A Neighbourhood Initiative..........

Strength to Succeed does not come from a Physical state, but an indomitable will.
- Mahatma Gandhi

The above words of Gandhiji came true once again when residents of 7th A/B/C main HRBR 1st Block – Kalyan Nagar, joined together, to celebrate an evening get together as part of our 63rd Indian Independence Day.

The neighborhood is actively engaging with each other for the last 1 year, with a goal of coming close to our neighbors and an intention of knowing each other better and helping one another whenever the need arises.

To further this goal, we conceptualized the theme “KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOUR” and “LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR”.

In the neighborhood monthly meeting of July’2009, a proposal was put forward to celebrate the Independence Day in a very unique manner, by bringing our neighborhood together, combining fun, frolic and showcasing of talents by our children, conducting painting competition and followed by sumptuous dinner.




We approached the residents with an unambiguous message “Your participation with family will add value to our Theme and participation of your children in the various events will bring in joy, color and light up our Independence Day program.”

When the resolution and the approximate budget was put forward in the meeting, it was received with an resounding positive message of “Aye”

Two core committee were formed, to oversee the preparations, with the
 1st team looking after the arrangements, venue, collections, dinner arrangements etc
 2nd team looking after the games, talent show and painting competition



Admiral O S Dawson, PVSM, AVSM, ADC, former chief of Naval staff & former High commissioner to New Zealand was the chief guest for this function



Wing Commander Thomas Babu & His wife felicitating Chief Guest Admiral O S Dawson

Mr Narasimaiah Assistant Commission of Police Banaswadi Police station, and Mr Sakri Inspector of Police were guest of Honors and shared the dais with Admiral O S Dawson as part of the celebrations.



Inspector of Police Mr Sakri , Admiral O S Dawson and Assistant Commissioner of Police Mr Narashimaiah


Government officials who were in charge and serving our locality were invited and presented a memento, in recognition of their service to our Kalyan Nagar locality. The people who were invited and presented with mementos were

Mr Guruswamy : Traffic Inspector of Police
Mr Mallareddy from BWSSB
Mr Chellapathy from BWSSB
Mr Lingappa from Corporation
Mr Kalse Gowda - Revenue officer BBMP
Mr Singh from Corporation



Mr Chalapathy AE BWSSB being felicitated by Sundaresan
Programs:

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing – Edmund Burke

Our compeer Ms Divya started the proceedings with the speech of Jawaharlal Nehru’s “Tryst with Destiny” and did an excellent job for the evening.

Our chief Guest Admiral O S Dawson, who was veteran of the 1971 war and who was in charge of Naval operations, in his speech recalled the days of partition and the intention of British. What was 5 Provinces then is 29 states today. The day will not be far off, when we will need Passports to enter our neighboring states. He asked the youngsters to be on guard, against divisiveness based on Language, caste, creed and discrimination and stand vigil against such evil forces. The enemy is more within and internal than external. On seeing about 150 people in the gathering, he said “I see hope and youngsters like you will protect the hard fought freedom”

Assistant Commissioner of Police Mr Narashimaiah gave examples of the recent crime patterns and how youngsters are lured into crimes. He said, the responsibility lies with the parents of today, such that their children are inculcated with honesty, discipline, pride, truthfulness. Schools and other institutions can be of support, but the real teaching should commence from home.

Inspector Of Police Mr Sakri, thanked the residents for remembering the police department and other government bodies and felicitating them in such a huge gathering.

Both, ACP Mr Narasimhaiah and Inspector of Police Mr Sakri, promised that they will do their best for the residents, by attending to their needs and problems.

This was followed by Talent show from the children of our 7th A/B/C neighborhood. About 15 kids showcased their talent in Dance solo and group, Songs, key board, speech, and slokas. It was amazing to watch the young kids performing with passion, enthusiasm and energy without any stage fear. All the talent show participants were given a token memento.



Childrens of our Neighbourhood exhibiting their talents.....

The winners of the Painting competition were awarded in the stage. The prizes were sponsored by M/S Fevicol and thanks to Mr A Srinivas Editior of Wednesday Digest paper, who organized it and also gave news coverage about the initiatives of our residents forum.



The Painting competition was conducted on 9th August’2009 and about 30 plus children participated. This event was sponsored by Fevicol and 15 Prizes were distributed under Kindergarten, junior and senior category.



Mr Rajshekar - President Rotary club of Bangalore addressing the gathering

Mr Rajshekar, President Rotary club of Bangalore, gave a brief speech, on how a year back, it was 4 families which started this initiative and now it has grown upto 40 families. He recalled with the collective effort of residents,we were able to successfully address key civic issues like

 Water Problem
 Street Lights
 Parking of Heavy Vehicles inside the layout
 Garbage collection

and the above issues has been addressed/solved to certain extent.

This was followed by games starting with an ice breaker game. The games were enjoyed by one and all. It was heartening to note a very elderly couple Mrs and Mr Lingayah winning the 1st prize for “most compatible couple” – a truly fun game.!!



Residents Participating in Fun events

I (Sundaresan) proposed a vote of thanks, thanking residents for turning up in large numbers, the monetary support, passion and enthusiasm.

Special thanks to the following people,

1. Mrs Roshni Rajshekar and Mr Rajshekar
2. Mrs Revathy Gopinath and Mr Gopinath
3. Mrs Julie Dominic and Mr Dominic
4. Miss Nalini Manikraj & Mr Manikraj
5. Wing Commander Thomas Babu
6. Mr Sridhar
7. Mrs Pushpa Koushik
8. Mrs Sudha Jagadeesan & Sundaresan Jagadeesan
9. and all other volunteers

They really made a difference.



The Organizing committe members

The event ended with singing of National Anthem, followed by a sumptuous dinner.

Even the rain Gods had to submit to our collective spirits and after threatening to make the function a wash out, with dark clouds looming around just before the function deciding to stay at bay.

They were no match for our spirit and indomitable will :-)

The events and organization was appreciated by all the residents and participants and many of the residents personally thanked the organizing committee. Suggestions are already making rounds on the next get together event and other mini programs.

Some Positives and Pitfalls

Positives

1.A unambiguous goal and statement of purpose on why we wanted to have this get together and informing the residents “what’s in it for them”
2.Every small detail was worked out, keeping the big picture in mind
3.Assignment of work and delegation of responsibilities
4.Daily stand up meeting for 2 weeks to review progress, issues, pending work, next assignment. (A sort of SCRUM meeting!!)
5.A tight control on budget, so that expenditure does not exceed the collection from residents.
6.Involvement of Children by organizing Painting competition, talent show and games for elders
7.Two rounds of rehearsal were conducted for the talent show

Pitfalls

1.Communication gaps existed with the different sub-teams
2.Some members of the core team were not up to date, or turned late for meetings and this lead to duplication of effort, in bringing them upto speed
3.Couple of talent show programs were included in the last minute leading to anxiety
4.Few wrong escalations.

The key challenge in front of us is to sustain the momentum generated and increase the active participation from 40 plus families into 80 plus families.

JAI HIND