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.
Rajeshkanna and his group - V R Volunteers ( 'V' for 'we'; 'R' for 'are') have been at it for the past six Sundays - cleaning a patch of the Akkarai (Sholinganallur beach) of plastic bags, can, bottles and containers. Next Sunday, May 12, they have bigger plans; and to make a success of it, they invite others to join them - company staff, school and college students, NGOs. Programme
Sunday, May 12
4:30 PM - Volunteers meet at Akkarai Beach - Shyamala Garden Avenue Road; collect their trash bags/gloves.
4:45 PM - Split into two groups, starting the Cleanup drive from both the ends of 1 km stretch of the beach.
6:15 PM - Collection of trash bags, to be dropped at the chennai corporation garbage hold at the end of the road. Social network: https://www.facebook.com/events/516750975027928/?context=create Contacts: Suresh - 9843677487; Jai Ganesh – 9791050514
Youngster Vijay Vasudevan, a Mantri Synergy resident, with friends from a local catering institute, runs breakfast service for the benefit of office-goers in a hurry, and housewives who want take it easy on odd mornings, notably weekends. They can phone Vijay for breakfast,and it will be delivered, neatly packed, at their door-steps within a reasonable time. A catering institute graduate, I believe his name is Gyanam Master, takes care of the kitchen.. It is a co-operative enterprise. They have taken space at Padur, , where Gyanam Master with assistance from a couple of catering students, runs the kitchen. Vijay takes orders on phone and handles customer service. A couple of students on vacation have been engaged as delivery boys. On offer at Vijay's breakfest service are Idli, pongal and vada, with sambar and chutney. Service is open 7 a m till 10 a m on all days. Vijay's phone-in service covers Padur-Kelambakkam stretch on OMR.
Phone 9176509312
Our apartments complex - Mantri Synergy - viewed from the lakeside, Padur. Photo by Balakrishnan, a Mantri resident and OMR Greens member.
Neighbourhood residents on a recent Photowalk along Padur Lake were struck by the scenic settings, and its potential for development into a prime recreational area, to serve the cluster of high-rise residential communities that have come up on Padur-Kelambakkam stretch.
Families living in Akshaya's, ETA Rosedale, Mantri Synergy, X S Real, The Jains, The Gem Group and Poorvankara wouldn't have to look any farther than their backyard for Sunday picnicking. A paved walkway, joggers track, lakeside picnic areas, and open-air performance stage would account for high value social infrastructure.
Govt. funding would be hard to come by for such big ticket social infra-project. We could try a partnership model involving all stakeholders in lake area development - residents, property developers, corporates with CSR budget, panchayat, local town-planning authorities, urban development and tourism depts. Stakeholders share the project cost. We could try crowd-funding.
Maybe OMR Greens are into big-ticket dreams, triggered by their Padur Lake Photowalk. Maybe, other neighbourhood residents and photo enthusiasts should take to photowalk , to explore the lakeside further and talk about it in the social media. To start with, let us open a Padur Lake plan page on Facebook.
Any lake development plan at Padur, we reckon, must start with provision of clean bank of public toilets along the lake. Their need would be evident for anyone who takes an early morning lakeside walk. That is when you find many people moving about behind the bushes around the lake.
Padur has recently acquired Nilgiris - air-conditioned super-mart - but, apparently, there are still houses in its neighbourhood with no proper toilets. Influx of migrant workers seeking rented houses for group-living adds to the pressure, driving many residents to the bushes in the morning. Lakeside public toilet is a crying need, and no lake improvement plan can be implemented without fulfilling the basic need of people in the vicinity.
Namma Toilet, of the type that has been built at Tambaram, appears to hold a solution to the problem of public defecation around Padur Lake. According to Tambaram municipal commissioner, a 'Namma Toilet' unit costs nearly Rs.70,000. A prefabricated modular stall, 'Namma Toilet' can be assembled at the site.
Sanitation specialist Somya Sethuraman, writing in The Hindu, speaks of the need for a collective effort to create a user-friendly design, which would cater to the needs of all kinds — men and women, children, the elderly, and residents with special needs.
