, the members used to respond to the issues raised by residents in a very rude way which is not expected in the civil societies. Responses like - "we are not paid for this job" is neither expected nor acceptable.
Why does an RWA  committee is elected?
As the name suggests - Residents Welfare Society. So people who win the election should be humble and have a bent of social services.
What do I as a resident of OH want? I want a clean surrounding and all facilities in the premises in  excellent condition.

With not many people eager to take part in the election process neither as voters nor as candidates, the democracy fails. Democratic process need aware, responsible and responsive people. It's really surprising to see this in a place where literacy rate is 100%. 
Why are we not responsible towards our own society? If I can see the degradation in everything in OH - the housekeeping, security, maintenance of activity rooms, T T room or gym, others are also seeing it as it's evident from our small conversations here and there.

While I am still writing this post, the voting is over and results are declared. A new team with few old and few fresh faces have been elected. In a society with total votes of 384, approximately 135 votes were polled. 😔😏

The two most important office bearers are -
Mr. Ankur Agarwal - Chairman
Mr. Sandeep Mathur - General Secretary

Good luck and expect better upkeep !

OH 20 The Happenings in August to October

I have seen my reluctance to come to this blog of mine as nothing much is happening here in OH. My last post was in November 2018. I have come again now in September 2019.

The sky opened up in August like  never before in Ahmedabad. OH and around had seen heavy rains. The rains have brought mosquitoes and uncontrolled growth of vegetation. There was no fumigation done all through , which should be  a proactive action from the society management. The upkeep and maintenance has gone down by few notches. 😏😔😢😡

August 15, 2019

OH has celebrated Independence Day on August 15, 2019. The same old practices of chairman unfurling the flag. His marching towards the flag along with the guards is a real funny scene as none of them are in sync. Why do it then? Lots of speeches and patriotic outbursts. 😊 We need to change the way of celebrating this day. This one day patriotism serves no purpose. How about taking a step ahead and do something concrete? Let's keep this day for doing something enjoyable. Do we really need to write patriotism on sleeves and show it to the world? It would be a great idea to have a good play enacted by the residents (I can direct one 😊 ) in the evening or a live music programme to celebrate this day of independence. Something out of the box entertainment ideas.

After flag hoisting, snacks were served. I didn't join the party, so don't know about the quality and what was served. But I can see crowd swelling many folds at the time of snacks.

September 2, 2019

Ganesh Chaturthi was observed and a temple was resurrected in back lawns of society, near the club. Ganeshji came, stayed for few days and gone. He sat alone for most of the time. The aarti time saw lots of hustle and bustle in morning and evening. Many activities were curated for children. I being a non ritualistic person avoid being part of such religious celebrations directly. The beauty of living in an apartment building is that you can enjoy the action around by not being directly involved and still feel being part of the festivities.

September 29, 2019

And then comes the festive 9 nights of dancing from 29th September. A Navratri committee is created which sees all the arrangements and celebrations. I can sense that most of the members of this committee are being repeated as one can see the dearth of new ideas and repetitiveness which has become boring now.

The 9 nights of fun have gone by and the garba enthusiasts are lighter by few kilograms while others have updated themselves on socialising. The food served by OH foodprenuers was a good move to serve a clean home cooked food  and support the local enterprenuers. The variety and quality of food this time was better.

On navami, society served dinner. Dinner menu was soup, paneer, mix vegetable, boondi raita (sweet) , daal, rice , poori and tandoori roti. Gulab jamun  and ice-cream were the 2 desserts served.  Like last  year, only 2 counters were created which resulted in long lines. Why can't more counters be created for the convenience of diners? And a non stop announcement about no wastage of food and keep the society clean was a pain in the neck.  Anyway food tasted fine and I am not thinking about the hygienic conditions maintained while preparing and cooking food. 🤐

Every flat was given 4 dinner coupons of Rs.250 each. But any additional coupon can be bought for Rs. 100. Is there something to be read between the lines? Just wondering "why so". 😕

