The presence of a community center or a club where residents can interact is the need of the hour for a colony like ours. The reasons I say this are multifold. The club or community center is like a hub of the colony where all residents frequent once in a while. It gives an opportunity for residents to interact with each other in an informal manner, building camaraderie as well as feeling of belonging.
Housing a host of facilities, a club / community center can provide an environment where residents of different ages can visit and enjoy. Typically, such a place is likely to have a few opportunities for residents to indulge in sports such as a badminton court, table tennis tables, carrom, and maybe a pool room and a basic gymnasium. Also, there would be common areas like a sitting area, a library, and a simple coffee shop/ restaurant.
Having an area like this would benefit youngsters and senior citizens alike. Many times one sees children being accompanied by grandparents to the parks in our colony. The vagaries of weather in our city unfortunately does not permit this very often. A closed / semi-closed dedicated area that a club / community center provides is an ideal solution.
When one thinks about it, most good colonies of Delhi host such a facility, whether it be Friends Colony, Defence colony, Vasant Vihar, Panchshila Park, Panchsheel Enclave, Gulmohar Park, the list is endless. Unfortunately, somehow our colony has missed out on something as basic as this in so many years. It is in fact paradoxical that our colony was developed by DLF, a group that emphasizes the importance of clubs and common areas in all its projects.
Even if it takes time, if all of us put in a concerted effort, we can be successful in this endeavour. I firmly believe in the saying “If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, then I can achieve it”. So let’s do everything we can in our power to make this happen. This may not happen immediately, but if we persevere, it will happen.
I would like to sign off by saying that if someone says it’s not going to happen in my lifetime, I’ll say maybe not, but certainly for my children.
