Couple of days back, we were faced with another issue (I talked about one in my previous post) about the Palm Court administration. The house-keeping staff came up to the President, and asked for a hike in their salaries. Their arguments were that a significant part of what they get here is spent on the transportation, which leaves too little for them to manage the house-hold.
Although we don't really have to take any of that in face-value, there are a few points to consider here. Presently, our house-keeping staff (we've two of them at Palm Court, today) are paid Rs.1200/- each. This was the salary agreed upon, when the existing staff joined us about 3 months before (There had been change of the staff at least 3 times in the past one year, due to various reasons). However, there had been no change in the remuneration during the past one year. So, while the argument makes perfect sense from their stand-point, it means to us too much of overhead in terms of meeting up at the executive committee level, making quick decisions and coming up with alternatives.
I guess the executive committee will work on these aspects and come up to a decision. Meanwhile, going back to the issue that I talked about yesterday, non-availability of a plumber-on-call at Palm Court (as I mentioned in my previous post) had been a 'burning' issue for the past several months. Every time we face a crisis, Raju runs frantically around, and catches hold of somebody. This has almost always worked for us in the past, but there is no guarantee that it will, in the future. What if, Raju had gone for a vacation and nobody else has a clue about how to approach the issue? What if, Raju couldn't get hold of anybody within a reasonable time period? What if, the plumbers went for a strike in Bangalore (though very rare, it's nevertheless a possibility)? What if, the plumber demands a huge sum to fix the issue?
Now looking into these two issues closely, it perhaps gives us sufficient hints that the current model we've adopted for the general upkeep of Palm Court isn't working well. If you remember, during the term of the first association, we'd employed an external agency to handle all these for us. 'Rapid Force' used to manage all the work related to plumbing, electrical, house-keeping & security on behalf of the association. We used to pay the agency a lump-sum amount at the start of every month, who in-turn managed all the various tasks. We never had to worry about such demands as a salary-raise, or even some of the staff absenting themselves on certain days. It probably makes best sense to go back to the same model, even if it means a bit more financial liability.
What do everybody think? Expecting to see your comments...
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
Most urgent: Plumber required at Palm Court, Jakkur!
Today, I was drafting a job requirement for my team, in the office. It just occurred to me that we@Palm Court also have a long-pending requirement, that we struggled with for the past several months, tried out different options, but unfortunately has been a never-ending (sad) story. If we create a job req. for this purpose, it'll look something like this...
We're proud to introduce ourselves as one of the best apartment buildings in Bangalore.
If you are a plumber, and has relevant experience on the job, what are you waiting for? Apply with us immediately! Send your resumes either to PalmCourtResAssoc@yahoogroups.com or approach one of the association office-bearers. If you're sending a mail, please mention the job code in the subject of the mail.
Job Code:
PC-PLB07
Job description:
Required Skills:
Remuneration:
Rs.1000/- (negotiable) for the regular visits (4 per month), excluding any other on-call visits and/or spare-parts.
We'd been waiting for an applicant to the above job, for the past several weeks. Given that Raju is unable to bring in anybody for the job, the job is being transformed into a HOT job category. It means that whoever can bring in a plumber that suits our requirements, will be suitably rewarded!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Authorized signatory
(Palm Court Apartment Owners Association)
We're proud to introduce ourselves as one of the best apartment buildings in Bangalore.
If you are a plumber, and has relevant experience on the job, what are you waiting for? Apply with us immediately! Send your resumes either to PalmCourtResAssoc@yahoogroups.com or approach one of the association office-bearers. If you're sending a mail, please mention the job code in the subject of the mail.
Job Code:
PC-PLB07
Job description:
- Responsible for all kind of plumbing works at Palm Court, Jakkur.
- Specific work includes, ensuring the sump motor in working condition, attend to any minor/major plumbing work within apartments or in the common area.
- Must pay 4 visits per month to the apartment and attend to all pending problems for the week.
- Should be available on-call.
- Able to rope in more experienced hands, in cases of emergencies or in an advisory role for specialized jobs.
Required Skills:
- 1-2 yrs Experience in Plumbing.
- Preferred Diploma Holder in Plumbing.
Remuneration:
Rs.1000/- (negotiable) for the regular visits (4 per month), excluding any other on-call visits and/or spare-parts.
We'd been waiting for an applicant to the above job, for the past several weeks. Given that Raju is unable to bring in anybody for the job, the job is being transformed into a HOT job category. It means that whoever can bring in a plumber that suits our requirements, will be suitably rewarded!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Authorized signatory
(Palm Court Apartment Owners Association)
Friday, December 7, 2007
Setting the right expectations
Setting the right expectations is a challenge everywhere, at your workplace, at your home, and even in a social environment like in our own apartment association. Still, it is one of the most ignored things. And, people (at the helm of things) invariably suffer from complaints, constant cribbing from others, all due to a bad job done on the expectation management in the first place. The matters could take even worse turns, from bringing about faction based fights to defacing each other. Here I attempt to enlist all that you can reasonably expect from an association like Palm Court's.
I hope, by this time, every resident at Palm Court is aware that we've an association led by a governing body (consisting of President, Secretary and Treasurer) that is elected out of Palm Court apartment owners. Governing body has a term of typically one year - though there had been discussions around it many times in the past, when some of our members favored as much as a couple of years and some, as less as 3 months. But, the consensus remains as one whole year. Once the term is over of the governing body, another one (none of which had been part of the previous body) is elected, by calling for a general body meeting and each member voting for one of the nominees. Alternatively, a resolution can be raised to the effect of electing a pre-identified group of people to be the new office-bearers, by any of participants in the meeting and get it seconded.
