Republic Day @ Sobha Palladian-Jan,2019!!

8.15 AM sharp.

The now-familiar voice rings out loud, ‘Saav Dhan!’

‘Iskvaaaad, Veeshrum!!’.

And this gets repeated many many times over the next 20 odd minutes. Interspersed with multiple iterations of

‘Dahiney Mud’,  ‘Peechey Mud’ and ‘Dahiney se Tej Chal’.

And finally ending in a very subdued ‘Jana Gana Mana….’ recital. Then ‘Bharat Maata Ki Jai’  repeated 3 times. And then the skvaad disperses.

7.15 PM:  Block 2 lobby rings out with a chorus

‘Vaishnava Jana to ..’ and ‘Saarey Jahaan Se Achha’

These are practice sessions for the Republic Day celebrations @ Sobha Palladian!!

26 Jan 2019 :  There were 3 highlights on this day !

·      Dr Nataraj received the Hind Rattan Award in New Delhi.

·      We celebrated Republic Day at Sobha Palladian

·      Sports finals were conducted post lunch and winners were awarded in a evening followed by Barbecue dinner!!

And what I am not highlighting is that more than 30 ladies form Sobha Palladian took part in the Pinkathalon the very next Day @ 5.30 AM @Kanteerava Stadium!!. The focus of the women’s run was to encourage an active lifestyle and overall fitness among women, while creating a much-needed awareness about breast cancer and bone health.

And they were equally energetic and peppy when they returned after the 5KM/10Km runs around 9AM.

1.    The Bharat Rattan Award:

Congratulations to Dr Nataraj. He was awarded the Hind Rattan Award by Dr. Bibek Debroy, Economic Advisory  Council to the Prime Minister of India.

You would recollect that Dr Nataraj had also received another Prestigious Mahatma Gandhi Leadership Award 2018 in the British Parliament late last Year. 

N Nataraj wins Mahatma Gandhi Leadership Award at British Parliament

Doc N.  We are all very proud of you !

2.    Republic Day Celebrations:

Preparations start much before 8 AM.  Chairs get arranged and the Indian Tricolor budded with rose petals  gets attached to the flag pole cable. The security guards practice their parts and the housekeeping staff turns up in their best attire.

The PA system gets tested and Kannada patriotic songs announce the start of the day followed by Hindi ones followed by the famous AR Rahman’s Vandey Maataram. The cultural committee is busy checking out last minute arrangements and Whats App msgs are sent out to hurry people to come out and assemble.

Gracing this occasion were our own esteemed residents from the armed forces – Col Jaggi Narula, Group Captain D Sitpal,  and Lt Col.DP Mathur.

And its my honor to introduce Lt Col Dinesh Prasad Mathur, who graduated from Allahabad Univ and was commissioned in the

army on Feb 2nd, 1964 in the 1st of Guards.

He fought the Indo-Pak war in 1965 in the Kargil sector. He served in 6 Assam rifles, in Mizoram from 1966-69, when he was awarded the Kirti Chakra  for bravery shown during the counter-insurgency operations ( got a congratulatory DO from Gen Sam Manekshaw! ). He was instructor in the IMA from 1970-73 and then panel shifted to 14 Guards, posted in Kanpur with the unit. He participated in quashing the 1973  Provincial Armed Constabulary ( PAC ) rebellion.

We Salute you !

The Indian Flag is  hoisted and we sang our National Anthem.

Ladies of Palladian sang songs under the tricolor.

“Vaishnava Jana To” is a Hindu bhajan, written in the 15th century by the poet Narsinh Mehta in the Gujarati language. The poem speaks about the life, ideals and mentality of a VaishnavaJana (a follower of Vishnu). This song became popular during the life time of Mahatma Gandhi and was rendered as bhajan in his Sabarmati Ashram. – Wiki.