Somya writes: "The toilets have louvres on all four sides and a sunroof to allow for optimal ventilation, natural light and a feeling of openness without compromising user privacy. The fittings and fixtures are vandal resistant, durable and user-friendly. Each toilet stall is powered by a solar panel installed on the roof. During the day, the toilets get sunlight while the solar panels charge the battery, and when it is dark, the stalls are lit with motion sensor lighting".
A bank of five toilets by Padur lakeside would cost Rs.5 lakhs. If this could raised by way of crowd-funding and corporate CSR contribution, OMR Greens can be said to have taken a baby step towards their big-ticket social infrastructure project that would benefit emerging residential communities on Padur-Kelambakkam stretch of OMR.
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.
Cattle death in hit-and-runs on OMR is not uncommon. The photo was taken
this morning in front of our apartments complex - Mantri Synergy. The
victim of hit-and-run, presumably, pregnant, awaits disposal. Like so
many other passers-by, my wife and I stopped by, voiced our concern and
sympathy for the animal and cursed the cattle owner for having let
the cow out to fend for herself after milking.
We did the same
thing - stopped by, cursed and carried on - under similar circumstances
two years back. When we found, in front of our complex, a mortally
wounded cow .The scene then was that of the cow, foaming from the
mouth, and gasping for breath. The dying animal was being watched over
by some panchayat sweepers.
This photo is taken from our earlier post (May, 2011), in which I wrote: Padur municipal sweepers squatting by the side of the dying cow ...said they were waiting for the cow owner to turn up to claim the animal. As for the dying animal, they pleaded helplessness. There was nothing they could do, they said, other than wait for the death.
A two-minute YouTube clip that I took, of unfettered movement of cattle at Padur.
My wife and I have passed by this flower patch at Mantri Synergy on our morning walk for so many months without giving a thought to knowing so much as the name of the plant, let alone its earthly use to our daily life.
This was till I saw a photo of the plant and read The Hindu article - Green and clean - the other day. They call it Peace Lily, and, grown as indoor plant, it serves as air freshener. Peace Lilies grow easily, and they proliferate so fast that many people just throw away the extra plants that grow in their pots. "Grow them on your balcony or garden first and then bring them into your house to clean up the air", says The Hindu citing home gardener Priya Mascarwnhas. The plant grows well in semi-shade and can be potted in a mixture of kitchen compost and red earth.
Rajeshkanna, a friend and OMR Greens contact in Sholinganallur, sent us this mail: "Yesterday (Sun.April 4) was the best day in the last 4 weeks....Next cleanup event on coming Sunday 21-04-2013 4:45PM-5:45PM...Volunteers can send SMS to 9884244423/9884244483 for confirming your presence or send an email to rajeshreshi@gmail.com
Rajesh, with his wife and 3-year-old daughter, had came all the way on their moterbike, from Perumbakkam, to join OMR Greens Padur Walk some weeks back. A software professional with an IT company on OMR, Rajeshkanna is a proactive green enthusiast who responds to other people's call, when he is not organizing an event of his own. He is now in the midst of a beach clean-up campaign at Akkarai (Sholinganallur) on Sundays. The six-week drive would continue every Sunday evening ( 4.15 p m till 5.15 p m) till May 12.
I would let Rajeshkanna describe their work in his own words: Dear Friends, 2 Weeks back we went to Akkarai, ECR Beach with our Apartment kids and saw lots of plastic bags and garbage littered on the Beach...On a Sunday(Mar 23rd 2013) we decided to clean the beach with 6 kids and started the cleanup to create awareness among people visiting the beach. In My apartment all the kids showed interest .... on Sunday, March 31, we have done the cleanup again with 11 kids and 4 Parents. We will be going to AKKARAI beach every Sunday 4PM for next 6 weeks...We will be talking to the people on the beach....you could please join with us. Also We are approaching the Panchayat for placing dustbins and for regular garbage removal.