The ground rule about the election is that no two office-bearers should be from the same apartment. Governing body is imposed with certain responsibilities as well as authority to run the association. Specifically, they will have the power to take some of the financial decisions on their own, drive the executive meetings (that are typically held once every month) and responsibility to take care of the accounts and cater to all requirements imposed by the state legislation on all apartment associations in the state. Typically, the model we follow at Palm Court, is to elect an executive committee (that comprises of 6 people - 4 floor members + 2 lady members) immediately afterwards, who will meet regularly to take key decisions to the welfare of all residents/non-resident owners of the apartment. Broadly speaking, the association is guided by the bye-laws (similar to constitution) written up when the first association took charge from the builder.
To help the office-bearers run the association effectively and efficiently, it has hired a few outside hands - including 2 security guards-primarily to man the gates (from Brave security), 2 house-keeping personnel to keep the premises clean, 1 general helper/gardener (Madhav Reddy) and one supervisor (Raju) who will ensure all operations are run smoothly on a daily basis. Responsibilities of each of these people are well defined and communicated to them, when they joined us. Our (including all members of the association) interface with each of these functions will be through the building supervisor. Note that none of office-bearers are meant to follow-up on the day-to-day operations at Palm Court and hence rest of us are expected to directly contact the building supervisor, in case of concerns/issues (whether urgent or not) as far as possible. In addition to the above permanent personnel, we also have a visiting electrician and a plumber, who visits Palm Court once every week (talk to Raju to know about the timing of their visit). All services (reasonable) will be free of cost to the members for the problems attended during their regular visits, except anything that involves spare parts.
Another issue that has been discussed time and again in all forums is about who pays up for the services, that are used outside of these regular visits and/or if it involve any spare parts. Though there are different opinions on this, the logical best solution is that the respective apartment owner pays up, if the issue originated from one of the apartments. If the issue is in the common area, the association will pay up the excess money. However, if an agreement can be reached among all parties involved on it, the burden can be shared among all/some of them as well. Typically, association wouldn't want involve itself on any issues that occur within the apartments, unless it disturbs the peaceful co-existence of all of us.
So far, so good. If everything that ever happened in this world strictly follows the written rules and regulations, then there wouldn't be humans around. We will all perish and be replaced with robots! What I mean here is that there can be a variations on a case-by-case basis, depending on the urgency of the situation, effect of not having a quick solution including the extent of damage the lack of one may cause and of course, welfare of its members. Nothing can and will ever be written on stone, and followed with a strict military discipline.
Of course, if there are grave mistakes, it must be attended to immediately. All office-bearers are responsible for it. But, it doesn't give the right (or rather not expected) to any member of the association to keep pounding on the same issue and/or disturb the association's initiatives. Instead, every one of those are encouraged to help in some reasonable way to find better and quicker solutions, and make our environment the best to live in and enjoy while doing that. It is very important for the rest of us to realize that most of the association bearers belong to the working lot, who have responsibilities/priorities in many other aspects in life, other than the association itself. Over the past several years, there has only been an increased reluctance from the community to assume the responsibility of being part of a governing/exective body, every time we came up to an point where a new committee need to be elected. Given these facts, it is expected that everybody else be highly self-motivated to build a common beneficial environment, and specifically not bad-mouth their concerns, but turn it over instead. Please remember this always - Nobody, whether he is part of the governing or executive body (or for that matter, even a member of the association) doesn't work for anybody else. All of us work for each other's benefit...
I hope, by this time, every resident at Palm Court is aware that we've an association led by a governing body (consisting of President, Secretary and Treasurer) that is elected out of Palm Court apartment owners. Governing body has a term of typically one year - though there had been discussions around it many times in the past, when some of our members favored as much as a couple of years and some, as less as 3 months. But, the consensus remains as one whole year. Once the term is over of the governing body, another one (none of which had been part of the previous body) is elected, by calling for a general body meeting and each member voting for one of the nominees. Alternatively, a resolution can be raised to the effect of electing a pre-identified group of people to be the new office-bearers, by any of participants in the meeting and get it seconded.
The ground rule about the election is that no two office-bearers should be from the same apartment. Governing body is imposed with certain responsibilities as well as authority to run the association. Specifically, they will have the power to take some of the financial decisions on their own, drive the executive meetings (that are typically held once every month) and responsibility to take care of the accounts and cater to all requirements imposed by the state legislation on all apartment associations in the state. Typically, the model we follow at Palm Court, is to elect an executive committee (that comprises of 6 people - 4 floor members + 2 lady members) immediately afterwards, who will meet regularly to take key decisions to the welfare of all residents/non-resident owners of the apartment. Broadly speaking, the association is guided by the bye-laws (similar to constitution) written up when the first association took charge from the builder.
To help the office-bearers run the association effectively and efficiently, it has hired a few outside hands - including 2 security guards-primarily to man the gates (from Brave security), 2 house-keeping personnel to keep the premises clean, 1 general helper/gardener (Madhav Reddy) and one supervisor (Raju) who will ensure all operations are run smoothly on a daily basis. Responsibilities of each of these people are well defined and communicated to them, when they joined us. Our (including all members of the association) interface with each of these functions will be through the building supervisor. Note that none of office-bearers are meant to follow-up on the day-to-day operations at Palm Court and hence rest of us are expected to directly contact the building supervisor, in case of concerns/issues (whether urgent or not) as far as possible. In addition to the above permanent personnel, we also have a visiting electrician and a plumber, who visits Palm Court once every week (talk to Raju to know about the timing of their visit). All services (reasonable) will be free of cost to the members for the problems attended during their regular visits, except anything that involves spare parts.