And,

 “Sare Jahan se Accha" (Urdu:سارے جہاں سے اچھا; Sāre Jahāṉ se Acchā), formally known as "Tarānah-e-Hindi"(Urdu:ترانۂ ہندی; "Anthem of the People of Hindostan"), is an Urdu language patriotic song written for children by poet Muhammad Iqbal in the ghazal style of Urdu poetry. - Wiki

 

And a  surprise solo performance by  Rian  who recited  

Nanha Munna Rahi Hoon

Joy of Giving:

The young children of Palladian pooled in all their earnings from the stalls they had put up during the last few events and bought gifts for all the staff members serving our community.

 Janhavi, spoke in chaste Kannada on behalf of all of us , words of appreciation and thanked all the Housekeeping, Security and other maintenance personnel for their hard work and dedication in keeping our campus safe, secure neat and tidy.  

The children enthusiastically gave away the gifts

Kudos to our young generation!!

Thanks to Manoj who has brilliantly captured all these exciting moments :   Palladian Republic Day 2019

Going back in past, Republic day in Dehra Dun was an exciting day that we kids looked forward to it .  On that day,  the 26^th Jan, all the houses, and roof tops and rickshaws and tongas and cycles and lampposts flew the tricolor  flag proudly. And all of us pinned a flag on our shirt pockets. And we rushed home after  school flag hoisting to listen to the live radio commentary of Republic Day parade in Delhi .

In the later years we sat glued to the B&W and later the color TV watching the MIG-21s fly past the Indian gate, the smart march-past of the various forces, the tableau and the folk dancers and the impressive missiles, the ISRO launch Vehicle PSLV, the Vijayanta tanks and rocket launchers as the narrators covered the event eloquently  in English and Hindi.

And I relived all those times once again by watching the Youtube live recordings. Felt wonderful !!

3.    Sports Finals !!

 Over the last week around 90 players ( yes! 90 resident men women and children ) have been sweating out competing with each other in the badminton court, tennis court and the  table tennis room.  The semis and finals were keenly fought out from 5 to 8 PM. Check out the action in  SP Sports day 2019

  

And there were many happy moments and a few sad disappointments as well.

But that’s for another day !

And Manoj, where are the BBQ shots???

Krish..

My Friends in Sobha Palladian !!

I choose my friends carefully.

Some of my best friends in SP are less than 10 years old and a few in their early teens. 

And I am very comfortable and at ease amongst them.

By nature, I am quiet and not inclined to talk much, especially in a group.  Also, other than a bit of IT and some management principles, I cannot boast of a wide spectrum of knowledge and awareness. 

Politics and cricket are not my forte and now, with a failing eyesight, reading a newspaper is a great challenge and the Economic Times – impossible. 

Awareness and information gathered from the TV are unreliable at best and I would not risk any info gained from this medium in a group of Sobha Palladian intelligentsia.

Being with kids, I have no such challenges.

I am quite comfortable with them. They are not critically analytical or philosophical. And so am I.  

I know for sure that there will be no conversations on Modi’s demonetisation success, the coming 2019 general elections, Supreme Court ruling of NGT directive, Kohli’s centuries, Trump’s policies, how to mix your drinks or a debate on where we stand against China, or how you can cure your migraine with Yoga!

Even with kids I do not talk much but enjoy their company &  their animated conversations. When I take a bunch of kids to the Hippocampus Library each month, I thoroughly enjoy their endless animated chatter. And they can talk quite sensibly on Drone technology & Tesla motors and why they like chicken pop corns amongst million other topics!

And the library initiative has helped me get to them closer.

A few months back, on a Sunday morning two chubby sisters came to library to return and issue new books. They both were fresh after a shampoo bath and with wet hairs the younger one also pushed her toy pram with a Barbie doll inside.  

She proudly displayed a pink tube.

I asked – toothpaste? Where is the brush??

And she squealed – NOO Uncle! It is CREAM! Mummy gave me.

‘Let’s apply to the baby’!!

And we were now two specialists from KAYA clinic, giving a proper beauty treatment to the poor Barbie!

Incidentally my granddaughter once completely squeezed out a brand-new tube of Odomos on to plastic Goofys’s black nose, all the Barbies at home, the building blocks, doors, dressing mirror, her toys cabinet & bottom half of Godrej!  While the room smelled strongly of Odomos for an entire month the good part was that no mosquito got in.

The white board in the library is a great meeting point for all the young great minds!

There is always a demand for marker pens and eraser. And I would be glad if a few patrons contribute  a few white board marker pens every now and then.

And the kids come up with some real good originals!

A few weeks back we had a graffiti session. 3 kids with white board pens exhibited their drawing skills. 

I called out – Please draw a BIG castle!

The little one drew a tall rectangle, as high as her hand could reach and put a lot of windows inside.

Where is the Tower and the flag??

Now she had to balance on her toes to draw a few cones on top and for the flag I had to lift her up!

And Rapunzel??

The second tiny tot jumped in and drew a smiley face inside one of the windows.

What does Rapunzel have??

Loong Hair!  All of then echoed.

And I got a straight line from the nose of the smiley to the corner of the white board!

And them some more blue and red wavy lines on top to make it look really real!!

And it was fun all the way.

Unlike my generation kids, all the kids in SP are very well behaved, cleanly dressed & very sober.

But you cannot take them for granted!

You act smart wit them and you are in trouble. And I learnt it the hard way!

On the graffiti board I drew a smiley with lots of curly hairs, a pointed nose and large ears.  And I said to one- this is you!!

And her response was unforgiving!!

Yes, these soft kids can be pretty tough too.  And I am glad for them. You need to have steel in you to survive in today’s world.

Another great thing about these kids….

Wonderful English!! Also, perfect language, vocabulary and diction. A few also have a stylish American accent.

In my young days English was a challenge.!

I spoke Tamil at home and Hindi outside. Other kids spoke Hindi everywhere. And my school did not appreciate our broken English (Hinglish).

The Principal was unhappy, and he passed a rule.  Inside school everyone must speak in English only, and in good English!!

And our teachers were the worst affected!  Except for a few Anglo Indian teachers all the rest spoke passable English. 

The very next day, our lady Hindi teacher proclaimed – meri shiksha mein aap sab Hindi he bolengey! (only Hindi in my class)

Most happy were David Sir, Miss Andrew, and Mr & Mrs D’Souza.  The D’Souza couple were the first ones I met where the dad was shorter than the mom. Annie miss was a head taller than William.

She was also very sweet and beautiful. Slim and tall she wore fashionably stitched knee length skirt, flower patterned socks/stockings and high heeled shoes! And she wore wonderful smelling perfumes. (I think I was infatuated with her)

Bill wore suits daily and was a gentleman. Ever smiling, he taught Shakespeare to the senior grade students.  And the couple enthusiastically took classes on spoken English for all the teachers after school. (the ‘mind your language’ series came much later)

For today’s kids, English is no challenge.

And for many it’s the only language they can speak. Especially for those kids whose parents come from different states!

That’s sad!

While issuing a book, a young 6-year old read out the book number N49.

Tamillla sollu ? (say that that in Tamil?).

I don’t know.

Naa-ppathi om-bo-du.

Nappiditi Ombludu he blurted out!

Good try! And for the next few times he consulted his dad and came up with the correct Tamil numbers!!

Many times, I wish I had learnt Tamil well.

I can read and write Hindi but Tamil – I can only speak.

So, I have enjoyed reading Munshi Premchand’s short stories and Maithalisharan Gupt, Mahadevi Verma and Sumitra Nandan Pant. Even a few racy Karnal Ranjit Singh thrillers.

Sadly, I cannot read Parthiban’s Kanavu, nor enjoy Sujata Rangarajan’s writings.

And I am sure many of the kids might feel the same way when they reach my age.  Even at schools and colleges many prefer to take a French, Spanish, German or Japanese as an elective. No Sanskrit!

They will all sadly miss some of the wonderfully written  biographies and stories and epics and essays and drama written in Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Hindi, Bengali and many other Indian languages.

And I wish somebody volunteers to teach some us spoken Kannada...

Krish..

Pongal - O - Pongal @ Sobha Palladian !!!

Kite Flying On Sankaranthi Day @ Sobha Palladian