Surabhi, some 100 km from Chennai on the East Coast Road (ECR), is a kitchen garden resource centre, says Hema Vijay in an article in The Hindu. It is a resource centre that combines a mega greenhouse, and farm with organic retail, a restaurant, and much else. It's a one-stop greens place that provides customers with gardening tips, space-saving props, seeds, saplings, manure, pesticides, and offers for sale organic vegetables and fruits. Apart from what is grown in-house Surabhi's roadside shop retails produce grown by several neighbourhood villagers. They are not farmers, but villagers with surplus veg.& fruits grown in their backyards.
Surabhi provides villagers in its vicinity a marketing outlet for household produce. A villager with a mango or guava tree in his backyard brings his household surplus to Surabhi, which sells it to car-wallahs on ECR who stop by for 'chai' and a look-around.
The man who makes Surabhi tick is Mr S S Rashakrishnan. A lawyer by training, the 64-year-old has been an IRS official with the customs dept.; and founder of a tax consultancy firm. Mr Radhakrishnan says he has now handed over charge to his son, and shifted base from his Beasant Nagar residence, to manage and live at Surabhi, developed on farmland taken on lease from a friend near Kottaikadu village on ECR,
In a phone talk Mr Radhakrishnan said he didn't see Surabhi as a commercial venture, though, I suspect, the business model he has evolved sustains the upkeep of 12 employees who keep Surabhi up and running as a community service project with socio-economic benefits. Surabhi initiates rural houeholds into efficient home gardening practices. Surabhi adds marketing value to their produce that are otherwise not easily marketable.
As for urban areas Mr Radhakrishnan believes kitchen gardening can meet much of the needs of city-dwellers, if only they put to use all available open concrete space in, around, and on top of their houses for growing greens. When I mentioned that the super-mart in our OMR apartments complex, and also the nearby vegetable stalls at Padur and Kelambakkam rely on Koyambedu Mr Radhakrishnan talked about the potential for container gardening in the emerging high-rise communities on OMR.
Container gardening taken up in people's balcony saves high transporting cost of greens and things from Koyambedu wholesale veg. market.. Greens growing in your balcony enables housewives to use them fresh when needed, and in the quantity that is needed. You save space in the fridge that was earlier taken up by the greens. Salad greens are great to grow in containers, says a farming blog, listing lettuce, spinach, arugula, mustard leaves, green onions, baby beet leaves, and other leafy greens. culinary herbs such as parsley, cilantro, basil, dill, thyme, oregano, mint, chives. Most of the leafy green plants for salads and herbs can be grown in pots holding 5–10 liters of soil, because they don’t get very big, and their roots are shallow.
Mr Radhakrishnan can be accessed at 9841023448. E-mail - reachus@goodgovernanceguards.com
Engaged in interactive computer - Sidharth, 7, with kid brother Nikhil,5. Video by granddad.
As I read author Hanna Rosin's article - The Touch-Screen Generation - I was thinking about my US-based grandsons, aged 5 and 7, who, I noticed, loved to spend time with an iPad during their India trip for a couple of weeks. They watch basketball, run car races, play tennis, chess, and do quite a few other things I am not familiar with.
The Atlantic magazine article discusses the phenomenon of today's children spending more and more time with digital technology. What does it mean for their development ? Hanna Rosin, who disagrees with the American Academy of Pediatrics, favours the idea of children engaged with interactive digital media for their development.. She reckons a child who is adept with iPad hardly needs any teaching. The Academy of Pediatrics wouldn't recommend children's exposure to digital media, even though over 90 percent of American parents say their kids - even 2-year olds - are exposed to some form of electronic media at home.
The question, as Hanna phrased it, how would you want today's children to deal with technology ? Parents who, in their own childhood learned to curb technology , would want their kids to keep off it. Those who realise inevitability of increasing role of technology in daily life would rather want to see their young ones to integrate technology , making it a natural, organic part of life.
Hanna Rosin is not among those who believe free and open exposure leads to addiction. As part of parenting those bringing up young kids amid a digital clutter around their house - smart phone, iPad, computer, interactive Tv etc - would do well to be discriminative enough to understand when their kids engaged with iPad are concentrating intensely ; and when iPad becomes an addiction. Incidence of iPad addiction among children is a rare phenomenon, says Hanna Roasin.