Another issue that has been discussed time and again in all forums is about who pays up for the services, that are used outside of these regular visits and/or if it involve any spare parts. Though there are different opinions on this, the logical best solution is that the respective apartment owner pays up, if the issue originated from one of the apartments. If the issue is in the common area, the association will pay up the excess money. However, if an agreement can be reached among all parties involved on it, the burden can be shared among all/some of them as well. Typically, association wouldn't want involve itself on any issues that occur within the apartments, unless it disturbs the peaceful co-existence of all of us.
So far, so good. If everything that ever happened in this world strictly follows the written rules and regulations, then there wouldn't be humans around. We will all perish and be replaced with robots! What I mean here is that there can be a variations on a case-by-case basis, depending on the urgency of the situation, effect of not having a quick solution including the extent of damage the lack of one may cause and of course, welfare of its members. Nothing can and will ever be written on stone, and followed with a strict military discipline.
Of course, if there are grave mistakes, it must be attended to immediately. All office-bearers are responsible for it. But, it doesn't give the right (or rather not expected) to any member of the association to keep pounding on the same issue and/or disturb the association's initiatives. Instead, every one of those are encouraged to help in some reasonable way to find better and quicker solutions, and make our environment the best to live in and enjoy while doing that. It is very important for the rest of us to realize that most of the association bearers belong to the working lot, who have responsibilities/priorities in many other aspects in life, other than the association itself. Over the past several years, there has only been an increased reluctance from the community to assume the responsibility of being part of a governing/exective body, every time we came up to an point where a new committee need to be elected. Given these facts, it is expected that everybody else be highly self-motivated to build a common beneficial environment, and specifically not bad-mouth their concerns, but turn it over instead. Please remember this always - Nobody, whether he is part of the governing or executive body (or for that matter, even a member of the association) doesn't work for anybody else. All of us work for each other's benefit...
Friday, November 30, 2007
New executive committee and portfolio holders
At the time of general body, the responsibilities for none of the members were defined. However, based on the subsequent executive committee meeting discussions (called by the new president of the association, Mrs.Sitalakshmi), here are the portfolio holders from the new committee:
Mrs.Shalini Rajendran (101, Palm Court) agreed to take care of the security related matters.
Mr.Vasant Kaddad (206, Palm Court) gracefully agreed to the new committee to take care of the routine plumbing related decisions and/or actions.
All electrical related stuff will be dealt by Mr.Prakash (G5, Palm Court).
For all house-keeping related discussions, contact Mrs.Savitha Hebbar (105, Palm Court) or Mrs.Sitalakshmi N.S (G-7, Palm Court)
For all financials, contact Mr.Anirban Choudhury (305, Palm Court).
Mr.Varun (201, Palm Court), Mr.Shamiq Hussain (307, Palm Court) and Mrs.Mayadevi Devadas (107, Palm Court) were not available for the last executive committee meeting and hence, their portfolios are still not finalized.
NOTE: This information being passed on here are unofficial and decided only at the executive committee level.
By the way, please note all daily supervision on all these portfolios will be managed by the building supervisor, Mr.Raju. Contact him at 9845169329 in case of emergencies.
Mrs.Shalini Rajendran (101, Palm Court) agreed to take care of the security related matters.
Mr.Vasant Kaddad (206, Palm Court) gracefully agreed to the new committee to take care of the routine plumbing related decisions and/or actions.
All electrical related stuff will be dealt by Mr.Prakash (G5, Palm Court).
For all house-keeping related discussions, contact Mrs.Savitha Hebbar (105, Palm Court) or Mrs.Sitalakshmi N.S (G-7, Palm Court)
For all financials, contact Mr.Anirban Choudhury (305, Palm Court).
Mr.Varun (201, Palm Court), Mr.Shamiq Hussain (307, Palm Court) and Mrs.Mayadevi Devadas (107, Palm Court) were not available for the last executive committee meeting and hence, their portfolios are still not finalized.
NOTE: This information being passed on here are unofficial and decided only at the executive committee level.
By the way, please note all daily supervision on all these portfolios will be managed by the building supervisor, Mr.Raju. Contact him at 9845169329 in case of emergencies.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Let peace prevail!
Two days back, our pumping system gave up. The motor stopped working around 2 days back, which Raju got repaired by a plumber, spending nearly Rs.1300/-. But, that wasn't all. Yesterday, we'd another issue with the foot-valve in the sump motor. It'd its share of workload during the last one year or so and decided to strike work. Water couldn't be pumped up to the tank in the terrace during the morning yesterday. Due to this, many of you would've experienced a hissing noise from the taps in your bathrooms/kitchen, without any liquid flow...
Those of you who'd been around during the last few years, will know that this is not a new occurance at Palm Court. The same issue revisits us around the same time every year, like an anniversary! Last time, we'd exactly the same issue grappling us into one full day of anxiety. I remember well the day last year, when the foot-valve stopped working early morning on a holiday, which was followed by several people crowding around the sump in the basement to fill in their buckets of water. It was a small get-together and I should appreciate our aging motor for giving us that opportunity, at the least! I should appreciate its sensibility for one more thing. Every time it failed or something wrong happened with the pumping system, it'd only been on holidays.
