This is about life in emerging residential communities on OMR. Would like to see this emerge as an interactive forum to raise issues, discuss ideas and share info. on the pluses and pitfalls in off-city living.
Our friend Neeraj Singh has created a Facebook page - MySynergy - that is open to all residents, notably, tenants. Any resident of Mantri Synergy, with a Facebook account,can join MySynergy Group. My sense is, there can be more than one MySynergy group member from a given family. Husband, wife, their sons/daughters may have individual Facebook accounts. What is more, we must recognize that each of them may well a mind of their own on issues impacting our community. If the page admin.(Neeraj) knows you live in Mantri Synergy;and if any group member identifies/invites someone as part of our residents community,there should be no hassles in becoming a MySynergy member. Am I right, Neeraj ?
A couple of college boys (KSR College, Tiruchengode) hit upon a
community initiative to address food wastage by customers in
restaurants. They got a poster printed , showing photo of a needy
child with empty plate. The message : ‘Please don’t waste food….wrap it’.
Palaniappan, and Mohammed Ali, both engineering students, with
Merwin Wesley, found waste of food by people visiting restaurants
unacceptable and decided to do something about it. The boys designed
and printed about 4,000 ‘don’t-waste-food’ posters and distributed in
restaurants and eating house in several Tamil Nadu towns, through a
network of volunteer students. They have mobilised over 100 volunteers
in 17 towns.
Muhammad Ali – 0-8122139893- and Palaniappan – 0-9500488803 - registered a society SEEDS.
They conduct awareness programme to curb wastage of food, household
energy consumption and conserve other resources. Their student
volunteers visit old age homes. With guidance from college alumni,
SEEDS conduct counseling sessions in schools for Plus 1 and Plus 2
students on choice of courses and subjects for higher education.
Interestingly, the focus of SEEDS initiative is on smaller towns –
Dharmapuri, Erode, Darapuram, Bhavani, Attur, Mettur, Udmelpet, Hosur
and Sathy. They have volunteer representation in some bigger cities as
well – Trichy, Selam, Coimbatore, Tirupur, and Chennai (volunteers –
Sibi Rajan and Rahul).
Palaniappan (left) and Muhammad Ali Photo: M. Balaji, The Hindu
SEEDS approached 20 schools in Mettupalayam, Erode and Tirupur,
asked students to come up with 15 suggestions to conserve electricity…
School students are involved in household energy auditing in their
neighbourhood, and community tree-planting in their localities. During
Deepavali, SEEDS ogranised door-to-door and distributed 5,000
pamphlets on how firecrackers pollute environment.
Says SEEDS president Muhammad Ali:
“We don’t approach the Government; instead we go to people. They have
supported us. Some people have thrown the pamphlets back on our faces,
we take it in our stride.”
Secretary Palaniappan: “I used to spend my pocket money on mobile
recharge and snacks. Now, I save it to buy gifts for school children as
we conduct a number of competitions for school students.”
At our Sunday 'gupshup' we discussed the idea of OMR Greens participation in the upcoming Chennai Bird Race. A few of us owning bicycles - Pandey, Sridhar, Gopalan - endorsed the idea of taking a bicycle ride along the lake on Kelambakkam-ECR road while birdwatchers from various parts of the city turn up on this stretch of road. Kelambakkam-ECR Road is listed among 30 designated spots for birdwatchers..
Those with bicycles could send a e-mail in response to this message. To give us an idea of the number we can expect for OMR Greens 'Awareness Ride'.
Among the birds sighted on the lake along Kelambakkam-ECR are: Grey Pelicans, Painted Storks, Egrets, Cormorants, Sandpipers, Terns (Whiskered, Little and Caspian), Black Shouldered Kite, Eurasian Curlew, Little Ringed Plover, Shikra, Kestrel, Pied Crested Cuckoo, Marsh Harrier, House Swallow, Bee-eater, drongo, Rufous Treepie etc.Indian Robin,Sunbirds, Prinias and Warblers. The day-long birdwatching event, Sunday Dec,30, is organised by Madras Naturalists Society, HSBC and Yuhina Eco-Media.
Plan is for OMR Green-ers to start from Mantri Synergy around 8 a m,, cycling all the way up to the tollgate on ECR end and be back, by 9.30. Blokes like me who can't bike, or ride doubles, would like a lift in someone's car that follows the bicycle riders.
For birdwatch enthusiasts who wish to register their names for Chennai Bird Race (registration free) could call 9840090875 , 9962515479.
E-mail chennaibirdrace@gmail.com
To register log on www.blackbuck.org.in
I don't suppose very many Chennai residents own a Ninja 650R. We have a bike enthusiast at Mantri Synergy who has the 2013 model. He joins the exclusive Ninja-650 club. Its membership in Chennai doesn't exceed 15. Out of curiosity I asked the owner the machine how much he paid. The figure he mentioned for the pricey two-wheeler is nearly as much as my budget - Rs.6 lakhs - for a new car I plan to buy..
Asters Childcare, daycare centre at Mantri Synergy clubhouse have setup Infant Jesus Crib. Mr Prem Krishna of the Daycare, in e-mail to parents, says the Christmas tree at their centre has been decorated by children with bulbs and bells. Christmas Day, (Tuesday) is the day of gifts left by Santa, for the children visiting the Daycare between
10.00 and 11.00 a m.
I admit to a split within my family over this community Pilliyar that was
installed unannounced on our residential campus, Mantri Synergy. My wife
and I were not on the same page on the idea of placing a Ganapathy idol
in a secularist community, notably, when objection was raised from
within the community.
It all started a couple of months back , with a group of residents buying a
Ganapathy idol from Mammalapuram, for Rs.16,000. They were then looking for
space in our complex to install the idol. When the issue came up for
discussion in our in-house web portal serious objections were raised to
the idea. And nothing further was heard, for well over a month, till
last weekend when most Mantri residents were taken by surprise to find a
Pilliyar idol in place on the lawns of Senior Citizens Area.
