Art Anyone?

There's an exhibition of paintings by Saranjit Singh and Archana Khurana, at the Creativegarh Gallery [37A, Shahput Jat, New Delhi 49]. Great stuff!

Plus you'll be amazed by the different forms of art they have on show - done by young artists, experimenting with new artistic mediums. A lot of these youngsters have worked under me in advertising, and it amazes me what some of them are doing.

Do visit the gallery if you're in Delhi and have the time!

To know more, you can write to shalini by clicking here!

[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!

Bringing in 2006

Staying at home this New Year's eve takes on a new meaning at Belvedere Towers.

Instead of battling fog, crawling in traffic jams and ducking weird drunk strangers - after having paid a whole lot of money - why not have a blast at a quarter of the price!

Plus, you'll get to know the people who live around you better - the same people who's kids your kids are going to grow up with!

Please join in, bring along friends as well - after all, the more, the merrier!

Join our Christmas Celebrations!

Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s Christmas, and we’ve invited Santa Claus to bring joy to Belvedere Towers on the 24th of December 2005!

In his honour the Belvedere Towers Condominium Association is organizing lots of games, music, snacks for you. Plus, there’s a talent show which the little ones can participate in!

Santa will bring lots of presents for all the little ones who have been very good this year!
For more information, to join the celebrations or if you’d like Santa Claus to get something for you or your children, contact Moushmee Jha or Ragini Kumar.

Please see the Notice Board in your Tower for more details.

To know more about Christmas, click here, or visit this interesting site here.

You can know more about Santa Claus, a.k.a Father Christmas, click here.

To send free e-greetings, choose from the following websites - here, or here.

Quaked, not Shaken!

A little after three this morning, my wife and I awoke with a start to the sound of some banging. I jumped out of bed, thinking someone was trying to break into our apartment from somewhere. I rushed around checking all entrances, looking for the intercom to call security...

Nothing. Then I noticed a metal grill hanging from the Bar in my living room shaking - Exactly as it had when the earthquake hit us on 8th October this year!

But everything had settled now, and the grill came to a standstill. I called Security at the gate, but they had felt nothing, knew nothing, and clarified no one had come out of their homes like last time.

I switched on the news, and sure enough, there it was in five minutes - a quake of 6.5 on the Richter scale had hit J&K, with tremors being felt in the NCR as well!

If it hadn't been for the rocking bar, we too would have slept through the tremors - like all the others at Belvedere Towers had!

I also realized, we had not followed through with certain things we'd said we'd do in our home, to prepare for emergencies:

1. Keep all our wallets, cellphones, car and house keys in one place, which is easily accessible if we need to leave the house in a hurry
2. Jackets, shoes and spectacles/contact lenses, close at hand
3. All important asset papers which are kept at home, in one folder, in one place.
4. A First Aid kit in each one of our cars parked below

The above list of things would be picked up, depending on the time at hand, and the seriousness of the situation.

Without sounding grave, I think it's a great idea for all of us to consider the above list.

I also think we need to get some kind of automatic alarm in the condominium to alert us of earthquakes, just like our fire and smoke alarms. Ideas anyone?

Dividing the effort, Multiplying the benefits!

This Sunday, the Board of Managers constituted various Specialist Sub Committees, comprising of resident volunteers and members of the Board.

The Specialist Sub Committees are empowered with the responsibility of audit, analysis, implementation and maintenance of everything within their domain, as per plans and budgets approved by the Board of Managers at regular intervals.

All relevant employed staff of the Condominium and contracted suppliers will henceforth report in to the relevant Sub Committees, and suggestions and complaints of residents will be addressed by them, via prescribed channels of communication.

SECURITY AND SAFETY: This Sub Committee will be responsible for the overall Security and Safety of the Condominium, and comprises of the following members:

Ajay Gupta, Rakesh Harjai, Prema Balasubramaniam, Rajender Sehgal

HOUSEKEEPING AND AESTHETICS: This Sub Committee will be responsible overall environment and day to day maintenance of the Condominium. Their scope includes horticulture, aesthetics of all areas including the lobbies, lifts, parking and other common areas, plus running of the Gymnasium and Swimming Pool.

Its members are: Anupama Shankar, Ketaki Joshi, Payal Srinath, Meenu Goel, Mehernosh Shapoorjee

SPORTS AND CULTURE: This Sub Committee will be responsible for all the activities relating to sports and culture, including celebrating festivals and other occasions, and planning sports events throughout the year. This committee will also manage the Tuck Shop in B Tower.

It comprises of: Bunty Singh, Ragini Kumar, Sandeep Tandon, Shobha Mathur, Moushmee Jha, Abhilash Lal

ELECTRICITY MANAGEMENT: This Sub Committee is responsible for the generation, supply and maintenance of all electricity systems in the Condominium.

Keeping a long term perspective, it will also develop contingency plans and work out new ideas for electricity management at Belvedere Towers in the future.

It comprises of: J. K. Puri, Rajiv Verma, N. Balasubramaniam, Ravi Shankar

WATER MANAGEMENT: This Sub Committee will look into the various aspects related to the water supply, including managing the quantity and quality of water.

It will also look into areas like Water Harvesting, and the setting up of additional softening and filtration plants in the Condominium.

It comprises of: Arvind Jha, Sunil Goel, Pramod Bhambani

VENDOR MANAGEMENT: This Sub Committee is responsible for sourcing and managing vendors of daily supplies and other services to the Condominium including the Presswala, Laundry, and Vegetable Store.

It will also look into aspects related to telecommunication, internet services, and cable television.
It comprises of: Mala Puri, Arpana Mathur, Arvind Kumar

FINANCE AND AUDIT: This Sub Committee will look into the management of our IBMS funds, audit of vendor payments, and assimilation of all Sub Committee budgets into the overall annual budget of the Condominium Association.

It comprises of: Vinod Verma, Shirley Yadav, J. M. Gugnani

LEGAL AND ETHICS COMMITTEE: This Sub Committee will analyze the numerous society bye laws, vendor agreements and service contracts, with an eye on ensuring the best for the Condominium.

They will also analyze and recommend changes to the Condominium common rules and ethics, so as to nurture a happy and safe environment within the complex.

Its members are: R.K. Kamal, Ashok Dhingra

LIASON COMMITTEE: This Sub Committee will liason with external entities, and others outside the Condominium.

It comprises of: Deepak Gupta, Capt. Pankul Mathur, Rajnish Ohri, Rear Admiral [Retd.] K. L. Malhan

If you would like to contribute to any of the Sub Committees with ideas or your time, please get in touch with the members directly, or contact any of the Board of Managers. Every little thing you do will be appreciated.