Activities Unabated, that is SFV

Decades ago it used to be said, “The sun never sets on the British Empire’, to convey that if it is dark on one side of the Empire, it is bright sun at the other end of its domain. Though not exactly, somewhat similarly it can be said that activities are an unending feature of SFV.

You walk to Food World in the morning to grab fresh vegetables, you see half a dozen ladies climbing the stairs with yoga mats rolled up under their arms. Yes there are two or three yoga sessions in a day by different teachers. You walk along the Club House area in the evening. Chances are you will hear the sound of some rehearsals going on. In the evenings you will also see ten or twelve chairs lined up at the glass-door entrance to the Club House where senior citizens in age, but young in spirit (if the decibel of their discussions is anything to go by), are busy debating for and against anything under the sun. They sum it with a walk up to SLV for coffee. This is so regular that one day when I asked the Manager lady at SLV if she was not closing down since it was nearing 7.30 pm, she said, “No, we are just waiting for the SFV seniors for their coffee.” 

So much so, the ladies with their own simultaneous sessions in the shelter-area of the park, wanted to be one up. “Why not we go on a day-long trip. After all, we can do that ourselves.” Probably, in the end it was decided that it could be a joint effort of both the groups so that for most part it will be a senior-couples group. We shall keep our fingers crossed.

Activities on spirituality are no less. The seniors’ Rudram-Chamakam session is getting to be a year old.  They have graduated from the primary to the secondary level with their chorus chant now upgrading to more than just passable. In fact, they are even ready to ‘perform’ in others’ houses by invitation. It may not match the professional level of purohits, but it will definitely not be a wasted effort either, more so for just a cup of coffee at the end.

If the seniors have graduated to secondary level, a strong and committed group of gen-next is gunning to overtake them, with more sound basics. They are getting trained twice a week under a learned purohit. Whereas the seniors host their sessions in their houses in alphabetic order, Mr Vaidya (8063) hosts the gen-next’s sessions in his house.

That reminds me. Vaidya’s wife, Shanthy, is an orator par excellence. Every Tuesday she holds a one-hour session on Lalitha Sahasranamam in her house. Come 10.45 am, ladies leave aside their kitchen work to rush to her lecture. Not just that, a little earlier, to get a chair to sit. Keep up the good job, Shanthy ji.

As though these are not enough, Sudharshan Acharya performed Satyanarayana puja this morning in Club House. Don’t ask me who is Sudharshan Acharya. Yes, the same ‘omnipresent’ guy whom you can see at all places in the complex giving directions to the markers on where to mark the Exit, Entrance, or Gate numbers, or what all things one should expect as one enters, say, Oak, such as Cricket pitch, Joggers’ Park, Library, Visitors Park, etc. Given the large attendance at the puja one wondered if it was for the successful completion of ‘phase 1’ of his activity. No, it was one of those activities culminating with a prayer, “Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu”. Well done Sudharshanji, except that there were too many items on the plate.

On the business front, the Association completed yet another arduous task of issuing Share Certificates. Yes, we could see two long rows of volunteers who had burnt their midnight oil to verify and prepare the certificates, all eager to attend to you. Good job. Kudos.

I told you we are a busy lot.