A secretive group of residents had worked overnight to get this done. Idol installation puja was held early Sunday morning in the presence of a select group of residents. The event managers may have scored a tactical win, by resorting to hush-hush and questionable means. What they, perhaps, didn't realize, or chose to ignore, is that their action gives cause for mutual mistrust, social disaffection ; it drives a wedge within the community at varied levels - between neighbours, colleagues in OMR Greens, and even within families (such as mine).
I wonder if the means they adopted pleases Lord Ganapathy. But I can say it hasn't pleased the Pilliyar 'bakhtas'. Many of them who supported the move and contributed money for the cause felt deeply let down by such unannounced idol installation ceremony, carried out in a partisan manner. The Ganesha event managers have managed to create cracks in the community at many levels.
We had Christmas trees coming up on common space at Mantri Synergy over the weekend. Morning walkers om Monday were pleasantly surprised to see on the lawns of the central park a 10 foot tall plastic tree decorated with colourful Christmas bulbs and glittering stars. Two other Christmas trees, not so big, are in place at our frontyard and the Clubhouse entrance.
Wayside halt on our way back from trash-busting at Kelambakkam
A neighbourhood weekly - The Chennai Outlook (see Page 8) - carries in its inaugural edition a feature - OMR Greens - A New Beginning for a clean OMR. The title sums up our agenda.
A clean OMR is possible . if we adopt a cluster approach to effective waste disposal and pre-laid draining system for discharge of sewage water treated at source with individual residential communities. While developers build sewage treatment plant within communities, they don't care about laying neighbourhood pipeline to carry their treated sewage discharge. It is pachayat's job, they say. Panchayat, on its part, cites lack of funds to take on such project. Developer-panchayat particiapation is the way to go.
The story is the same in respect of waste disposal strategy. Those of us in an apartments complex adopt 'outsource and forget' waste disposal policy. We don't care where or how our outsourced garbage is disposed of by service contractors. One guess is, much of our solid waste end up by the side of Muthukkadu lake, along the road connecting Kelambakkam with ECR.
OMR Greens would like to see a waste-to-energy conversion plant (like the Mamallapuram one)
to serve a cluster of communities. We need to bring together,area-wise,
residents, property developers and the panchayats for making this
possible. Trash-busting is our way for mobilising public support for
long-term solutions to issues of common concern.
I couldn't help feeling let down by the Kelambakkam panchayat. We were
hoping the garbage collection staff would turn up with their tri-cycles
to carry the garbage we collected, when OMR Green volunteers, went
trash-busting on Kelambakkam Hight Street.
A small, but determined, group (one shy of the double digit number),
carrying our cleaning gear, took out an 'Awareness Walk', from Mantri
Synergy main gate to Kelambakkam panchayat chief's office. Starting our
trash-bust routine at the bus stop near panchayat chief's office, we
worked our way to the road crossing at the market. The trash we
collected was heaped up on the roadside, to be collected by the
panchayat garbage collection staff. They didn't show up. Nor did the
Panchayat president, Mr G Venkatesan, on whose request, in the first
place, we went trash-busting to Kelambakkam.
Mr Venkatesan had also offered to mobilize a group of local residents to
join OMR Greens in trash-busting. What we found, in fact, were knots of
curious onlookers hanging out on street-side, watching us cleaning up
their trash.
Stalwin was among the few who engaged us in conversation, and on
learning of our agenda, offered to become an OMR Green member. Mr
Stalwin, an engineer in a local company, said he would spread our
message and mobilize a local group for taking up bigger issues -
stemming lake pollution, relocating a local chemical unit - requiring
many more green activists.
Our Kelambakkam 'do' was a learning experience. For instance, we ran into a rag-picker couple who carried their kids - Kartika, 2, and Kavya, 9 months - in the garbage tricycle as they went about their daily rounds - 'there is no one at home to look after the kids'.. And then there was Santhosh, not older than my 7-year-old grandson, who helped his elder brother Ramesh in rag-picking. Asked why he didn't go to school Santhosh said, 'I don't know how to read'. But wasn't that the purpose of schooling - 'teaching kids to read and write' ? That was a Q that ought to be addressed to Santhosh's parents.
Disappointed with the lack of response from Airtel when we wanted additional connection for our third room, I opted for Tata Sky, only to face a hassle about placement of the Dish. The installation technician ruled out balconies for fixing the Dish in our 9th floor apartment in Mantri Synergy. . We had to seek a favour from our 12th and top-floor neighbour who owns the terrace rights. The developer has made money selling terrace space to apartment owners on the top-floor, whether or not the top floor apartment owners require such space on payment. Whether it is right and legally proper for developers to transact what is essentially common area is quite another matter.
When you go in for Tata Sky the dealer doesn't tell you about about the technical aspect of fixing the Dish. What is worse, both dears at Kelambakkam were affirmative in response when we asked if the Dish could be fixed in our our balcony. Shouldn't dealers be required to guide customers properly ? Shouldn't they consider hiring part-time staff for site evaluation before selling Tata Sky or any other DTH package to residents in high-rise buildings.
As of now, there is no co-ordination among the TV dealer, installation staff (outsourced by Tata Sky folk), and the company's web-based customer service that mainly operates as a re-charge mode. . .
I don't know if it is feasible for Mantri Synergy or other high-rise buildings to go in for DTH service provider who can put up a mega dish on common terrace space or on top of the clubhouse, and feed individual apartments their preferred channels. In such an arrangement we can even have a in-house channel, in which residents welfare associations can telecast their announcement and activities. This would provide the association scope for revenue through ads.. And then we can have movies on this channel..
We could do with feedback on feasibility of in-house cable facility, cost involved in setting it and operating it and the licensing procedure, if any.
Monday morning sun throws its spotlight on Rosedale apartments at Padur on OMR. This is in refreshing contrast to yesterday morning when mist obscured the towering residential structure, as viewed from across the road. It is as if the Sun is compensating Rosedale om Monday for its absence on Sunday.