8 October 2019

On Dussehra morning, as per the ritual , fafda- jalebi was served early morning from 8 am. As the organisers were making an issue about taking them home and want people to eat there, we give it a miss as we can't eat this so early in the morning. But why are they making this issue is beyond my comprehension. They can stop taking their crockery  back home but if some one gets it in their own dabbas , why stop it? Or why not serve them in paper plates? I guess, those in the authority can feel power by depriving others. As per sociologist, this is the trait of very poor leadership. Denying and depriving others while in decision making position is an example of leadership gone kaput. 

OH19 September -November 2018

I always maintain, that a society as colourful as OH gives umpteen opportunities to study the human nature. I love to interpret the way people react under any circumstance. Different people react differently under similar situations help in understanding the effect of surroundings, bringing up and experiences one has gone through.

OH is like mini India, with people from far east to north and south living here. It's cosmopolitan crowd and people working with local companies to auto giants, technical, financial, HR or services , Gujaratis and other states people all are living here.

Navratri Celebration:

This year's Navratri celebrations were from Oct 10th - Oct 18. Here are some glimpses:

Every day, Domino's Pizza and few other food stalls were available for  garba enthusiasts. Few stalls were set up by the women entrepreneurs of the society. They come late around 9 PM, so early diners like me missed the food flavours. Or is it the other way round? The stalls missed some valuable customers  too.  On 18th evening, society served a sumptuous dinner to all residents. The food was good and crowd management was better this year than last years as sufficient counters were set up.

Overall, it's an improvement over last years' navratri celebrations. Certain aspects which need attention in my view are:

• The entry should be manned in the garba venue.
•  Entry of outsiders need to be restricted and ticketed. Any relative or friend of resident is an outsider. 
• Instead of DJ's, it's time to get live music every day.
• As residents are increasing, more sitting needs to be created.
• Volume should be within acceptable range. 
• No film songs should be played. Let the fervour of the festival be kept in its pure form.
• Banners placement need improvement.
• New people are needed in the core committee which is organising the navratri function as no really new ideas are seen since last few years.
• As public money is used, people have every right to know how their money is used. Detailed accounts should be shared with the residents.

Election:

 In the AGM on 30th September, the conversation and discussion which I can see from my balcony on the 7th floor was nothing less than a rowdy crowd. A very disgraceful behavior of the people who were present. Without going into much details, which frankly I do not have  as I was not present in the AGM. Re-election were announced, which were completed on 28th October.

As I said earlier, OH represents mini India. The participation in AGM and then in election is a proof of it. People were not responsible to caste their votes or participate in open discussion forums for the betterment of the place which they own. This time, the election bites and results were shared in videos, which made it interesting.

There were two groups which were in the fray. The old group with few changes and a new group, which have few candidates from the last election.
This time, candidates from both the groups have won. The new group has won 8 seats while 3 from the old group have overcome incumbency factor. During canvassing, the similar models of "divide and rule" was also seen. Most of it was  a replica of assembly or  Loksabha elections.
This is the reason enough to have some role models in the country. Real role models, not politicians or ministres.


The management committee of a housing society has 11 elected members. This is the 2nd committee of OH. The tenure is 2 years. In the new committee 8 were new faces and 3 from the earlier committee. As they say, change is the only constant and its a must to grow and bring in new ideas. I wish good luck to the newly elected committee and hope they do things in the larger interest of OH.

Diwali:

This Diwali,the festival of lights OH was lighted in colourful lights. It has created a festive atmosphere and I loved it.

Diwali is now not only the festival of lights but also a festival of noise and pollution too.It's a torture for pets, senior citizens and sick people. Few mornings after Diwali are all polluted with smog. 