Enough of comedy talks. Let's discuss some serious stuff. Raju told us that our motor is a very old model and it's difficult to get its spare-parts. If it goes on like this, how long will our old-aged motor support us like this? Shouldn't we have another one that we keep for emergencies or maybe switch the usage between the two motors during alternate days. The pump cost, we enquired with the plumber who repaired the foot-valve, will come to around Rs.8000/-. Agreed, we don't have lots of money in the bank account right now, but I think we've enough to spend on here. I believe, a decision on this should be taken in the next executive committee meeting. One more issue to discuss is about getting a permanent plumber-on-call at Palm Court. We'd one guy during most of this year, but of late he is absenting himself frequently. So, we must have another guy urgently, because this is one area - as everybody will agree - that everyone needs for a peaceful living.
Those of you who'd been around during the last few years, will know that this is not a new occurance at Palm Court. The same issue revisits us around the same time every year, like an anniversary! Last time, we'd exactly the same issue grappling us into one full day of anxiety. I remember well the day last year, when the foot-valve stopped working early morning on a holiday, which was followed by several people crowding around the sump in the basement to fill in their buckets of water. It was a small get-together and I should appreciate our aging motor for giving us that opportunity, at the least! I should appreciate its sensibility for one more thing. Every time it failed or something wrong happened with the pumping system, it'd only been on holidays.
Enough of comedy talks. Let's discuss some serious stuff. Raju told us that our motor is a very old model and it's difficult to get its spare-parts. If it goes on like this, how long will our old-aged motor support us like this? Shouldn't we have another one that we keep for emergencies or maybe switch the usage between the two motors during alternate days. The pump cost, we enquired with the plumber who repaired the foot-valve, will come to around Rs.8000/-. Agreed, we don't have lots of money in the bank account right now, but I think we've enough to spend on here. I believe, a decision on this should be taken in the next executive committee meeting. One more issue to discuss is about getting a permanent plumber-on-call at Palm Court. We'd one guy during most of this year, but of late he is absenting himself frequently. So, we must have another guy urgently, because this is one area - as everybody will agree - that everyone needs for a peaceful living.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
About Cauvery connection
Yesterday, Mr.Shankar (authorized contractor of BWSSB) from Judicial Layout visited Palm Court, after the association invited him to help us put in our application for Cauvery water connection. He explained to us all the steps involved in getting the connection. Here is the summary of our discussions with him.
. We need to get an endorsement from the Bytarayanapura CMC, confirming that the payment that we made to them (user contribution) has been remitted to the BWSSB. Mr.Shankar would help us in this regard.
. We need to submit the following documents to BWSSB - 3 copies of the BBMP approved building plan, last year's property tax receipts from all Palm Court residents.
. Along with the above, we need to submit our application for the connection through an authorized contractor. Mr.Shankar would help us here too.
Now, here is the tricky part - the money matters. We must pay up approximately Rs.6 lacs to realize the connection, out of which 10% needs to be paid in advance for the application form to be put in. For those of you who're interested, here is the split-up of the amount:
Billable (BWSSB receipts can be obtained for this amount)
Pro-rate charges - Rs.80/- per sq.meter of built up area (~Rs.440000/-)
Site Inspection charges - Rs.10000/-
Meter charges - Rs.50000/-
Non-billable amount (20% of above)
Rs.100000/-
Now, this is what is going on at the moment...
On 21st November, the association circulated a detailed write-up on this among the legacy committee members. Unfortunately, most of them were not available for taking an immediate decision. The earliest they can meet up is the 1st of December. So, the association has decided to wait till the committee meets, and then call for a general body to discuss the matter in detail and the going-ahead plans.
. We need to get an endorsement from the Bytarayanapura CMC, confirming that the payment that we made to them (user contribution) has been remitted to the BWSSB. Mr.Shankar would help us in this regard.
. We need to submit the following documents to BWSSB - 3 copies of the BBMP approved building plan, last year's property tax receipts from all Palm Court residents.
. Along with the above, we need to submit our application for the connection through an authorized contractor. Mr.Shankar would help us here too.
Now, here is the tricky part - the money matters. We must pay up approximately Rs.6 lacs to realize the connection, out of which 10% needs to be paid in advance for the application form to be put in. For those of you who're interested, here is the split-up of the amount:
Billable (BWSSB receipts can be obtained for this amount)
Pro-rate charges - Rs.80/- per sq.meter of built up area (~Rs.440000/-)
Site Inspection charges - Rs.10000/-
Meter charges - Rs.50000/-
Non-billable amount (20% of above)
Rs.100000/-
Now, this is what is going on at the moment...
On 21st November, the association circulated a detailed write-up on this among the legacy committee members. Unfortunately, most of them were not available for taking an immediate decision. The earliest they can meet up is the 1st of December. So, the association has decided to wait till the committee meets, and then call for a general body to discuss the matter in detail and the going-ahead plans.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Something about blogs and what is in it for us?
Blogging has been around since 1999. But, not many people are used to it, especially in India. As you would've expected, people closer to the IT and who regularly use computers are on the top of most such new technologies, most of the time. But, not the same with commoners. So for everybody's benefit, let me introduce you the blogs and its concept. No, no, I'm not going to give this lecture myself. In fact, many others have already done it, so why do it again? So, go ahead and get educated from here or from here (if you're really want to catch up with the history of it or already is an advanced user!). I also have written about blogs, when I initially started writing on my own blog; if you're interested, checkout the posts (5 parts in all) titled "Welcome to the wonderful world of blogs" here.
Irrespective of whether you read the above sites or not, I wanted to introduce you to the two very interesting features in most blogs today. Typically, all the posts in a blog are authored by a single individual. Anything becomes monotonous, when a single individual is controlling it and everybody else is audience. This is true especially of blogs. So, nowadays blogs encourage more collaboration among multiple people as in co-authoring, initiating/holding discussions, brain-storming and so on. In fact, many small teams (both personal and professional bodies) are using the blogs successfully to build up their communication infrastructure today. So, why not us? Read on...
