Tree-growers 'Nizhal' reach out to OMR high-rises

Mantri Synergy, a 750 unit apartment complex at Padur, OMR, takes pride in their common area landscaping. In fact, our landscaped space prompted film maker  Murgadoss to seek permission to film in our complex some sequences for the upcoming Tamil movie - Raja Rani.

Visually appealing, with green lawns and ornamental plants, Mantri's landscaping cost a packet to develop, and maintain through the gardening and regular watering of lawns. Fancy landscaping is a notable selling point for developers of high-rise residential communities. But do ornamental gardening with exotic plants add value to greening of the area, like planting traditional trees do?

Tree-planting groups such as Nizhal promote native species - Neem, honge, Kadubadami (tropical almond) are favoured species.Trees with berries — such as the jamun — attract a lot of birds. Nizhal, which has been fairly active in Adyar, Anna Nagar, Alwarpet and other localities in city centre, wants to reach out to emerging high-rise residential areas on OMR.

Programme co-ordinator Usha Sreedhar is addressing a mail to residents associations, seeking their co-operation. Nizhal, besides planting, is engaged in, what they call, a Free-the- tree drive. They organize a tree walk to monitor avenue trees in residential localities. Trees damaged with advertisement notices nailed to their trunks are removed by volunteers. Those seeking to carry out free-the-tree campaign in their area can contact for guidance Nizhal's Usha (9791029568), Babu (9884114721) or Shoba (9840904621).

 Nizhal tree walk at Kotturpuram 

Besides residents, shopkeepers, auto-drivers are encouraged to volunteer for tree walks. Participants spread the word among friends by uploading photos on tree walks in Facebook.Tree-planting is easily done, but Nizhal's challenge is in motivating residents for sustained care of saplings planted in public space, for at least two years after planting.

A  public-spirited group that created community blog - Friends of Roadside Trees - in Mysore was okay, but not enough to mobilize a critical mass of  tree-caring residents in various localities. Tree-planting activists such as Gurukar, who have planted over 1,000 trees in public spaces, are a rare spiecies. A retired govt. official, Gurukar moves about in his bicycle every morning, carrying with him planting kit and a sapling. He spends a part of his monthly pension on buying saplings to be planted on roadsie and other available space.

And,  in Chennai, we have at Mandaveli a tree-planting duo - Mr V Subramaniam, a retired RBI official, and Dr R Madhavan - who went around Chennai on a tricycle loaded with saplings, looking for vacant space to plant them. The tree-planting who were dubbed crackpots by some managed to plant 400 saplings at Mandaveli, within a year of their star, some 20 years back..They no longer plant, but Dr Madhavan hands out sapling to patients who visit his clinic.

Nizhal could, and they probably do, highlight the work of such tree-planting activists, to give a human touch to their campaign in schools, and residential areas. Nizhal lists their activites as:
1) Taking up planting initiatives, with support from businesses, local organizations and communities.
2) Providing saplings
3) Devising eco-projects,educational programmes
4) Tree walks
5) Publishing tree guides and and tree survey reports
6) Advising a tree protection code

Nizhal website
Nizhal on Facebook
'Raja Rani' teaser trailer that has gone viral

Man in the news at Mantri Synergy

My Mantri Synergy friend and OMR Greens enthusiast Mr Santhakumar (with face-mask)  might curse me for this photo. But then I couldn't readily lay my hands on any  other photo, of the man who has made news at Mantri's. Mr Santhakumar has become a father. His wife gave birth to a baby boy last night (Friday), their first. The mother and child are doing well.
At Mantri's we have been trying to evolve a tradition, of getting parents to plant a sapling whenever we  have a new-born joining our residential community. We planted a sapling - 'shenbegum' - to celebrate the first-born,  at Mantri Synergy's Chakraborthy family, in May 2011. A mango was planted near the swin pool when the Ramkumars  had a son, the second child  to be born in our community.
We could have yet another sapling at Mantri's to celebrate child-birth,  if we can persuade Mrs Santhakumar to do the honours.

Shoddy waste disposal @ Padur

 
The concrete dustbin that OMR Greens set up at their cost, at OMR, Padur, went missing some weeks back. It reappeared on pavement the otherday. Mr Gopalan of OMR Greens, with help from a neighbourhood trader, restored the bin at its rightful spot.

 What we were not quite prepared for, was the refusal of the panchayat sweepers to clear the dustbin OMR Greens placed at their own cost -  Rs.1,000 for the concrete bin plus white-wash and painting done by resident volunteers from Mantri Synergy.
The sweepers on tricycles told us plainly that they would need panchayat president's orders for clearing OMR Greens dustbin, placed across the road from Mantri synergy residential complex.

 What has our brand of  panchayat raj come down to ?  Mr Gopalan and I plan to meet the Padur panchayat president to persuade him to give necessary directive to his road-cleaning staff.

Mantri Synergy residents are now on Facebook

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 'Ninja' at Mantri Synergy

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..

Christmas at Mantri's Daycare

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.

Community Pilliyar splits families

 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.

Christmas tree at Mantri's

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.

Getting TV connection in high-rises

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.

Morning mist at OMR

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.

Getting stuck in lift at a high-rise

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.

OMR Greens invites kids to mini-zoo

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.

Gateway School, Padur, OMR

Sidharth/Nikhil stand up to Nilam's fury

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.

How about Children's Day parade at Mantri's ?

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.

Whistle of the wind, OMR

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

Driveway side flowers

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

At a OMR community concert

Anuja in concert at Navarathri celebrations.  Photo by -  Mr Lakshmanan (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.

OMR Greens - Review 13/10

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 

Navarathri at Mantri Synergy

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.           
  

Honda showcase car at Mantri's

Mantri Synergy residents had Honda people showcase their latest model on their campus over the weekend.Prospective car buyers among our residents got all relevant details on the car without having to step out of their residential complex.Presumably, car companies, and those of other consumer durables, see marketing sense in taking their road shows into emerging OMR communities.