This Diwali ended with a very sad note. An OH family out on vacation by road to visit their extended family in Haryana met with an accident and lost their young teenage son , a student of class 10th. Deepak was my student. He is coming to study maths from me from last year. Extremely joyful and pleasing boy. My heartfelt condolences to family. Though no amount of condolences can ever sooth the pains of the family. Time is a great healer, it's said. But some pains are never healed. :(

Winter is setting in Ahmedabad. We are outside the main city and hence the environment around OH is less polluted. There are lots of labour staying nearby as a new project is on, in Applewoods. They burn wood for cooking and for warmth at night. So, smog is setting in.

Applewoods Township:
We have shifted to this township in OH, almost 4 years ago in December 2014. The deterioration in the cleanliness and upkeep of township which is the responsibility of Applewoods has really nosedived. The streets are not cleaned for weeks, the pathways by the roads are covered with vegetation and rubbish.Polythenes and non usable items are lying all around. The people around throw away cooked chapatis in stacks for dogs or stray animals, which can be seen all around. Throwing chapatis will not bring any good luck folks.

This is all as of now. Goodnight folks!! 

OH18 -Independence Day to Ganesh Visarjan

Orchid harmony is now a living community of almost 1000 residents with more than 300 occupied flats. It's my 4th year here and I have seen lots of human emotions and characters here. It's like mini India and one can witness the similar kind of politics and other flavours as one comes across in national news. :)

Orchid Harmony is a cosmopolitan community with representation from different parts of the country. I have avoided the word "states" as it's feel is of a divided  country . The  belonging to state is highlighted  and does not show any  association with the country. Intellectuals and politicians prefer to divide the country and then rule the divided masses, the formula used by all those who have ruled India for a thousand years.

Independence day, the August 15th, 2018 was celebrated with routine flag hoisting and serving of hot bhajias and ladoos. As usual, the flag hoisting was witnessed mostly by few senior citizens and young children in the morning. The number of attendees increased four folds on free servings of  bhajia and ladoos counter. Ladoos were more preferred than bhajias, in-spite of the calories count , after all the life is happier with the calories. :)  I avoided both, though it was free and I also pay "maintenance" and it was served from the society fund. This thought is a big motivator to eat free meals and have been loudly shared on most of the public platforms.

No comments on right or wrong attitude. Just wondering if any body ever worried about the kind of offspring or society being created by throwing such thoughts to the children ? People in general are very unabashed about their "weight throwing" behaviour.

I remember an incident which happened in society almost an year ago. Few residents with their wives were shouting at the elected representatives of society in a way which in no way was a sign of civilized interaction. I am sure their young children would have hanged their heads in shame if they were shown the videos of that day.

Passing the baton to young ones!

Anyway, let's come back to Independence day celebrations in society. Flag hoisting by the Chairman of the society, followed by national anthem and few items by senior citizens with "bhashanbaazi" types messages from anyone who gets hold of mike. Time has come to change the way we celebrate the festivals of national importance at society level. To my mind, the better way to celebrate independence and republic day is to involve children in some society building activity like cleaning the dead corners of society or garden  to inculcate the sharing of social responsibilities rather than repeating the history umpteen times.

Getting acquainted with the colours of Indepenence

Evening has seen the children performances on theme "patriotic". How about having a long play incorporating all the entertaining elements to have a continuous story?  :)

Ganesh Chaturthi in mid September is also a community function and has seen an increased fervour and favours with society residents. This is mainly a Marathi festival and in earlier years, Marathi Manus of OH were in forefront in planning and celebrating the Ganesh Chaturathi. Things were different this year. I had come to know that they backed out to force some demands.

Anyway, Lord Ganesha's presence is so overwhelming that all these things become non-entities. Lord Ganesha stayed in the OH for three days. Lots of people participated and "chappan bhogs" were curated for all the three days of  "bhagwan's" stay with in the premises. Two times "aarti" every day and action filled evenings saw participation from some enthusiastic residents. Stalls were set up by vendors to provide food items were very popular with the crowd in the evening.

