Designer jewellery

Mantri residents, Sonya and Nadiya, holding a day job in the IT sector, took to jewellery designing on weekends as a hobby. They turned out to be so good at it that their father helped them evolve a business model. And now Sonya/Nadiya designed jewellery are available, at prices ranging from Rs.50 to Rs.550.
Their father K Santharam (A-202) has e-mailed OMR Resident: My daughters Sonya and Nadya have designed beaded chains and ear rings.  They are just doing this as a hobby.
The designer sisters have created a Facebook page  where they showcase their work.  
E-mail for info - evejewel@gmail.com

Graffiti in D block lift

We found this penciled graffiti in a D Block lift at Mantri's the other day.. Someone has taken his/her time over this.  I mean, this piece of graffiti couldn't have been done during a trip or two, up and down, in our lift. It takes barely a minute for it to move from basement to the top (12th) floor; and another minute downward.
I wish the graffiti artist at Mantri's comes forward to own up the piece of elevator art. We could do with his services  to paint our driveway pots. It has been quite a while since we held a pot-painting event at Mantri's .

Photo workshop

Mr. K Dhamodharan conducts a one-day workshop every month (on a Saturday) along with Konica Labs. Idea is to initiate amateurs in the basics of photography. our Lab, Sterling Road. His Next workshop: August 25 at Konica Labs. Sterling Rd. Nungambakkam.
Visit  www.konicacolorlab.com  or contact Jana at  Mobile 99400 78820;  Landline 4290 9898
Read more on this post at Chennai Focus
The website doesn't mention anything about the fee. Konica website mentions Rs.4,000 plus service tax (12.36 %) . Which is a bit stiff, for my money, even if the fee covers lunch.

A new team at Mantri's

I wish the newly elected office-bearers - all 20 of them - would consider planting a sapling each - preferably, Neem - in a row (of 10 each) along the railings on either side of  the park. So that a couple of years from now we would have some shade along the driveway. The photo was taken mid-day today.
At Mantri Synergy we had never held elections, though  we have had a change of association management twice within a year. The latest group of office-bearers were declared elected, unopposed, today,  a day ahead of  election - Aug.19.
Declaring the results returning officer Mr G Natarajan said in view of the fact that there is only one nomination received for each post of principal office bearers the following stand elected unopposed     
Sri.S.UMAPATHY H 502 PRESIDENT
Sri.T.P.R.NAIR D 1001 VICE PRESIDENT
Sri.S.R.JAYASANKAR E 105 SECRETARY
Sri.K.KAILASAM A 709 TREASURER
Naming the committe members Mr Natarajan noted nominations were received from only 16 persons for a committee that can have up to 18 members.
If the president can nominate the other two to fill the vacancies, those with insight and proven  experience in handling association affairs could be co-opted. How about inviting  Mr Vasudevan, and Mr Charkraborti  to join the committee? Just a thought..
The 16 members elected unopposed are:   
1.Sri.GURUSAMY PANDIYAN A 603
2.Sri.N.PREMKRISHNA B 504
3.Smt. INDUMATHI SURESH B 706
4.Sri.B.RAJAGOPALAN C 307
5.Sri. C.S.LAKSHMANAN D 501
6.Smt.DEEPA MUKHERJEE D 1101
7.Smt. DEEPA SRIDHAR E 804
8. Sri. T.S.DEVANAND E 1002
9.Sri. V.S.VARADHARAJAN F 402
10.Sri.R.GOPALAN F 603
11.Smt.K.UDAYALAKSHMI F 704
12.Sri.D.A.SRIKANTH F 1204
13.Sri.B.R.GOVINDARAJULU G 1006
14.Sri.K.RAMKUMAR H 205
15.Sri.N.K.SOMAN I 103
16.Sri.V.SUNDARRAJAN I 903