Q.Did you know you can leave comments for the posts I add to our blog?
A.Go to the bottom of the post you want to comment on, click on the link 'Comments', type in your comment and a word verification (if you aren't already logged into the google accounts). You'll also be required to identify yourself as either a google account holder/blogger, or one who wishes to reveal some personal details, or one who prefers to remain anonymous. That's it! Your comment will be sent to me as a private email; once it is processed by me, it will get displayed in the site. This is a very important feature of the blog, because people can participate and express their opinions about what I'd to tell. But, here you can't start writing something completely detached from the original post. If you want to do that, the next feature is for you.
Q.Did you know that you can write-up your own posts to our blog?
A.This is another great feature of the blog, where it allows other interested people to post their own articles, ideas or thoughts. Currently, I'm the sole author of this blog. But, if any of you want to join me in sharing their experience or viewpoints, please send in a note to me. I would definitely like to partner with you in authoring this blog!
Irrespective of whether you read the above sites or not, I wanted to introduce you to the two very interesting features in most blogs today. Typically, all the posts in a blog are authored by a single individual. Anything becomes monotonous, when a single individual is controlling it and everybody else is audience. This is true especially of blogs. So, nowadays blogs encourage more collaboration among multiple people as in co-authoring, initiating/holding discussions, brain-storming and so on. In fact, many small teams (both personal and professional bodies) are using the blogs successfully to build up their communication infrastructure today. So, why not us? Read on...
Q.Did you know you can leave comments for the posts I add to our blog?
A.Go to the bottom of the post you want to comment on, click on the link 'Comments', type in your comment and a word verification (if you aren't already logged into the google accounts). You'll also be required to identify yourself as either a google account holder/blogger, or one who wishes to reveal some personal details, or one who prefers to remain anonymous. That's it! Your comment will be sent to me as a private email; once it is processed by me, it will get displayed in the site. This is a very important feature of the blog, because people can participate and express their opinions about what I'd to tell. But, here you can't start writing something completely detached from the original post. If you want to do that, the next feature is for you.
Q.Did you know that you can write-up your own posts to our blog?
A.This is another great feature of the blog, where it allows other interested people to post their own articles, ideas or thoughts. Currently, I'm the sole author of this blog. But, if any of you want to join me in sharing their experience or viewpoints, please send in a note to me. I would definitely like to partner with you in authoring this blog!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Happy Childrens' day!
I wanted to post this yesterday, but got pre-occupied with some other work. As you may know, yesterday was Childrens' day - November 14th is the birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of our nation. He used to love children a lot. So, after he assumed office in the year 1959, we celebrate Nov.14th as children's day in India.
While you celebrate the day actively at your schools and homes, here are some thoughts for the day...
On this day, most schools all over India celebrate the event. I said most, since I'm not sure about the government run schools or certain others like poor homes and juvenile homes. They hardly get their daily needs fulfilled, so where from they will derive the energy to celebrate these special occasions? I'm sure most of them wouldn't have heard about childrens' day at all - a day, ironically, completely dedicated to them. We aren't even talking about those children who doesn't even get a fair chance to go to a school - what about them? I don't know...
Did you know?
While 20th November is universally celebrated as Childrens' day, in India this day falls on the Nov.14th! There are some other nations of the world, that too celebrate it on a different day than 20th November.
While you celebrate the day actively at your schools and homes, here are some thoughts for the day...
On this day, most schools all over India celebrate the event. I said most, since I'm not sure about the government run schools or certain others like poor homes and juvenile homes. They hardly get their daily needs fulfilled, so where from they will derive the energy to celebrate these special occasions? I'm sure most of them wouldn't have heard about childrens' day at all - a day, ironically, completely dedicated to them. We aren't even talking about those children who doesn't even get a fair chance to go to a school - what about them? I don't know...
Did you know?
While 20th November is universally celebrated as Childrens' day, in India this day falls on the Nov.14th! There are some other nations of the world, that too celebrate it on a different day than 20th November.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
and the winners are...
Here are the results of the various competitions held during Diwali, this year. Each of the winners will get a star added against the respective apartment number, if they're from Palm Court and against their name, otherwise. The points chart is displayed in the ground floor open space. The chart will continue to be used till the Diwali '08. Whoever gets the most points at that time from each of the following categories, will be suitably rewarded!
Sub-juniors [Aravind,Param , Ghana
Sub-juniors [Aravind,
Banana Race – Aravind (G7) [27.7 seconds]
Lemon Race – Param (G1) [27.3 seconds]
Memory Game – Aravind (G7) [6/12 items], Tanay (Daffodils) [6/12 items]
Memory Game – Siddharth (105) [11/16 items]
Sub-juniors & Juniors
Slow Cycling – Param (G1) [37 seconds]
Musical chair – Sitanshu (Daffodils)
Polo Race – Siddharth (105) + Sanju (G5) (14.1 seconds)
Seniors [Palm Court and Daffodils]
Mine game – Ms.Priyanka (Daffodils)
Donkey’s tail – Mr.Bopanna (301), Ms.Priyanka (Daffodils)
Polo Race – Mrs.Shalini (101) and Mrs.Seema (G4), Mrs.Savitha (105) and Mrs.Latha (301)
Musical chair – Mrs.Reji (304)
Monday, November 12, 2007
Hip Hip, Hurray!!!