Ganesh Chaturathy is more about social interactions and activities than a religious

I  did not participated in the pooja and aarti as my dialogue with the Lord is very personal and I am not a ritualistic. Since my apartment is strategically located and I can see everything going on in the garden, which is the main venue of all the activities, it feels being there without going out.

Third day was the day of visarjan and time to bid farewell to Lord till He comes next year. Dhol, baja, sindoor khela and garba dancers accompanied lord Ganesha to Visarjan venue.

As He leaves OH to come next year, I wish He takes away all the negativity from the hearts of people and society so that residents live in harmony and peace. Amen!!!

Taking Lord Ganesha for Visarjan - View from my balcony.

Few people also bring in Ganesha home. A kitty party friend has invited to see his Ganesha idol and I along with 4 others have gone to visit her place. She has really made lots of effort and creativity in creating a beautiful look. Sharing the picture for all of you to rejoice!

OH17 - Harmony Premier league and much more

It has been quiet a long time since I have come back to the blog. It was sheer laziness and nothing more to it.

My last post was in Sept 17, almost seven months ago. Much has happened in OH. With so many human beings living together, the life is bound to be colourful. 😁. It's a perfect place to study human behaviour and psychology.

The latest happening in OH is the organisation of "Orchid Harmony Premier League".

I observed a sudden  hyper activity on the cricket pitch, which is just under my balcony. Though, the cricket pitch usually comes alive mostly on weekends or on holidays as most of the offices were closed. But  since a month or two, the cricket has become a anthem in OH. The mornings become lively with all the commotion at the pitch. Everyday, the cricket tribe was increasing. There was no age restrictions as I can see players from the 8-9 years old to senior citizens. With so many enthusiasts, it's natural to organise a competition.

The OHPL has used "Auction League Software" for player selection and team captains had to bid for each player. E-auctions were held and all the captains can see  the details of all the players on the screen.

Each team was allotted 500000 points to bid for 8 players. One by one , the players' information is shown on the laptops and teams' captains  can bid for the players of their choice. Highest bidder gets the player to his team. The whole process of selection was made transparent and many enthusiastic society dwellers were out there in the cricket pitch to have a "dekho" at the process. Six teams were formed. T-shirts were also designed for each team.

Have a look at the teams -

The glimpses of the matches from my 7th floor balcony.

I loved all the hustle and bustle. Some food counters were also set up for the sports enthusiasts, who were down to cheer their favourite teams. I am not a cricket fan, so I just had a look from my balcony. I am too lazy to go out for something which do not interest me. 

Another cricket league for under 19 is also in the pipeline... I am not a cricket fan. Ugh...😔 

With summers setting in may enterprising ladies have planned many interesting workshops for the benefit of  residents, mainly children and ladies. Some were fun workshops for children having fun activities like dancing, yoga, story telling sessions etc and baking workshops for children.

With such hot weather and temperature running up to 46 C, OH is still keeping it's spirits high , which is quiet a feat in dry Gujarat. 😀😀😀

The weather is killing at 46 C. The only workout which is easy to manage is swimming. I had been a regular to the society pool since last month and a half. But routines bore me. So, now it's sometimes morning walk or sometimes yoga at my terrace for me to keep fit. I have recently added  late night walks to my armour of "keeping fit". 

Not very long ago, Ahmedabad was blessed with nice cool breeze in the morning and evening even in peak summers. Unlike north India, where hot months have hot mornings and evenings, Ahmedabadites used to have a respite from heat in the mornings and evenings. But just like the changes in weather around the globe, it's changing here too. Now the cool breeze returns late at night around 10 pm. That's the time I have chosen for my late night after dinner walk. 

That's all for now folks!!! 

OH16- Responsible Community Living-- Some Musings!