BSNL (phone) Bill payment at Mantri's

Those of us so used to paying our phone bills online or through bank so long  find it cumbersome having to go to Kelambakkam telephone exchange to pay at the counter.  Phone subscribers at Mantri Synergy have fiber optic FTTH  landline and broadband connection. For which BSNL does  not yet have a system for online bill payment in place.
To pay bills through banks you need subscriber account number. And the BSNL Accounts department say they are in the process of alloting A/c numbers to FTTH phone subscribers. When I went to Kelambakkam payment counter the other day a staffer said it would take a couple of months for them to create an account for us at Mantri's. BSNL has been saying this for the past six months. The cashier suggested we phone the Accounts Officer for further details  - 044 22500716  (Mr Radha).  If anyone finds additional info., it would help if the person share it by leaving a comment in this blog. 
Meanwhile our phone/broadband man at Mantri's Mr Aashik said, as an interim arrangement, BSNL accounts people at Guindy office can depute a person to collect phone bills from Mantri residents. Telephone revenue inspector Mr Venugopal, they say, would visit Mantri's for bill collection, if we mobilize payment from  at least 10  phone subscribers at any given time. Mr Venugopal's number - 9445013779.
Mr Nambiar, Mantri's first resident, who has been paying his  bills at Kelembakkam  ever since he moved in in Feb. last year, has a suggestion. Why not we have Mr Venugopal come to Mantri's for bill collection on a specified date ( say 15th) every month ? Maybe our association could evolve a bill collection system based on such input.

Madras Week - Aug.19 - 26

If a city has a founding day,  Chennai's is August 22. It was on this day in 1639 that the East India Company took over Fort St.George and the seaside hamlets around it , from the local Nayak rulers for developing it into the city of Madras. Out of the Fort St. George grew settlements that sprawled over decades into a massive urban metropolis.
Having designated  Aug.22 as Madras Day  my friend and Adyar Times publisher Vincent D'Souza, and his friends Sashi Nair, journalist, and S Muthiah, local historian, put together a string of events around that date, to make it a week-long celebrations.
We could do with more such ideas. Why doesn't  Vincent , and his friends,   think in terms of  OMR Day, to celebrate the emerging residential stretch along the IT corridor.
Madras Week - Aug.19 - 26 - marking the celebration of the founding of the city  includes events for children, quiz enthusiasts, photographers, cyclists, walkers, and nature lovers. They have bicycle heritage ride; nature and heritage walks, photowalks, public talks, food trail, quiz contest and more.
I have a suggestion. When he is done with Madras Week would Vincent consider organising a meet-up with his friends so that we discuss possibilities for a OMR Week; or, at least, locating some events in Madras Week 2013  in our part of the city ?

Swatantra Diwas @ Mantri's

We had the formal flag-hoisting at the main driveway, but it is the individual gestures such as these that add a 'feel'  to the Swatantra Divas.

 

 A security person with the tricolour

A rangoli at the Daycare in our clubhouse.

Tennis, anyone ?

It has been a month since Sridhar (blue T-shirt) has been coaching  Mantri's children. However I discovered our tennis-playing children only this morning (having been away from Mantri's for some weeks).
Meanwhile, Mr Kasi Viswanathan, our in-house music teacher, says his class strength has risen to nearly 25 children. He has promised to hold a concert by students at our clubhouse fairly soon.

Mantri's at dawn

A picture post-card sunrise and the flowers along our driveway add to a feel-good effect for morning walkers at Mantri Synergy.

Krishna comes to Mantri :-)

The Krishna Jayanti celebrations in school required the kids to dress-up as Krishna and Radha.  Here our little Krishna had a double-delight with two Radhas around :) .Am sure the biker-avatar is something new!

Plans to make OMR a 6-lane affair

Nice thought, I thought reading in The Hindu about a plan for widening OMR to six lanes. Operative part of the news report reads: The 26.8 km stretch will run from Siruseri to Poonjeri, where it will join the East Coast Road. Two new by-passes have been planned to avoid areas that are urbanised and have too many buildings.... One by-pass,of 4.67 km, will come up in Padur and reach Thaiyyur-B  by-passing Kelambakkam.
I find no reference to a timeline for accomplishing this. For work on OMR Phase-1, started in 2008, has yet to be completed. Anyway, the media report carried on The Hindu website evoked some comments from residents. A notable comment, by Mr N.V.Chandrasekharan, suggest: : Build an elevated light rail track in the middle of the OMR right upto Thayur aligned with existing MRTS say from Taramani, run shuttle trains 24X7 at 15 minutes intervals, create huge ground level car / 2-wheeler parking sites in the vicinity of OMR at every km all along. This will encourage mass usage of the rail network for the future, reduce congestion on the road ....will also create a boom in housing all along OMR.