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!!!