The Hindu report on Chennai civic body's initiative for area-specific bio-gas plants with food-traders participation should be read with an earlier post in this blog - Waste-to-energy plant: A Padur proposal.
The Hindu report: Chennai Corporation, at a meeting with representatives of hotelsThe , marriage halls and other commercial food business operators asked the traders to commission decentralised waste processing facility based on a technology of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). OMR Resident : OMR Greens would like to see a zero waste project set up at Padur as a cost-sharing venture involving the civic body, developers and residents of Mantri Synergy, Akshayas, TVH, ETA, X S Real and the Gem Group. Corporate offices located in the area can be tapped for CSR funding.
The Chennai corporation, faced with resistance from traders to a hike in conservancy charges, is seeking to promote private-funded bio-gas plants in various areas. The BARC model for waste processing provides for source segregation of garbage and energy generation from bio-waste. The technology offers a decentralized way of garbage disposal as 300 sq. ft. of land is enough to process one tonne of waste a day.
OMR Greens suggestion for joint-venture bio-gas plants, involving panchayat, residents, real-estate developers and CSR-minded corporates, addresses waste-processing needs of emerging OMR residential communities that do not come under Chennai municipal corporation. When OMR Greens representatives broached the subject at a recent meeting with Mrs Snehal Mantri she expressed the view that such proposals work better if they are taken up by CREDAI, developers association, with the govt. and the relevant authorities. On her part, Mrs Mantri offered to refer our plea to CREDAI chief (Tamil Nadu Chapter) and Akshaya founder Mr T Chitty Babu.
In his budget speech, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister O.Paneerselvam admitted that
solid waste management in urban areas was a major challenge. “This
government will continue to promote source segregation and recycling to limit the disposal of solid waste through land fills,” he said. “Waste to energy projects will be established wherever possible,” the Finance Minister said in the budget speech 2013-2014. - From The Hindu
This patch of vacant land, presumably, under Padur panchayat jurisdiction, holds out possibilities for a community composts yard and waste-to-energy plant. OMR Greens, community service initiative, would like to see a zero waste project set up at Padur as a cost-sharing venture involving the civic body, developers of residential high-rises in Padur and residents of Mantri Synergy, Akshayas, TVH, ETA, X S Real and the Gem Group. Corporate offices located in the area can be tapped for CSR funding. If panchayat can allocate the land, we can seek the co-operation of the Hindustan University environment dept. in getting ready a project report. Which can, then, be taken up for official clearances and funding. OMR Greens would do the leg work and networking. A cluster approach to developing civic infrastructure in emerging residential areas along OMR, and decentralised waste disposal system appears a credible way to go. And if a waste collection and disposal system can be put in place at Padur, we could be a trend-setter for such joint initiative else in OMR, and, indeed, the rest of the fast-growing city that doesn't come under Chennai municipal corporation.
The
Mamallapuram branch of Adyar Ananda Bhavan generates 30 kg. kitchen
waste a day. A seaside resort across the East Coast Road accounts for
10 times more of food waste. There are 700 odd eateries in this
tourist town. Till about five years back, food waste from
Mamallapuram restaurants and hotels wound up at the municipal
landfill.
And then, came a bio-gas plant that converts kitchen waste into electricity. I don’t know who made the first move, but Vivekananda Kendra -
a Kanyakumari based NGO - designed and set up this plant, on a
reclaimed patch of the municipal garbage dump yard. The
waste-to-energy plant is run by another NGO – Hand-in-Hand.
Mr M Raja of Hand-in-Hand who conducted us around the plant - a group of OMR Greens
members from Padur - explained at length the waste-to-energy
conversion process, from door-step collection of food waste to
transmission of the converted electricity that powered 25 street
lights. Over 40 waste collectors are engaged; and their remunaration
is covered by the collection charges paid by the eating houses. A
minimum levy for kitchen waste collection is Rs.50 a month and the
chrages vary in accordance with the quantum of food waste collection.
