I don't know about others, but when I heard about Mantri apartment owners meeting scheduled for December 25, my thought was,'why, on festival day; would people come on Christmas?'. Organizers say that New year, Pongal also fall on Sundays. And if we miss this Sunday, the meeting for forming Mantri Synergy association would have to be postponed for another month.
Now that we have decided to the meet on Christmas Day, why not make the best of it. we could think of making it a Mantri family gathering. While registered apartment owners hold their business session, women, children, and non-owner residents with children can come together to make this Christmas a social occasion.
1)Mr Sivaram of PropCare could be requested to arrange for a Christmas tree to be set up in the Clubhouse - on swimming pool lawns (weather permitting), in the first floor lobby (if the business meeting is on ground-floor party hall); or at the billiards hall, or even in the creche.
2) Mantri residents,who would otherwise buy festival gifts/toys for their children, can be persuaded to leave the presents they buy at PropCare office a day in advance, so that we can gift-wrap and keep them at the clubhouse Crhistmas tree. A Santa would appear on Sunday to hand over gifts to Mantri children (we could hire a Santa,if no Mantri resident volunteers).
Other option for gifts is we can all contribute to buy in bulk three or four items (crayons, drawing books, fancy pencil box or any other suitable gift item) to be gift-wrapped and handed out to all children.
3) A picnic lunch, after Mantri's business meeting, can be arranged, with food items brought by women for a pot lunch. Mr Sampath Iyengar (Mr Sriraj's father) says at an apartment complex he visited in Bangalore, community pot-lunch is a monthly feature among residents.
Incidentally, his wife makes excellent Mysore rasam; and daughter-in-law, nice pulao. A pot-lunch would help us discover cookery talents in our midst. If each family brings whatever they make for Sunday meal at home, we can make a community pot-lunch at 'Senior Citizens' area.
4) It is the area where we plan to have a tree planted that day by Mrs Nambiar. The Nambiars are Mantri's 'first couple' (they moved in here in February last)
If the suggestion is acceptable, we would need volunteers to work on the nitty-gritty - ordering Chritmas tree, gift-wrapping presents, getting feedback on the lunch each family would like to bring. There may those willing to contribute to the pot lunch by ordering - pulao, dal-roti, pizza - in limited quantities they would order for their family.
For those who feel we don't have much time to plan, I would want them to consider that if we have adequate number of residents willing to make a social gathering out of the necessity of having to hold a business meeting; and if we could mobilize a core group of volunteers, we can make it happen.
The experience we gain on Christmas would help us make Pongal, Diwali, Baishaki, Holi or other festivals occasions for Mantri family community events.
