As residents of a supposed affluent “A Grade/Category” colony of South Delhi what do we need. ….. the list is not something out of imagination…. But just the mere general conveniences/facilities such as decongested roads, friendly and helpful neighbors, parks with clean and green patches and security for our kids and senior citizens, etc. Living in colonies like ours where we leave behind our kids and senior citizens when we go for work, we obviously desire to leave behind a secure environment with recreational activities for them to participate in…. like classes for kids, neat and clean and above all secure areas and parks within the colony.
But but but …. Have we stopped to think and ponder as to why the colony is not what we expect it to be. Of course…. We don’t. We rather, continue to blame others (our neighbours, the civic authorities, other people in position, the RWA etc) for all that we want not realizing that, to begin with, ‘we are the ones who are to be blamed’ to an extent for the state of our own colony. Having said that, it cannot be denied that certain issues, viz, repairing and re-laying of roads, sewer lines, storm water drains, pruning, water supplies, back lanes, and general maintenance does fall within the realm and jurisdiction of MCD to maintain…. but then does that mean that we have just no responsibility?? We should also consider that we should have the same secure environment for our pets who live with us and trust themselves with us for their safety.
I am personally of the opinion (and absolutely sure that many others would second the opinion) that ‘We’ as ‘residents’ of any colony (irrespective of the location and grade/category) should always have a very solution-based approach and not be critical about what is not around us but look out for building what we want with what we have. If we as residents maintain and manage the parks that are in front/near our houses, we will never complain for no green places we had as kids and our kids have none. Nor will we ever have the mosquito menace. If we ensure that we are disposing of our waste to the minimum we will never complain for dirt around us.
I met one resident the other day while I was walking. He was happy to see me walking with the Gardner of one of the parks and said he would love to help and be a part of any initiative for upkeeping the parks as he loves horticulture and is regular with his own walks. This way I believed that there would be many within our colony who would like to contribute for the betterment of others. These are a few of the ways we can make our living in these colonies better. YES, it is difficult to do and easy to speak …but small initiative will help us achieve what we want.
Through this article if there are people who want to make a difference …kindly connect with me. …. May be together we can make our living more livable. Also, it would not be out of place to mention that in our stressful lives …doing an activity which is outside our radius helps us to de-stress. Try it!!!
by Anant Gupta (A-113 NFC) 9810106104: NFC RWA (Ashoka Park)