The Mamamallapuram waste-to-energy plant is a collective
enterprise, of several stakeholders. The plant, designed by an NGO,
and located on panchayat land, is run by another NGO, with monthly
contributions by eateries. The 10 kilowatts generator running on
bio-gas produced by Kirloskars, costing Rs.20 lakhs (at the 2008 price level), is a donation from Sweden. Under the renewable energy programme the town panchayat is eligible to Rs.4 lakh subsidy.
Mr Raja, so knowledgeable on so many aspects, couldn’t, however,
tell us the one thing we needed to know - the unit cost for producing
power from kitchen waste. We wanted this info., if only to push the
waste-to-energy proposal to Padur panchayat and other stakeholders. Diesel generator driven power costs over Rs.15 per unit. Ideally, there should be a waste-to-energy unit for every panchayat
and in setting it up all stakeholders in the neighbourhood need to be
involved - residents, other individuals and institutions generating
waste, property developers responsible for mushrooming residential
high-rises , and the panchayat.
A bio-gas plant developed by Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) lends itself to decentralized waste disposal system.
For a plant with capacity to process one tonne waste daily requires no
more than 300 sq.ft. of land. And a tonne of bio-degradeable waste
can produce 25-30 kg. of methane, about 150 kg. carbon dioxide and
nearly 60 kg of organic manure. Besides kitchen and veg. market
wastes, and those generated in abattoirs, the BARC bio-gas model can
take in even hazardous biological sludge
.
The plant, they say can be operated by unskilled workers such as rag-picker Ramesh and his folks at Padur . All they require is one-month training.
I admit Dan Pink isn't a name I was familiar with till my neighbour Kalayani Rangarajan made a reference to his work in her e-mail about a seminar on motivation to be held this Friday, at VIT University campus on Vandalur-Kelambakkam Rd., Chennai.. Dr. Rangarajan is dean of VIT Business School, and the seminar - a Corporate Conclave addressed to senior executives - takes off from Dan Pink's proposition on 'what motivates people to better their performance'. Many of us can't be faulted for thinking cash rewards can motivate people to do better. This would be true in case of shop-floor staff engaged in routine, repetitive work - machine operator, meat-packer or beedi-roller.
Money could be an answer in case of a strata of workers. But is it the only motivational factor ? Or is money an answer, at all ? Dan Pink would have us believe money isn't what motivates people. In this regard he talks about three things - autonomy, mastery and purpose.
This, then, is the issue that speakers at the corporate conclave would address. Dan Pink, in his the book - Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us - trashes the carrot & stick approach that companies adopt to motivate employees. The practice of giving cash rewards for better performance; of punishing those failing to deliver, says the author, is outdated, unexamined, and is rooted more in corporate folklore than on scientific findings.
Many senior scientists, engineers and other professionals engaged in open-source programme tend not only do a better job of whatever they are good at, but they also give it away free to all-comers. It is not profit, but it is purpose that motivates people to do what they do in their discretionary time. Wikipedia is an example, says Dan, of what can be accomplished if companies re-think the way they run business. Another example he cites in support of his case is the practice adopted at Google, where employees are allowed to spend 20 percent of their Google time (one day in a five-day week) doing their own thing; to work on their pet interests or project. VIT's Corporate Conclave 3 p m - 6 p m March 1 (Friday) VIT campus, Vandalur-Kelambakkam Rd.
Those interested can register their names for participation at this link.
The high-rise - Gem Grove - residential that is close to completion in my Padur neighbourhood was no more than a hazy outline in this morning's mist that virtually blanketed our stretch of OMR. Have uploaded in OMR Resident Facebook a host of other morning mist photos.
Would like to hear from amateur camera enthusiasts who wish to join OMR Greens on a PhotoWalk this weekend along the lake behind ETA Rosedale. Idea is to capture images of the recyclable garbage discarded on the lakeside. An album of such photos would be published in Facebook, as a run up to the OMR Greens Recyclables Retrival Day. Our plan is to mobilize a group of students, equipped with garbage bags, for a lakeside recyclables collection, on a specifed date (say March 10 or 17). Plastic bottles, cardboard, paper etc. so collect would be sold to raddiwalahs. And the proceeds would go the rag-picker families we have identified at Padur. To-do list for OMR Greens: 1) Contact local municipal school for mobilsing student voluntters. 2) Shop for sponsors to pay for gloves and polythene garbage bags. 3) Connect with Hindustan University civil engineering faculty for drafting project report and cost estimates for barbed wire fencing on strategic segments around the lake; and for construction of public toilets, with piped water from the lake, for the benefit of those who now use lakeside bushes. The project report, prepared by the university faculty, would be taken up with relevant authorities.