We continued the Diwali celebrations during the weekend, with unseen vigour and enthusiasm from all those involved. On Saturday, we held a drawing session for the kids (about 15 in all). Participation from the kids was near to 100%. Every one of them were present at least 10 minutes before the event, making noise and running around playing, creating the right ambience for the session. Not only did the children drew and painted brilliantly, but also marketed their presentations well. They went to all apartments and invited everybody to come and see their paintings! Because of the renewed tactics, some people came down and appreciated the creativity of our kids! Bravo, children!
Same day evening, we held many games for the kids. All games were held at the basement, while the drawing session was in the ground floor open space . There was 'just about' good participation in the event, although it wasn't quite satisfactory. Many people preferred to stay indoors, when their own children enthusiastically joined in all the games. We noticed that some of them, perhaps unable to withstand the noise coming from outside, peeked out of their balconies! All the children, irrespective of their winning the game or not, were presented with small souvenirs. I must tell, you kids rock! Keep up the spirit, all of you!!!
All our complaints about the meekly numbers in which people turned up during the previous days, was more than compensated by our Sunday program. Although, the morning 'Sudoku' introduction and challenge wasn't much different in terms of attendance, the enthusiasm really caught up during the evening and was at its peak at about 6 pm on Sunday. With the lip-smacking food stalls being our star-attraction yesterday, there was no stopping of people's eagerness to join the events. Several times, we felt we should just shove off the games, and have only the food joints. Anyhow, it was almost that! The spirits were just flying high everywhere, or so I felt! I believe, Palm Court has never ever seen this kind of togetherness before, even when we had the dinner get-togethers a few times in the past. All of this happened only because of the support and participation from all of you Palm-Court'ees and those of you who joined us from the Daffodils. Hats-off to Mrs.Shiny & family (from Daffodils) for maintaining their enviably high spirits, all through out. The dosa-stall idea was simply superb and an instant hit! Here is the list of stalls we put up yesterday and their owners:
Dosa: Mrs.Shiny (Daffodils), Mrs.Maya Devadas (107), Mrs.Priya Prakash (G5)
Pani Puri: Mrs.Seema Vinod (G4), Mrs.Shalini Rajendran (101)
Tea stall: Master.Siddharth (105)
Game (dart) stall: Master.Sitanshu (Daffodils)
Payasam: Mrs.Reji Krishnachandran (304)
Pakora: Mr& Mrs.Agarwal and Master.Sushmit (103)
Junk Food & Juice stall: Master.Aravind (G-7)
Thank you all of you for making it such a wonderful event! But, I can't end it here without thanking the seemingly unstoppable, ever-flowing enthusiasm of our new association bearers - Mrs.Sitalakshmi Anand (President) and Mrs.Savitha Hebbar (Secretary)! Now, the next in line to thank is all our guests from the Daffodils for your coming, joining and cheering for the winners! Last, but not least, I wish to thank all our tenants whose participation in all events were amazing, especially the Sunday morning session when, in fact, none other than the tenants came in!
In totality, it was such a huge success that I will be enamored with it for quite sometime to come. I'm sure you all are looking forward to holding similar events in the future. Me too!!
PS: I've posted some photos here of our events. Here are some more taken by Anirban (305, Palm Court) and Umesh (105, Palm Court). If anybody else have have any more photos, please share with me - I can post of all them to the same location.
Same day evening, we held many games for the kids. All games were held at the basement, while the drawing session was in the ground floor open space . There was 'just about' good participation in the event, although it wasn't quite satisfactory. Many people preferred to stay indoors, when their own children enthusiastically joined in all the games. We noticed that some of them, perhaps unable to withstand the noise coming from outside, peeked out of their balconies! All the children, irrespective of their winning the game or not, were presented with small souvenirs. I must tell, you kids rock! Keep up the spirit, all of you!!!
All our complaints about the meekly numbers in which people turned up during the previous days, was more than compensated by our Sunday program. Although, the morning 'Sudoku' introduction and challenge wasn't much different in terms of attendance, the enthusiasm really caught up during the evening and was at its peak at about 6 pm on Sunday. With the lip-smacking food stalls being our star-attraction yesterday, there was no stopping of people's eagerness to join the events. Several times, we felt we should just shove off the games, and have only the food joints. Anyhow, it was almost that! The spirits were just flying high everywhere, or so I felt! I believe, Palm Court has never ever seen this kind of togetherness before, even when we had the dinner get-togethers a few times in the past. All of this happened only because of the support and participation from all of you Palm-Court'ees and those of you who joined us from the Daffodils. Hats-off to Mrs.Shiny & family (from Daffodils) for maintaining their enviably high spirits, all through out. The dosa-stall idea was simply superb and an instant hit! Here is the list of stalls we put up yesterday and their owners:
Dosa: Mrs.Shiny (Daffodils), Mrs.Maya Devadas (107), Mrs.Priya Prakash (G5)
Pani Puri: Mrs.Seema Vinod (G4), Mrs.Shalini Rajendran (101)
Tea stall: Master.Siddharth (105)
Game (dart) stall: Master.Sitanshu (Daffodils)
Payasam: Mrs.Reji Krishnachandran (304)
Pakora: Mr& Mrs.Agarwal and Master.Sushmit (103)
Junk Food & Juice stall: Master.Aravind (G-7)
Thank you all of you for making it such a wonderful event! But, I can't end it here without thanking the seemingly unstoppable, ever-flowing enthusiasm of our new association bearers - Mrs.Sitalakshmi Anand (President) and Mrs.Savitha Hebbar (Secretary)! Now, the next in line to thank is all our guests from the Daffodils for your coming, joining and cheering for the winners! Last, but not least, I wish to thank all our tenants whose participation in all events were amazing, especially the Sunday morning session when, in fact, none other than the tenants came in!
In totality, it was such a huge success that I will be enamored with it for quite sometime to come. I'm sure you all are looking forward to holding similar events in the future. Me too!!
PS: I've posted some photos here of our events. Here are some more taken by Anirban (305, Palm Court) and Umesh (105, Palm Court). If anybody else have have any more photos, please share with me - I can post of all them to the same location.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Memorable start with Diwali '07 celebrations!
Yesterday, we welcomed the Diwali '07 at Palm Court in a grand way! Everything went as planned, although the attendance for the evening sessions were far less than we anticipated. The morning session on Rangoli was really well-attended, thanks to the new president and the secretary, who went to all apartments personally and ensured that we've enough people joining us! We'd 4 entries in all for the Rangoli designs - three from Palm Court (103, 105 & 207) and one from Daffodils. The Daffodils entry won it hands down (Congratulations, Ms.Shiny!), and the runners- up was from 207, Palm Court. Both these entries were exquisite in their innovative designs and on their detailing. The submitters of the these two designs also did a real great job in transferring their paper-work onto the floor, which took them nearly 2 hours. The enthusiasm displayed by them and all that who came in (including ladies and children) and helped them with the colors was absolutely fabulous. I hope the co-operation & togetherness displayed by all participants during the session would be continued forever into the future! And to those of you who missed the session, I must say that you missed a lot of fun.
Please visit their creative work at the Open Space in the Ground Floor at Palm Court. There are some photos available here.
And when the evening came, the diyas were lit on the ground floor all over, which made the Rangoli even brighter. Then, some of us went out to celebrate with the fireworks and crackers. We were in less numbers, and none of us really had a very hefty budget for this Diwali. Most of us were content with the common sparklers, flower pots, rockets and some of the common items among the 'children's special'. But, thanks to the get-together celebrations at 203, Palm Court, it was undoubtedly the most amazing & memorable Diwali I ever witnessed in my life. I really don't have enough words to express the grandness of the event. The celebrations lasted around 2 hours from 7 pm to 9 pm, with not a single moment of dullness in between! I came to know that the budget for the crackers and fireworks was liberal and placed at around Rs. 25000/-, but shared equally (by all working members of the group). I don't exactly know, how much this worked out for them, but this is a great model to emulate for the rest of us. All this left me wondering, can Palm Court residents do the same? If each of us put in around Rs.500/- (which is more or less each of us spend on the fireworks, anyway), we will have around Rs.15000/- that will give all of us one fantastic night of togetherness to remember for the rest of year! Is this practical? I think it is. I would like to get some comments from everybody on this, so that we can plan out our Diwali '08 well in advance.
See you all this weekend for the rest of the Diwali '07 fun:-)
Please visit their creative work at the Open Space in the Ground Floor at Palm Court. There are some photos available here.
And when the evening came, the diyas were lit on the ground floor all over, which made the Rangoli even brighter. Then, some of us went out to celebrate with the fireworks and crackers. We were in less numbers, and none of us really had a very hefty budget for this Diwali. Most of us were content with the common sparklers, flower pots, rockets and some of the common items among the 'children's special'. But, thanks to the get-together celebrations at 203, Palm Court, it was undoubtedly the most amazing & memorable Diwali I ever witnessed in my life. I really don't have enough words to express the grandness of the event. The celebrations lasted around 2 hours from 7 pm to 9 pm, with not a single moment of dullness in between! I came to know that the budget for the crackers and fireworks was liberal and placed at around Rs. 25000/-, but shared equally (by all working members of the group). I don't exactly know, how much this worked out for them, but this is a great model to emulate for the rest of us. All this left me wondering, can Palm Court residents do the same? If each of us put in around Rs.500/- (which is more or less each of us spend on the fireworks, anyway), we will have around Rs.15000/- that will give all of us one fantastic night of togetherness to remember for the rest of year! Is this practical? I think it is. I would like to get some comments from everybody on this, so that we can plan out our Diwali '08 well in advance.
See you all this weekend for the rest of the Diwali '07 fun:-)
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Diwali '07 celebrations
Palm Court Fun Club had been discussing on various ideas on how to celebrate Diwali this year, during the whole of last week. We wanted to do it differently this year, compared to what we did last time. Last year's Diwali was celebrated with a few programs and ended quickly with a dinner. It has almost become a routine at Palm Court, that we don't think anything beyond a dinner for a get-together. This year, we decided to stress more on the programs, and not the dinner (don't worry, we've something similar instead!). Not because, we wouldn't like people to dine together - it's a nice idea, but we wanted to do something more. So, we've decided to celebrate this year's Diwali over a period of 3 days - Thursday, Saturday and Sunday - with loads of interesting games for all age groups. Diwali day will start with the Rangoli in the morning, and the evening will witness diyas lighting up the building, ending the day with fireworks/bursting crackers. Saturday will be kid's day and will have variety programs organized for kids. Sunday will be seniors day and will have programs organized for seniors - both men and women. We hope that with the new style of celebrations we will be able to reach out to everybody and that all of you will welcome the change with enthusiasm!
I'd sent out a detailed circular with Raju (and the program agenda on all 3 days), so please check it out and ensure your participation on all 3 days.
I'd sent out a detailed circular with Raju (and the program agenda on all 3 days), so please check it out and ensure your participation on all 3 days.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Can we all be a little more responsible?
The new executive committee met yesterday for around 1 hour and discussed a few action points for better governance of Palm Court. I am not part of the committee, but was curious to know what was happening and hence joined in the discussions for sometime. I particularly became interested in this comment by one of our members. She commented that we've a very bad mechanism of waste disposal at Palm Court. I assured her that we'd been trying out various options during the past several months, including a visit (by some volunteers of the committee members) to individual apartments and advising people to exercise some restraint in hap-hazardly disposing off waste. Looks like it didn't work again.
THis is exact quote from the member - Couple of days back, a bag full of waste (near the first floor lift) was found lying open with all the waste material spread around, inviting dogs and the likes. Apparently, somebody was too negligent about the whole thing. It is very less possibility (my assumption) that any of the residents have done this, so the only possibility left out is that the one of the servants must've done this, to avoid going down and disposing it off in the bin near the transformer.
So, please advice all your servants to be a little more cautious about this aspect. Please remember, small matters like this are crucial to our better living here and each of you must contribute your best towards our common cause!
We framed different rules at different times, some of them worked , some didn't. Here is the latest one, for the benefit of those who missed it. Leave the waste material neatly and securely tied up in a cover outside your apartment during the morning (9'ish) and it will be carried off from there into the bin outside (placed near the transformer) by our house-keeping staff. If it gets any later than this (beyond 9 am), you'll need to carry it yourself to the bin (ever wondered what is the black-colored thing looking like a Pandora's box sitting near the transformer?).
THis is exact quote from the member - Couple of days back, a bag full of waste (near the first floor lift) was found lying open with all the waste material spread around, inviting dogs and the likes. Apparently, somebody was too negligent about the whole thing. It is very less possibility (my assumption) that any of the residents have done this, so the only possibility left out is that the one of the servants must've done this, to avoid going down and disposing it off in the bin near the transformer.
So, please advice all your servants to be a little more cautious about this aspect. Please remember, small matters like this are crucial to our better living here and each of you must contribute your best towards our common cause!
We framed different rules at different times, some of them worked , some didn't. Here is the latest one, for the benefit of those who missed it. Leave the waste material neatly and securely tied up in a cover outside your apartment during the morning (9'ish) and it will be carried off from there into the bin outside (placed near the transformer) by our house-keeping staff. If it gets any later than this (beyond 9 am), you'll need to carry it yourself to the bin (ever wondered what is the black-colored thing looking like a Pandora's box sitting near the transformer?).
Yahoogroups
Most of you who're reading this know that we've a yahoogroups representation. This post is mainly to benefit those who doesn't. Yahoogroups is a community group that can be setup through the internet, for communicating, discussing or broadcasting anything. This group is similar to any other physical group of people, in the sense that it will have one or more moderators and administrators (an administrator is defined as a moderator of moderators). The group can consist of any number of members, who will need to register first to the group to participate in all discussions in the group. Typically, adminstrator will first send an invite to somebody who requests membership, who accepts it and thus become a member. After registering, you'll have the choice to edit your profile, where you can choose, among many other settings, to receive either individual emails (on each occasion) or a summary of mails (once a day) about the activities that happen in the group.
One frequently asked question about registering to the group is whether one needs to have a yahoo email-id? No, it is not required. You can register with any email-id & the email will be send to the appropriate address. However, if you need to moderate/administer the group, you'll need a yahoo id.
Our yahoogroups id is PalmCourtResAssoc@yahoogroups.com. We've two admins in the system as of now - Dr.Satish (102, Palm Court) and myself. If you wish any of your family members also to be part of this group, please approach any of us. Given that Dr.Satish won't be available for next few weeks (on a visit abroad), please approach me for any help with this. I will send you the invites, which you need to accept (click a button) in order to become a member.
One frequently asked question about registering to the group is whether one needs to have a yahoo email-id? No, it is not required. You can register with any email-id & the email will be send to the appropriate address. However, if you need to moderate/administer the group, you'll need a yahoo id.
Our yahoogroups id is PalmCourtResAssoc@yahoogroups.com. We've two admins in the system as of now - Dr.Satish (102, Palm Court) and myself. If you wish any of your family members also to be part of this group, please approach any of us. Given that Dr.Satish won't be available for next few weeks (on a visit abroad), please approach me for any help with this. I will send you the invites, which you need to accept (click a button) in order to become a member.
Welcome to our blog!
Dear people,
I presume most of you who're reading this blog know me well. For the rest, let me introduce briefly - I am Anand Iyer, staying at G-7 Palm Court. Professionally, I work for McAfee Inc as a QA Manager, at the Embassy Golf Links in the Intermediate ring road that branches itself out of the airport road, and leads to Koramangala. I spent the last 1 year serving at the position of president at Palm Court Association. I wanted to take a break out of my hectic living, and hence handed over the baton to my wife, Sitalakshmi. I'm sure, she will do a great job with her hand-picked colleagues in the newly formed association.
I've started this new blog just for the Palm Court residents to keep abreast of the news happening in and around Palm Court. Hope it serves its purpose well...
I presume most of you who're reading this blog know me well. For the rest, let me introduce briefly - I am Anand Iyer, staying at G-7 Palm Court. Professionally, I work for McAfee Inc as a QA Manager, at the Embassy Golf Links in the Intermediate ring road that branches itself out of the airport road, and leads to Koramangala. I spent the last 1 year serving at the position of president at Palm Court Association. I wanted to take a break out of my hectic living, and hence handed over the baton to my wife, Sitalakshmi. I'm sure, she will do a great job with her hand-picked colleagues in the newly formed association.
I've started this new blog just for the Palm Court residents to keep abreast of the news happening in and around Palm Court. Hope it serves its purpose well...
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