It has been almost 32 months, when we had shifted to OH. Since it's a new society, people who bought flats here were the first to shift . Ownership brings in the feeling of permanency and a desire to build long lasting relationship. In the earlier days, every body used to make an effort to reach out to others. "Potluck" sharing dinners, evening tea gupshup, every day evening strolls and sometimes late night too. Residents were reasonably responsible towards the common properties in the campus. Overall, it was nice and happy place to be in.

When we have shifted, the occupancy was almost 25 %. Slowly and steadily, occupancy increased. More interactions among people brings out very vast and varied responses from people which is a parameter of the society we live in general and the immediate neighborhood in particular.

"Whatsapp" is the most common and convenient platform of interaction and we have one in OH too. There are almost 250 members on the group now. The response of the people and the language (no, I am not pointing to grammatically correct English 😊 ) is shocking. Mutual respect for each other is the basis of any respectable society is missing, when it's mostly required . Shouting ( you know what is shouting in writing), calling names and no basic courtesy towards each other  , I have seen it all on the group.

It forces me to think what kind of upbringing they had and what kind of upbringing they are giving to their children? No meeting or discussion ever ends without shouting and showing uncivilized behaviour. I am really shocked at the behaviour and reactions of the people towards each other.


Few leaders are always needed to run any organisation or society. Since India is a democracy, election is the mode of selecting people in whom hands the reins are given. It always create a class of people who have lost the competition to oppose just for the heck of it. I guess, it's the reflection of our political system, where we  see that the opposition always condemn every move of the government without any thought. The same is being witnessed in OH too.

The exclusivity and safety of the society is being compromised by breaking the rules by handful of people. It's obvious that rules are always created for the larger interest of the society and not to please everyone. They need to be followed and no one can force any one to follow the rules. The day is not far away, when such compromises on the safety of people may result in something terrible. 

Ahh... the inputs from "Crime Patrol" and :Savdhaan India" are coming in handy here!! 😜

OH celebrated independence day on August 15, with flag hoisting in the morning and a cultural programme in the evening followed by an elaborate dinner. There is improvement in the arrangements and performances. My only suggestion is to avoid patriotic filmy songs, specially those we have been seeing for last two years...  😒

Living in a closed community enhances learning by exposures to different cultures. It's here in OH, I learnt about the traditions of Ganesh Puja and Garba . Also I learnt about "invoking" money for worshiping God, the giver of everything, which I disliked. 

Recently, I read an article about corruption in Indian society, where it was mentioned that India is a corrupt society as they believe in bribing God to have their jobs done. 

People coming for "door to door" collection is not an admiring sight. I have come across so many residents who were angry at being almost forced to pay Rs. 500  for Ganesh Pooja.  Many have mentioned, since the team came at their doorstep, they have to pay but from next year, they will not budge. It's sheer wastage as many have not participated in any of the activities and rituals. Some were complaining about the quality of food, that was served on the last day. I have not gone even for a day so, cant comment much about the arrangements made but sharing the sentiments of the women I met.

There is a specified area for cooking in the society behind the club but the dinner was cooked in the activity room and it was so dirty that for a day, none of the activities could be held there. Moreover, it was so unsafe to cook under any residential building with vehicles in near vicinity. Imagine,if an LPG cylinder behaved in not so routine way.... a perfect example of not following the rules, meant for the safety of all residents . 

OH is a fertile ground to understand and learn about human behaviour and psychology. It imparts lessons in sociology and the life in general. Any community with almost 300 families is going to be vibrant and so is OH!!! 🙈🙉🙊

..... And the learning continues.......

OH15 ELECTION AND NAVRATRI FERVOUR

Life has been pretty interesting at OH since last one month. There was an amalgamation of political and cultural activities  in OH.

Almost 4 months ago, the builder of OH has handed over the maintenance and other issues to the society residents. Few people were nominated by residents and did all the assigned jobs of taking over from the builder. As usual, there is always another group who want to take hold of things for reasons best known to them. Lot of muck and abusive language was used on the whats-app groups for the people who were doing the job and spending so much of time and extra efforts to setup the systems. 