The evening before formal opening of Nilgiri's at Padur.
Nilgiri's
have opened shop at Padur, but at the crowded market street on a narrow
stretch of OMR. A perfect prescription for peak-hour traffic jam on
OMR. Location of Nilgiri's at Padur main street has evoked mixed
reaction from neighbourhood residents
Apparently, residents at
Mantri Synergy welcome the development. Not many might know that
Nilgiri's was among the retail chains - Spenser's and Reliance were the
others - approached by PropCare for setting up shop at the clubhouse,
at a time when we were less than 50 families in the complex. But then no
retailer wanted to move in till we were at least 100 families.
Incidentally, Angaadi veg. vendor was at Mantri's before, an year-and-a-half back. Mr Raghavan of Angaadi online veg. mart set up shop on Sunday evenings, for a few weeks, as a stop-gap arrangement. This was the time span between failure of negotiations with Nilgiri's and Spenser's, and the setting up of Sarvamangala Stores in Oct.end, 2011.
It was said Nilgiri's, and other retail chains with brand image, wanted Mantri's to provide rent-free space for a year, and they also laid down other conditions for setting up shop in our complex. At some point of time there was talk of Nilgiri's taking up space in a building under construction at Hindustan University, where IOB has moved in
Small retailers and grocery stores in Padur market area feel threatened, business-wise, with the opening of Nilgiri's right in the middle of their neighbourhood. Political parties opposing FDI in retail, on the plea that allowing in foreign retail chains would kill domestic traders, seem not to realize that it is not Walmart, but Nilgiri's and other domestic retail chains that pose a more immediate threat to neighbourhood shops.
There is no way you can ignore this eyesore, a few minutes drive
from Kelambakkam on way to ECR/Kovalam beach. If you happen to miss
the sight, the stench would draw your attention to it. A steady stream
of people driving past, on a daily basis, do just that - drive past this
ever extending garbage dump.
A couple of residential blocks
are coming up, not far from this spot. The garbage dump is located
within a few minutes drive from the Kelambakkam main street. And yet no
one appears unduly bothered. The response of residents we met during
OMR Greens Kelambakkam Walk was one of helplessness
.Social activist Stalin, alleging that the main culprit is the panchayat body, says his representation signed by a group of residents and submitted to the area police chief and health inspector has evoked no response.
It was a poor show, if you went by the turnout. But then OMR Greens is no mass movement. And numbers don't change people's mindset, about how they view their environment. In OMR , emerging urban communities co-exist with panchayat townships. Both need a mindset change to be able to cope with growing problems relating to waste management, sewage disposal, conservation of drinking water sources, compensating for the loss of green cover, and for the carbon emission generated by cars, AC units, and freezers used by people living in high-rises. OMR Greens reach out to all sections - high-rise communities, old-time residents, panchayat bodies, neighbourhood institutions (Hindustan University) and neighbourhood corporates - to explore possibilities, experiment a cluster approach to waste-to-energy conversion, sewage disposal, tapping solar and wind energy, increasing the green cover. Padur Walk
was meant to create awareness, which, we found, isn't a one-way
street. A 'walk' with placards was to spread the word about the green
agenda. For OMR green members the walk provided an opportunity to get a
sense of their neighbourhood ground realities. Rajaram who moved to
Mantri's many months back said he didn't know there was so much more to
Padur than a stretch of shops on OMR.
A handful of us hanging out on a street corner with placards, as
Viswanath suggested, drew much attention of passers-by; and many of
them stopped by to interact with us. The presence of a young couple with
a child in arms, and bearing placards, evoked public interest.
How many three-year olds, or even young couple, for that matter,
would want to spend their Sunday morning in community work ? I thought
God stopped making such people in Kaliyug . I was wrong.
At
OMR Greens we had this young couple with their 3-year old Sumshita
taking part on the Padur Walk. Rajesh Kanna and wife Mohana Priya, with
baby daughter in arms, had biked their way from Perumbakkam to join us
at Padur.
When our new-found friend Suresh Kumar from Kelambakkam had mentioned that some of his friends wanted to bring their wife and children along for the Walk, I thought he was putting me on. The appearance of the Kannas for our Walk, all the way from their place beyond Sholinganallur, wasn't the only surprise Suresh Kumar had for us.
Producing placards for our events has been an issue for OMR Greens. An Awarness walk without placards is like soda without scotch. and Suresh Kumar came to our rescue. He showed up with a shopping bag full of cardboard placards.
As it turned out, we had more placards than walkers. The first-time participants at an OMR Greens event outnumbered the regulars this time. We made up a double-digit number - four car loads, to be precise - for our field trip to the waste-to-energy conversion plant at Mamallapuram,
Notable among the Kelambakkam participants, for our Padur Walk were Stalin, and Sudhanshu Shekar who turned up for the walk with his father and elder brother, who is on the staff of Hindustan University. The Shekars, native of Patna, have made Kelambakkam.their home. The family runs a paper products unit that makes paper bags, plates and cups.
A highlight of the walk came at the end when we had a brief, but meaningful, interaction on OMR Greens agenda with Padur panchayat president, Mr M Chinnakutty, at his residence.
I have heard Padur residents get water supplied from a lake in their backyard.
Truckloads of water Mantri Synergy residents used to get before
borewells were activated was, presumably, sourced from this lake.
Beneficiaries would find a visit to the lake educative. For me, a
lakeside walk early this morning was thought-provoking.
Tell-tale movement of persons, close to the lake suggest the following::
1)
There is a crying need for a row of public toilets, watered from
the lake, for the benefit of those now using lakeside bushes for the
purpose.
2) The water body needs to be fenced off , to make it inaccessible to public.
3)
The muddy pathway that runs along the lake is so littered with snails
that we could do with a signpost, saying, 'Snails Crossing: Tread/Drive
Carefully'.
They are seen in scores moving about on the muddy road, in early mornings. Snails dislike sunlight. When it comes to pace the fastest of snails, they say, move 50 yards per hour.
The need for fencing off the lake can't be overstated. State govt. water supply undertaking has a pumping station that was put up five years back under a community drinking water supply scheme funded by the Asian Development Bank. Lake-fencing, and provision of public toilets, which might not have been necessary factors when the drinking water scheme was launched, in 2008, now assume a critical dimension.
Suggestion: Engineering students/faculty in neighbourhood institutions such as Hindustan University and Mohd. Sathak Engineering College can take up Padur lake improvement as a class project. The project report they come up with can become a campaign theme for OMR Greens for mobilizing public support for implementation of the lake conservation scheme.
Was pleasantly surprised to see this newspaper ad. announcing a TED event in my OMR neighbourhood. In fact,it is being organised at Hindustan University, located next door to our apartments complex at Padur. So close, and yet beyond my reach, tariff-wise - as all TED events usually are. But then we would have access to the TED talks when they are uploaded on the Net eventually. If you are registered with TED website, you get e-mail notification whenever they upload a set of TED talks. Speakers listed for Hindustan University TED event include corporate seniors, creative artistes, choreographer, cameraman, dancer, disaster management expert, human resettlement specialist, and art director and set designer Thota Tharani who has worked in over 100 movies , including Nayagan, Sivaji and Dasavathaaram.
They would address a select audience in an auditorium with limited seating. The day-long programme, Sat.Feb.16, starts at 9 a m, and seating is on the first-come, first-served basis. A TED speech usually lasts 18 minutes, and though there are shorter TED talks, of 6 to 8 min. duration.
Invitees are categorized as students, academics and corporates, presumably, with varying registration fee. E-mail tedx@hindustanuniv.ac.in , or call Venu Menon -8056047466; Ravi Kiran - 9994286098.