We woke up this Sunday to misty morning. Some of the walkers had pulled out their sweater and shawl. Visibility was so poor that the towering Mantri Synergy buildings got obscured in haze, as viewed from OMR, And the Rosedale apartments across the road was less than a hazy outline.. For more photos see OMR Resident Facebook page.
Much of the six-lane Rajiv Gandhi Salai (OMR) is under a foot deep water after sharp shower because it lacks a proper stormwater drainage system. The Hindu, in a Page 2 article by Deepa H Ramakrishnan, says: "Though the detailed project report of the road had proposed construction of drains to carry stormwater, this was not implemented. The Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC) gave it up and the State government said that local bodies would construct the drains.
"The road was constructed at a cost of Rs. 400 crore and the average collection from the toll plazas touches Rs. 3 crore per month. TNRDC also gets income from advertising revenue. The drains would cost just Rs. 15 crore, but according to sources, the company did not have adequate funding to construct them.
"Though the road became a tolled facility in December 2008, construction of footpaths and ducts has yet to be completed. The road also does not have bus shelters...
'Today' is an unusual name for a housing project. It developers - Akshaya - chose it, presumably, on suggestion from a corporate astrologer or creative head of their advt. agency. For the record, the developers say the name was chosen , as it reflects, in every way, their upcoming project at Thaiyur, OMR. The housing project, with 2000 plus units, has 'an air of speed and dynamism' that today's age stands for. The Hindu carries a 16-page supplement anouncing Akshaya's 'Today' project, termed 'the people's mini-city on OMR'. Referring to Today's location, the supplement says the govt. is planning to develop a 187-acre Financial City - housing banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions - near Thaiyur.
Elsewhere on OMR TIDCO plans to come up with a Media and Entertainment sector Park spread over 25 acres. And then a sprawling Sports City spread over 1500 acres is in the works on the Kelambakkam-Thiruporur stretch.
Today, says Akshaya, would have a courtyard developed around a 65-year old banyan tree on the premises ; and they also have plans for a green patch covered with ornamental trees, shrubs, vines and a lotus pond.
Unlike most other OMR communities Today would have a visitors' car park within the campus. At my place, Mantri Synergy, visitors are obliged to leave their vehicles outside the main gate. The Akshaya's supplement makes no mention of car-parking designated for the handicapped.
Speaking of parking space a general complaint against developers is they sell the open area as parking space, in utter disregard to the court orders. Apartment owners associations have been fighting a losing battle against developers, basically because the demand for housing keeps rising and even those who are aware of the rights of apartment buyers find themselves helpless in asserting their due.
As a panelist in NDTV Property Show put it, such is the demand for apartments that developers usually close bookings for apartments within days of project announcement. Apartment owners associations are formed years later, during occupancy of completed flats.
Incidentally, Akshyaya's have announced, what they call, a three-day booking marathon during which flats can be booked at discounted rate, on payment of a booking advance of Rs.2 lakhs. Call 42008811/24968811.
Members of OMR Greens, a community initiative by Mantri Synergy apartments residents, went trash-busting at Sai Temple, Kelambakkam, early Sunday morning. With help from Mr S Kumar of Saravana Medicals, some Sai temple employees, and schoolboy Arvind, a group of 12 OMR Green-ers got down to cleaning up the garbage littered in the vicinity of the temple.
Earlier OMR Green members, carrying placards, set out from Mantri
Synergy gate on an 'awareness' walk to Sai Temple. This was our idea of
attracting public attention to our initiative. We didn't set Muthukkadu
on fire, but we could say OMR Greens
was being talked about and the Kelambakkam panchayat president, Mr G
Venkatesan, made a request to OMR Greens that we organise Trash-busting
on Kelambakkam main street (near the petrol station) one of these
weekends.
At Sai Temple the panchayat chief deployed a tractor trolley, and a
couple of tricycles to collect and carry the trash to the designated
landfill
Sai Temple head priest Sri Acharya arranged for a few pongai saplings that we planted near the temple to mark the trash-busting - the third since OMR greens was launched in September last. Tne OMR community environment group has earlier carried out Trash-busting,to clear a garbage heap close to Hindustan University and on the main street at Padur. OMR Greens participants at the Sai Temple event included Pravin, Pandian, Bala, Shine, Santhakumar, Neeraj, Pandey, P S Sridhar and wife, Gopalan, Viswanath, Vasu, GVK and wife. See OMR Greens Facebook page for Trash-busting video.
The message appears on the bottom of this video image, of NDTV Profit show telecast on the launch of the Federation of Apartment Owners Associations (FAOA).
Participants included FAOA vice-president, Mr Gautam Gulati; and Sand Legal Service M D, Mr Sai Chandravardhan. Points that emerged in their discussion:
1) Selling open-space parking lots by developers is a huge scandal;
2) Court orders, even Supreme Court directive, have been ignored by real estate developers;
3) Developers throw to the winds the commitments they make to the authorities while seeking permission to build;
4) Open space parking lots are sold openly, and blatantly. And developers have been getting away with it;
5) In confronting developers apartment owners associations have not much hope without a) their unity at all India level, b) class-action by a critical mass of apt.owners in such big numbers that courts are driven to action, and c) creation of an effective regulatory body.
6) Uniform regulation on a national level difficult accomplish because real-estate comes under state govt. jurisdiction.
7) Legislation governing real-estate in 8 states is based on the Maharashtra apartment ownership Act of 1963. Apartment owners associations find themselves on a weak wicket because:
a) Ever increasing demand for housing; and heightened anxiety among apartment owners to take possession, because of inordinate delay in delivery by developers;
b) Developers, in most cases, get bookings from buyers within days of announcing a new housing project, when not even a single document is ready.
c) Many apt. owners go in for purchase even though they are well aware that developer cannot legally sell open-space as parking lot.
d) Apartment buyers act individually at the time of booking, signing of agreements.
e) Apartment owners association get formed only during occupancy of flats. As the panelists viewed it, the way to go :
1) Consolidation of apartment owners association at all-India level - FAOA has till date only 15 associations as members.