Though lots of rubbish is being thrown to these people, they were undeterred and did their job with honesty and conviction. They did a real good job. This was proved by the election result, which was won hands down by their team of 11 people. So, on 25 September, 2016, OH has got it's first elected management committee and thankfully, all the colourful language is stopped for the time being. It must be a great relief to all the people who are not used to such colorful language. It was the worst kind of language, I have ever read or heard in my entire life. 

It actually shows the deterioration in society and I felt bad and sad that I am part of this kind of society. I have grown up in the extremely learned atmosphere of university campus and had lived in the corporate colonies of public sector giant, Indian Oil Corporation where people were very careful and respectful towards each other. They were culturally much ahead. 

The OH management committee has 11 elected members. It comprises of chartered accountants, senior bankers, doctor, engineer and successful businessmen. So, a lot of experience and skill sets is there in the team. I wish the new "ELECTED" management body good luck and expect high standards of living in OH.

As the navratri fever has been gripping the city, how can OH community be left behind? The garba classes have started at the onset of September. A garbs tutor was invited to do the job. Another class was organised by some resident garba lovers . The practice time was around 9pm  as it was convenient for the "annapuranas" to finish the dinner of the families. 

I had also joined a class, but somehow on the way, I lost interest as the fun of dancing was being lost in complicated steps. I think, it was important for the trainer to teach complicated steps to satisfy his ego but as a learner, I felt lost in 1,2,3,4, left and right. Unfortunately, this class has created an aversion towards dancing in my mind. I did not try to remove it at all. I was more interested in clicking pics this time. May be next year, I will tap foot on the beats.

The festival arrangements were taken care by a newly formed Navratri Committee. A small temple was erected in the lawns with divine mother's picture. Every day, an aarti to please and request for blessings in the glory of divine mother was performed which ends with the distribution of prasada. The prasada was contributed by the residents. After the routine aarti and pooja rituals of half an hour, the garba fervour started and it went for almost 3 hours and some times more. Few stalls were erected which served popular food items like idli, sambhar, pav-bhaji, paani poori, ice cream and many more. It was fun to sit and watch the enthusiasm of residents. The women took great care and lots of efforts in dressing and makeup.It was time to catch up with friends, have fun and real great festivity. It went on for 10 days. This year , many days were spoiled due to rains. It has been said to be the wettest navratri ever.

In Gujarat, there is a tradition of eating fafda and jalebi on Vijaydashami . On the last night of navratri,  the fafda-jalebi shops are open almost whole night. They do a brisk business in few thousand crores  in just one day. This year, I also had the chance of going out on a night to relish fafda jalebi at midnight. It appeared as if whole city was on roads and almost all the fafda jalebi joints were serving to their full capacity. Finally, we reached a joint in Prahladnagar , where we could park our car. It feels good to be part of the festivity of the city crowd.

 On Vijaydashmi , arrangements were made to serve fafda jalebi in the society. Fafda is eaten with sweet gujarati kadhi and raw papaya chatni. I loved the papaya chatani and will make it some day. Fafda is made from besan chickpea flour, lots of oil and soda. 

Its always good to analyse the jobs done. The scale of  celebration and arrangements were better than the last year, but there is always scope of improvement.

1. Decoration was better than the last year. 
2. DJ for all the 10 days was great. How about having live music and singing next year? 
3. In-house dinner "MAHABHOJ" on Navami was good. I like all dishes, except bhindi, which I do not like  otherwise.
4. The food counters to serve mahabhoj, were very less as compared to the coupons distributed. People have to wait for at-least 30-40 minutes in line. No one wanted to visit again to fill the plates because of long ques, much food is wasted as people fill their plates to avoid next visit.
5. The less number of distribution counters on Vijayadashmi were again a pain in neck. Just one counter ? The distribution system needs improvement.

Have a glimpse of the festivities in OH: