[S]parking Trouble

I used to joke that in crowded GK where I once lived, parking riots were a common phenomena. Today I refuse to see any humour in the fact that we're bordering on having some in BT itself.

Too many cars, and too little civic sense will steadily add speed breakers to our normally smooth relationships at Belvedere Towers.

After all, who doesn't feel a swell of anger, when he or she drives home after a long day, to find their "hard-earned-and-paid-for" parking space occupied by someone else's car!

The guard, as well as the owner of the offending car, will almost every time gruffly tell you to park in the next available space.

I did that once, only to be woken up at 2 am, by someone complaining I'd parked in his space!

I once even witnessed a heated argument between two people over a parking spot - and later on discovered, neither of them actually owned it!

For the sanity and peace of the condominium, here's a few suggestions for every one of us:

• Please park in your own, paid spot
• Please ask illegal occupants of your spot to move their cars, no matter how late the hour [the rightful owner of 'the next available spot' could return home after you]
• Please ask your friends and relatives to park outside condo, in the visitor's parking
• Please do not feel guilty of the above.
• Do not say, "I'll leave in five minutes..."
• Do not say, "He's my brother, how can I ask him to park outside!?"
• Do not bully the security guards, they're just doing their jobs
• Do not tell the guard that the offending car is not yours, or that your cousin has taken the keys and gone to Richmond by mistake

As an aside, I have a simple question for the people here who refused to buy parking spots when they were available a year ago, saying "kuchh nahin hoga! Kahin pe bhi park kar lenge!" - "so, how you doing?"

Now by publishing this post, I'm adding this problem to the 'to do' list of the new Board of Managers of the BTCA - "How are we going to tackle this issue in the impending future??!"

And suggestions are welcome from anywhere!