2) Building database by FAOA for publicising the track-record of various developers for the benefit of intending apartment buyers..
3) A common platform of associations to create awareness among apartment buyers of their rights.
4) Filing class-action litigation..
OMR Greens, a Manti Synergy, Padur, residents initiative, has plans this Sunday (Nov.18) for Trash-busting in the vicinity of Kelambakkam Sai Temple. Kelambakkam panchayat chief Mr G Venkatesan has offered to join us with the panchayat garbage collection staff.
In a minute-long video for our YouTube channel, recorded this morning the Sai Temple head priest Acharya says the temple people would extend all possible support to our endeavour. Moreover he has offered to plant a few saplings in the temple vicinity in recognition of OMR Greens service activity.
Trash-busting, we know, isn't the thing that many of us are really excited about. Those who are not keen on messing up their hands can still help the cause by joining OMR Green-ers in the 20-min. 'Awarness Walk' from Mantri Synergy to Sai Temple on Sunday morning. Our programme Sunday, Nov.18, 2012 8.15 a m - Green Awareness Walk (starting from Mantri Synergy main gate. 8.30 - 10.00 a m - Trash-busting 10.05 - 1.15 a m - Tree-planting
Meanwhile Join us for online discussion on OMR Greens Facebook
Watch this 90 second video before you read. The wailing sound you hear is a siren from someone stuck in a lift as power went out in our high-rise residential complex. Our lifts - we have 19 at Mantri Synergy - are not fitted with automatic rescue device (ARD).
Whoever gets caught in a lift when power goes off stays stuck in there till power supply is resumed. And it takes anytime from 2 mins to 20 for our diesel generated back-up power to kick in. It took nearly half-hour for power supply to be restored last evening (Sunday). This video was taken from our 9th floor flat when we were some 10 minutes into the darkness that covered the entire apartments complex.
At Padur, on OMR, you never can tell when the state electricity board switches off power supply. Unannounced EB power shut-down, frequent as they are, add up to 6 to 8 hours daily.. This is a situation about which none of us were aware when we bought apartments at Mantri Synergy. Developers had assured us of 24/7 power supply through an effective back-up system.
Question: 1) Weren't developers on OMR aware of erratic power supply situation in Padur-Kelambakkam neighbourhood ? 2) Shouldn't they have shared this info. with prospective apartment buyers ? 3) Now that we are faced with fait accompli, aren't Mantri as well as the other builders in Padur-Kelambakkam neighbourhood socially, morally, if not legally, responsible for exploring possibilities - such as petitioning the EB authorities, proposing to govt. and participating in joint solar/wind energy and renewable energy projects?
Even when we get EB power supply at Mantri's the voltage is so low that you need to operate DG to keep lifts, water pumping, BSNL phone/broadband network functioning. Domestic Air-conditioners and washing machines wouldn't work under low voltage power supply. It may not make business sense for real estate developers to mention all this to prospective apartment buyers. And those going in for apartments in Padur, Kelambakkam and beyond on OMR would would do well to factor in erraticity of EB power supply. Frequent power cut and voltage erraticity raises the monthly maintenance bill for apartment owners. At Mantri Synergy we pay Rs.1,500 a month as water and diesel charges.
I don't know about other communities, but at Mantri Synergy the lifts do not have automatic rescue device (ARD). We have 9 blocks, 12 floors in each, and 19 lifts in the complex. A proper and fully functional lift goes with construction of a high-rise building. I wonder if developers cutting corners on this score can be taken to consumer courts.
It wouldn't have occurred to me to do Internet search about matters such as the lifespan and eating habits of ducks, if I had not escorted a bunch of children in our apartment complex to the Gateway School pets' club. They ask too many questions - these children. The pet club visit followed Children's Day tree-planting at Mantri Synergy apartments complex. We had children plant nine saplings - pongai - representing each residential block - A to I.. After which we asked them to name the saplings they planted.
The children came up with Aditya, Buddha, Cashmeera, D'Arcey, Ezhile,
Freddy, Gautham, Harish and India. Frankly, I couldn't catch the C-
name that Sundeep's kids gave for their plant. And I am not sure about
the 'D' plant's spelling ( Trishna, who named the plant can tell
us). I got stumped by kids, once again, at the pet club ducks enclosure.
Watching the ducks Nitya asked how long do they live and what do they
eat for breakfast or lunch. Nitya and other children had just come
after watching couple of caged rabbits making a meal of cabbage.
Google search reveals that average lifespan of domestic duck is 10 yrs. And they eat almost anything - small fish, snails, worms, weeds, algae, insects, seeds and, at times, even sand, gravel and small stones. But for having to respond to such inconvenient questions, it was fun spening time with children. OMR Greens organized Children's Day programme on Sunday ( Nov.14 being a working day) because we wanted parents' participation. Our hunch was that parents have as much fun watching children having fun.Besides, such social programming generated a community chemistry among Mantri Synergy residents.
The plan is to take children, after Sunday's tree-planting, on a drive to Gateway School mini-zoo. They have a few birds, a couple of rabbits, and a turtle, perhaps. But then we thought it would be fun. The idea came up when a couple of Green-ers met Gateway principal. She readily agreed to invite our children to her mini-zoo; and offered to deploy the staff to take care of us, even though it would be a Sunday.
Our programme is: Tree-planting - 9 a m School trip - 10 a m
Children would plant 9 'pongai' saplings, one for each Block, on our front lawns. We could do with some volunteers to drive the children in their cars to Gateway School at Padur. We wouldn't spend more than 30 mins. at min-zoo.
We all know of the process of converting household organic waste into manure. Most of us wouldn't give it a try, Why ?
Because: 1) we think we can't spare the space; 2) It's messy, smelly, would attract flies. 3) Can't find anyone for its up-keep. 4) Lack of consensus, in the case of apartment buildings. Anusha Parthasarathy's article in The Hindu citing residents who are using organic converters, says: - Not much space is needed. A small green patch, or balcony would do. - Maintenance costs get reduced if it is a community initiative, says the Bangalore-based 'Daily Dump' founder Poonam Bir Kasturi.
- Navneeth Raghavan, Chennai, lives on 4th floor, uses 3-layered terracotta pots - 'Khambas' for composting - leaves them in her balcony. No stink during decomposition and we have a solution to keep away flies, says Navneeth (.9840082607) - 'Daily Dump' has changed the way Preethi Sukumaran and Sruti Harihara Subramanian think of household waste - everything that comes into the house is looked at,to see if it can be recycled or composted. - Preethi carries own containers and oil cans to grocery stores - packaged grocer covers are washed, dried and put into the recycling bin. - Preethi keeps separate kitchen bin for plastic, paper, and other recyclables. Uses stainless steel water bottles, instead of plastic ones. - Rinse-water from hand-washed clothes is used to mop floors and clean toilets. - Water used to wash vegetables or rice is recycled for plants. - Sruti sustains her terrace garden ...with Khamba compost....'Throw organic waste into it. You get microbes and additives to mix in'. Sruti, who runs Ashvita Bistro, Alwarpet, uses a Khamba there as well, and retails the compost sets. - Singapore-based blogger Bhavani Prakash has written an e-book called '50 Ways to Make Your Home Eco-Friendly' OMR Greens can consider setting up a pilot khamba compost unit - with contributions from a few volunteer households in gated communities. If apartment owners association designates a small patch for trial plant, OMR Greens, can take the idea forward.
Related links:
Eco-soap, detergents retail Krya, Boxtree
Recycler Kuppathotti
Sai Temple at Kelambakkam is probably the most well-maintained place of
worship in our OMR neighbourhood. We see devotees helping the
maintenance staff in keeping the temple neat and clean. In the tradition
ofkarsewa performed by Sikhs visiting gurudwara,
I have observed Sai devotees visiting Kelambakkam devoting their time
to cleaning the temple premises as part of their worship.
Outside is another story. Adjacent to the temple is a vacant plot that is being used as garbage dump by residents in the vicinity. I took this video to be able to share with members of OMR Greens. And to suggest we take up the next trash-busting around Sai Temple. We have since decided the date - Sunday, Nov.18. The temple management has extended their support.
We plan to mobilize public awareness and support for our awareness programme, among residents, Hindustan University students and faculty members who partner with OMR Greens, our well-wishers in Kelambakkam - Saravana Medicals, and Murugesan of the firewood depot - and Kelambakkam panchayat people. We also count on participation of Sai devotees.
Team Jayaram of Mantri Synergy gardening staff fixing bamboo crutches to secure Nikhil from battering wind that preceded Nilam, the storm that hit Chennai on Oct.31, 2012.
Sidharth and Nikhil, the neems in our Seniors Area are among the few plants that withstood Nilam's fury,
as the storm ravaged its way through OMR at Chennai. At our Mantri
Synergy apartment complex we give a name to every tree planted by
residents under our community tree-planting programme.
The cyclone warning (that Nilam would hit the coast, Wednesday evening)
had us worried. And on my request an overworked Jayaram and three others
on Mantri's gardening staff attended, on a priority, to the neems that were being battered in howling wind, that started blowing several hours before the storm crossed Mamallapuram coast
Such was the scene on Wednesday afternoon when we managed to secure the
neems against anticipated storm later in the evening. We we pleasantly
surprised to find our neems standing their ground through the storm
while the the trees all around them were battered, bruised and beaten to
the ground.
This was the scene and status of Nikhil and Sidharth the morning after the storm Nilam.
I wish to share, notably, with parents of young ones, some video clips on a Halloween parade of school kids. They give us an idea of the fun we could have, organising a fancy dress parade in our residential complex to celebrate Children's Day. As of now, the programme is to have Mantri Synergy children plant 9 saplings, one representing each block of flats, on Sunday Nov.11. Children's Day (Nov.14) happens to be a working day.
The Halloween video clips reveal, if anything, that at any children's
function, it is parents who get more excited, and, possibly, have more
fun, than the kids. Besides, such events provide each parent an
opportunity for photographing children in a social setting. One other
thing I noticed as I viewed the video clips, some children don't wish to
be patted or pampered in public by parents, particularly when they are
in company of peers or classmates. I see Sidharth, in green head-gear,
blue t-shirt, walking by (Video 2) without so much as saying 'Hi' to
his dad hailing him.
This photo taken from the 9th floor of Mantri Synergy apartment complex doesn't reflect the sound and speed of the wind blowing from the sea several hour before Cyclone Nilam was expected to hit the coast ( Wednesday evening). You get a sense of play of the scene from these YouTube clips:: Whistling wind - 1 Whistling wind - 2
Now that I have been bitten by this YouTube bug, I take a shot at whatever I fancy during our morning walk at our residential complex on OMR.
I have set up my own channel - MyTakebyGVK - on YouTube
Anuja in concert at Navarathri celebrations. Photo by - MrLakshmanan (my D block neighbour)
I am not into music of the Carnatic kind, but on wife's recommendation, I attended Anuja's rendering of concert music as part of Mantri Synergy Navarathri celebrations at our clubhouse. Anuja's approach, presentation, and the way she addressed the audience appealed even to the uninformed among us, says my wife. It is this quality, more than anything else, that empowered Anuja (H-block) to teach music to the 4-year-olds.
Talent alone isn't enough. It takes poise, stage presence and ettiquette to make a musician. And, in my book, Anuja (H block) makes the grade in all departments. What's more, she has the temperament to put up with other hassles of a community gathering during Navarathri.
For many us in the audience music is a side-show. On such occasions we are more into socializing, social networking. Artistes often find themselves performing for an uncaring audience, or empty chairs. Anuja handled with grace the irritating rings of audience cell-phones; incessant back-row chatter; and hyper active toddlers who barely sit in one chair for more than 17 seconds at a time. Children appeared to have a free play in the hall; and if singers find this a distraction, they simply grin and bear it. I wonder if organisers or anyone else can do much about this. After all, the children escorting elders need to be engaged.
Ms Karthikaipavai of cultural programme committee could, perhaps, do with some volunteer baby-sitters to run a cartoon films show or some thing elsewhere at the clubhouse during Navarathri song and dance evenings. Ms Pavai would also do well to put up a proposal to the Association, for sanction of a few pedestal fans in the clubhouse.. A packed hall without air-conditioners adds to the discomfort of children and women, notably, those in heavy silk sari.
As I said at the start, carnatic music is not quite my cup of tea. Realising this, presumably, Anuja wound up her concert with a touching Tamil number - Ethanai janmum eduthalum..... The pull of one's own soil has been the theme of poets and lyricists in every language. My own favourites in this genre include Chhod Aaye Hum Oh Galian ... and O Yaaro Maaf Karna...
As they have done so well in identifying in-house talent in carnatic music, Ms Pavai and friends in her committee should scout for talent within our complex to make an evening of movie songs.
My friend Viswanath at Mantri Synergy, with connection in other residential communities on OMR sent a set of pictures taken during a community event at Hirananadani's, Navalur. We have at Mantri's quite a few Hiranandani families that have taken apartments on rent while their own place is getting ready for occupation. For more photos on Hiranandani's community event look up OMR Resident on Facebook.
The young ladies organizing community Kolu (display of dolls) at our clubhouse were keen on projecting a green message; and Neeraj of OMR Greens, with Sundeep, landscaped a model (see photo) that has a windmill towering over a green patch. I would like to see, wouldn't you, our apartments owners association taking a cue from Sundeep/Neeraj model, and take a shot at setting up rooftop windmills at Mantri Synergy. My friends and D block neighbour , Mr Sriraj, has expressed his willingness to offer his apartment terrace for putting up a hybrid solar-wind power generation unit, as a pilot programme.
Meanwhile, as part of Navarthri celebrations a rangoli contest was held at our clubhouse last weekend. My favourite entry, picked out for its message, is the rangoli that talks about the oneness of people, of different religious faiths, and of the green imperative for saving Planet Earth.
And then I happened to visit Ms Lakshmi Gopalan's (F 603) apartment, where the kolu she has set up depicts urbanisation of rual Padur, in the wake of real estate development all around the village - Akshaya,Oak Tree, Rosedale, and, of course Mantri Synergy. Mrs Gopalan's landscape reflects transition of Padur,from village to a township, as a result of our moving into their neighbourhood. The Kolu artist also takes note of our new-found neighbourhood community initiative - OMR Greens.
Lakshmi Gopalan's Kolu on YouTube.
Trash-busters pose for photo by Arun Raveendran Nair. He handles a shovel and trash 'tokri' as well as he does, a camera.
We thought we would be beaten back; and despite a wet and unwelcoming weather a bunch of us, hardcore OMR Green-ers, made a go of Trash-busting on Padur main street. We had the backing of Hindustan University students, notably girls, and two faculty members Prof. Geethadevi, and Dr Ilavazhagan, who took to the street with us in our green awareness drive. Dr G Ilavazhagan, Director(Research), Hinduatan University, along with a student, did heavy-duty trash-lifting near Padur bustand. Prof. Geethadevi, got down to picking up used paper cups discarded on pavement in front of a teashop. Padur Panchayat chief, Mr Chinnakutty, showed up at the bus stand to facilitate our 'do' and and organise transporting of trash to the dumping yard. Shopkeepers,and scores of passers-by stood watching us, perhaps, baffled at our intervention. OMR Greens' Rajaraman and Prof. Geethadevi went up to shopkeepers to tell them what the score was; and why it wasn't such a good idea to litter pavement with garbage. A shopkeeper was heard arguing, it was for the panchayat to keep the streets clean. Maybe, he has a point. And OMR Greens' appeal is addressed to people and their panchayat alike. OMR Greens on YouTube
Commercial tariff for grid power: Rs.6 - Rs.8 per unit:
Disesel generator back-up - Rs. 16 - Rs.18
Solar power - Rs.10 a unit.
So says Solkar Solar MD, Mr K E Raghunathan. He is quoted in media as saying, some 60 sq.ft space is required for one kW rooftop system, capable of producing 5 units on a fair weather day.
A solar photovoltaic power plant, with a capacity of one kilowatt, has been up and running for some months at a Kilpauk residence of Mr D Suresh.
He has 10 solar panels; a dual power converter, along with 10 batteries of 100 ampere-hours (AH) capacity each. During day, the power plant lights the house and during night, the converter takes over, drawing power from the batteries.
Capital cost: Rs. 2.5 lakh, inclusive of subsidy of Rs.80,000 provided through the Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA). Net cost for consumer: Rs.1.7 lakh.
If someone is planning a study visit to Mr Suresh's Kilpauk house, I would be interested.
This one can be taken up by OMR Greens.
Our next door neighbour at Padur, OMR and organic farmer Mr R Ranganathan, who has been here since early 1970s, says hundreds of trees - coconut and mango - were slaughtered by Mantri's to pave way for raising our residential complex.
So, what's new in it, doesn't every developer do it ? I would have thought so as well, had a Mantri resident Mr D Venkatesan (A-block) not e-mailed us a media report citing a statement by Snehal Mantri. She was reported in The Hindu Property Plus (Jan.12, 2008) as saying : When MDPL took over the land on OMR at Chennai, the entire area looked so green we had second thoughts about building Mantri Synergy there. We then thought of transplantation. There were a total of 165 coconut trees, 24 mango trees and around 140 teak wood trees spread there, and we managed to save 90% of the trees.
A tree count on Mantri Synergy campus appears appropriate. So that, when the apartment owners association takes over of assets from Mantri's, we could seek an account of transplanted trees from Mantri's. Apart from an exercise in 'green' auditing, this has financial implication. The cost of transplanting a tree (at 2008 price level) ranged from Rs,5,000 to Rs.10,000. And the expenses, we assume, was billed to apartment buyers .
Meanwhile OMR Greens would like to see trees planted wherever we can. We could do with some on the sides of our front lawn, for some shade on driveway. Would it be too late to consider planting some, may be neem, in celebration of our 'Go Green' Navarathri ?
Photos by Mantri Synergy resident Chelakara Viswanath
A spirited group of young residents at Mantri Synergy were at work till wee hours of Tuesday (Oct.16) setting up Navarathri dolls at the clubhouse community hall. Sandeep who has flair for design and decorative art, and Neeraj of OMR Greens (whose theme is projected in kolu) , along with their wives did the landscaping. They were at it till 4 a m, says Ms Karthikaipavai who heads the Navarathri celebrations panel.
Mr Jayamani, his wife, and Mr Soundarajan, did Ganapathy puja, Tuesday morning, to mark the start of the 9-day celebrations.
During Navarathri we have puja, twice daily - 7.30 a m and 6 p m. Those who wish to taste 'sundal' prasadam, from varied households, would do well not to miss the evening session. Which, I believe, includes music and dance sessions on a daily basis.
YouTube 1) Navarathri Kolu @ OMR 1 - 7 mins
2) Navarathri Kolu @ OMR 2 - 1.15 mins.
We are looking for school students who can help us with painting placards on cardboard sheets, taken from discarded packing cases. The cards would carry environment-related messages, preferably, in Tamil, Malayalam, Assamese, Bwngali and English. Whatever the language, the message is the same. Idea is to address these messages to people at Padur, which is also home for students and migrant workers from other states. OMR Greens plans trash-busting 20/10 at Padur. After cleaning up garbage along Padur main street near the bus stand, we propose to march through the streets in Padur, carrying placards with green messages such as:
1) We're Trash Busters - 'kuppai ozhippu padai' (in Tamil) 2) Plant Trees, Banish Trash Marum Nedu; Kuppai Eadu (Tamil) 3) Trash-busting 20/10, Padur Save the Lake, Save Water 4) KEEP IT CLEAN 5) OMR Greens we're on Facebook,YouTube
It would help, if you turn in your placards (don't forget to sign your name,Class, School, at the bottom) by Sat. morning. That is, before 8.00 a m (start from Mantri gates in procesion) Sat.Oct,20 Padur Main Street (near bus stand) Trash-busting (8.15 - 9.30 a m) Green Awareness march (9.30 a m) through Padur streets.
Organic farmer Ranganathan has opened a retail outlet on his OMR farmland at Padur, near Kelambakkam. His shop, set up in the front hall of his farm house, sells about 140 organic products procured from 2,000 farmers in Tamilnadu and elsewhere. Mr Ranganathan, an activist in organic farming, said he got initiated by a friend in Sweden in early 1970s.
That was the time when he came from his native Myladuthurai to work at a dairy in Chennai. It was around the same yime he set up a farm of his own on a one-acre patch near Kelambakkam on OMR. His farm is now sourrounded by high-rise residential buildings. Amid the emerging communities developed by the Mantri's, the Gem Group, X S Real, the Jain Housing Group and the Poorvankara, would Mr Ranganathan's one-acre coconut and Mango patch hold out on its own ?
'I have no intention of giving up my farm land, not till my death, at any rate," says 64-year-old Ranganathan. He moved his organic retail from T Nagar to his own farmland a month back, Besides vegetables and organic fruits, the OMR outlet stocks a wide range of value-added food items, neatly packed, labeled and bottled.
Mr Ranganathan wanted us to report to him our assessment of organic milk he procures from a Chingulpet dairy-owner who maintains a livestock of 100 truly Indian bred cattle. He gets organic milk packets only on weekends nowadays.. Mr Ranganathan said could arrange for daily milk supply, if he could have a customer base of at least 60 neighbourhood residents. Mr Ranganathan can be reached at 9443346369; Landline - 044 27475961 Related YouTube video clips: Farmhouse organic outlet on OMR - 2.43 mins. Organic farmer Mr Ranganathan interview - 4.05 mins.
With barely 3 days left for the start of Navarathri celebrations at Mantri Synergy residential complex, a OMR Greens activist, Neeraj Singh , has volunteered to take up with Madhumita and friends modalities of the Greens involvement by way of 1) designing a display of kolu toys depicting a scene from Trash-busting 29/9 (to be cleared by kolu organisers); and
2) Organising a children's film evening - showing 10-15 min. OMR Greens video, and a feature film - Cars -1. Mr Arvind Rajgopaul has agreed to provide digital copy for the film show. Date , to be decided in consultation with programme organisers.
Incidentally, Mr Rajgopaul would be happy to loan his grandson's toy-train set (Thomas and Friends) for Kolu display, if Navarathri organisers would be interested.
Our next trash-busting is scheduled on Saturday, Oct.20, at Padur main bus stop on the main street. Plan is, OMR Greens volunteers plan to assemble at Mantri's main gate at 8 a m, and march to Padur with their cleaning gear. Padur panchayat chief is expected to join them on the job around 9 a m.
Meanwhile a 2 min, video on the current status of the trash dump (pathetic) that was cleaned up two weeks back has been uploaded on YouTube : Trash is back
Chandra, Farzana and Madhumita represent the organising panel for Navarathri celebrations, starting Oct.16
Mantri Synergy residents association has mandated a three-member volunteer group - Chandra, Farzana and Madhumita - to do the spadework for Dasara/Navarthri celebrations, starting Oct.16, at the Clubhouse. The 9-day celebrations includes 'Kolu', children's singing, pot-painting, OMR Greens video show for children. I suggested that the ladies could consider planting a sapling on the clubhouse lawns to mark Dasara celebration. Chandra would want to see Mantri Synergy participate in the Kolu contest announced by The Times of India Group. Madhumita suggested, apart from display of traditional dolls, the kolu should have a theme and wondered if OMR Greens had any ideas to offer. The three women listed the following tasks: 1) Shop for a kolu stand 2) Collect dolls on loan from Mantri residents for the clubhouse Kolu display. 3) Designate 9 families that volunteer to make 'sundal' for distribution as evening prasad. 4) Have a group of Mr Viswanathan's music students sing during the evening puja time. 5) Get the association to award certificates of participation to children taking part in various programmes. 6) Organise children pot-painting on the driveway and elsewhere on a weekend. 7) Mobilise residents for kollum (rangoli) show at clubhouse entrance. 8) Plant a sapling in celebration of Dasara. The three-woman group would be happy to consider other ideas residents may have, and and hear from volunteers who can add value to our celebrations.
First, something that's not so nice and encouraging. Within 2 weeks
of our 29/9 trash-busting on OMR , Padur, garbage is back on the site - like the curl
of a dog's tail that we sought to straighten out (to use the anology of a
friend of mine). But then wasn't this anticipated ? Trash littered all
around OMR Greens concrete bin (costing Rs.1,000) shows, if anything,
that we still have a long way to go in educating the uninformed. Maybe,
after some weeks, we need to revisit the site, and call it,
Trash-busting 29/10. Meanwhile,let us move the panchayat to get the bin emptied now and then.
Now, the
positives: We heard from a resident at Thoraipakkam that his community
would like to be associated with OMR Greens. Isn't that encouraging ? Padur
panchayat chief would like us to trash-bust at Padur main street (bus
stop), preferably, this Sat. Oct.13. He also wants OMR Greens T-shirt to
wear. Of course, he has his own agenda. Who doesn't ? Our agenda is
to get Panchayat chief on our side. He may not be much of a help, but he
wouldn't be a hindrance to our plans. Mr Gopalan R would want us to
take out a anwareness march through Padur streets, carrying 'green'
placards. We plan to approach Hindustan University authorities for
planning a joint programme to clean their vicinity. We already have the
backing of the auto-stand people. From viewpoint of some youngsters
in OMR Greens, we are not moving fast enough. For instance, Neeraj 'B'
Singh spoke, at our review meet last night, of organising a OMR photo
contest, and approaching companies with CSR account for sponsorship. We
reckon he wants us to move at bullet speed. The 'B' I have put in as his
middle name stands for 'bullet'
Muthukkadu Lake on ECR, as viewed from Mantri Synergy on OMR
Pallavaram municipal chairman has been directed by the national green tribunal not to dump garbage into Pallavaram Lake. A Madipakkam resident S.P. Surendranath Karthik, who petitioned the tribunal has also claimed damages under the 'polluter pays' principle. But then the civic body would argue that dumping has been happening for decades. Besides the municipal waste collectors aren't the only culprit. Decades of dumping truckloads of trash from elsewhere may well have contributed to the current mess.
Upshot is: Pallavaram Lake, spread over 300 acres, is shrinking, and
whatever remains of the water spread, in the southern part of the lake,
is said to have turned toxic. The lake is the prime source of drinking
water for residents in neighbourhood localities.
The lake from where Padur people source water is getting smaller, and increasingly polluted. The issue, if left unaddressed any further, can only get worse, at a faster pace,.
The case before the green tribunal ought to serve as a wake-up call to
Padur-Kelambakkam residents on OMR. They need to take steps to prevent
Padur and Muthukkadu lakes going the Pallavaram way. Stakeholders -
developers, residents associations and panchayat bodies - should come
together to explore possibilities. Which include a co-ordinated approach
to 1) check further lake pollution through people-panchayat monitoring
system; and 2) evolve effective waste management and sewage
processing/recycling system to cover the residential areas around Padur
and Muthukkadu lakes
OMR Greens, a community service initiative, can play a role in facilitating the process of mobilising public awareness and in connecting communities to work out a joint programme to address issues of common concern.
With 4 days left for T-Day (Sat., Sept.29) Gopalan R, Neeraj Singh and I
went to Kelambakkam to shop for hardware that we need to clear the OMR
trash heap that sits bang in front of our apartments complex, Mantri Synergy. Hand-in-Hand, green NGO,
didn't confirm till Monday our request for loan of implements such as
shovel, earth scraper,and tokri.
Meanwhile, we had a re-think on
hardware hiring Vs buying and decided on buying the hardware (as
suggested by my friend Ramkumar).The cost - nearly Rs.1,200 - made
business sense, for we may have to pay transport cost from Mamallapuram
organic waste disposal plant, even if Hand-in-Hand loaned us the trash
collection implements.
We shopped for disposable gloves and mouth
mask at Saravana Medicals. Its owner Mr B Kumar waived the charges -
about Rs.250 - when he heard of OMR Greens and the purpose for which we
needed mouth mask and gloves. Incidentally, Mr Kumar's is the first
sponsorship OMR Greens have recieved. We started off with Rs. 8,000 as
contribution by 8 founder members.
Of this we spent Rs.4,000 on
ourselves, buying designer T-shirts. Neeraj and his wife didn't bill us
for designing T-shirt. Those who want to get OMR Greens T-shirt could
contact Neeraj with Rs.400. He is available at neerajrajpoot@gmail.com ;
Phone- 9600159307
T-Day (trash-busting day): Sat.,Sept.29 Time: From 7.30 a m (till 9.30 when it gets too warm) Place: Pavement trash heap opposite Mantri Synergy, Padur, OMR.
The photo triggered our thoughts on taking OMR Greens to neighbourhood schools. Following the Sept.29 trash-busting event, right in front of Mantri Synergy, we could take our drive further up along OMR, from Padur upto Kazhipathur. Hopefully, the 29/9. trash-busting would help us create a buzz in the area.. We would like to hear from folks in other residential communities - Akshaya, Ouranya Bay, Oak Tree, Victoria Towers.
After a weekend meeting with Mr Keerthi of Hand-in-Hand founder member Gopalan R suggested we organise an awareness march through the streets of Padur village after 29/9. Hand-in-Hand can help us with placards that OMR Greens marchers could carry. The placards, Mr Keerthi said, have green slogans in Tamil.
Schools can be our next target. And the signage (see photo), put up by the 29/9 site, points the Gateway International School, Padur, where we can organize a neighbourhood trash-busting , in collaboration with the school management. This is an opportunity for us to engage school students and teachers in our green awareness drive.
