Ongoing email confrontations and needed resolutions

[J SWAMINATHAN]

Dear All Residents,

 

This is in response to the notification to invite a new COM and subsequent mails accusing each other and developing confrontations resulting in frictions at personal level. Following are my views.

 

1. The formation of JARA and running it, is purely to take care of maintaining the facilities for the welfare of all residents. While every resident / owner must contribute financially to do the functioning, it is also a responsibility of the all resident owners to come forward to accept position in managing the COM. It is simply forgotten by many resident owners that they are the UDS owners of every common facility and it is their definite responsibility to come forward to manage JARA. It can't be loaded on to someone permanently and keep relaxing at home and also keep on demanding and commanding on the people who accepted the responsibilities to manage JARA for one year.

 

2. The email forum was created by Mr. Govindan, mainly to reach out the non-resident owners for updating any information and vice versa. It is highly regrettable that this forum is used between resident-resident, COM-resident who are all staying within the premises to accuse, confront, blame each other. This is not healthy. While everyone can call over phone or come and knock doors (even in odd hours) to resolve individual's problems, for debating any issues, this email forum is used. This is not healthy. When everyone talks about world narrowing down due to internet and smart phones and suggesting to socialize by face to face meetings, some serious talks keep on going in mail threads which narrows down all personal relationship. It must be noted that such community living leads to happy lifestyle only by socializing with everyone and not by shooting emails to your own neighbor whom you meet everyday in passage. Please note that JARA is a welfare association and not a company with profit-loss to write official mail etc. and keep fighting.

 

3. As I see, more socialized and family level relationship is developed among many residents now a days except a very few. Instead of saying "this is my nature", when we are all living in gated community, why not change to the current trend of social lifestyle and contribute better to the own living society. All the residents within premises can straight meet the other person and debate on any issue rather than shooting an email in this forum and demanding an answer. Please note that if elders are acting this way, we are paving the way for next generation to follow a narrow path. They should develop more socializing life style rather than this "shooting mail" type life style.

 

4. Elderly people with expert knowledge and intelligence, could create more harmonious relationship by being a mentor and not as a dictator. A mentor needs to reach out youngsters and try to educate by sharing knowledge and develop a wisdom. And while youngsters execute, mistakes are bound to happen and such "mentor" has to come down to ground realities and try to refine the methods and further support with guidelines. Without teaching, a teacher can not find fault if a student goes wrong. Students can not develop just by receiving syllabus and notes. If a student finds it difficult to solve a problem, a teacher should teach by solving a problem and educate. Also a teacher should lead by example. In our case, the resident can simply walk down to the office and have a casual chat with all COM members and explain the procedures and regulatory requirements and help in guiding the COM what is to be done. In case COM is not able to do, the same resident can guide in obtaining an external support and get involved personally to make things straight. Instead of all this socializing methodology, simply sending an email and expecting COM to follow whatever is said in the email creates a havoc and chaos. Please note than COM is a honorary position and only spare time to be used for such maintenance activities. For the COM, some of the burning issues are more important to handle in the spare time than in paper works. This is not an organization wherein you employ people and define responsibilities and measure with KPI etc.

 

5. When an aged and elderly person can spend so much of time in reading and understanding the latest updates of government notifications etc., and spend such long hours in typing lengthy mails, he can very well visit the JARA office and sit with COM and explain. In a common forum like COM, everyone can have a view. It does not mean that one person is right. If we come across such statutory rules and regulations, why can't we have a study of all our neighborhood apartments. Had everyone followed all regulations? If COM is already burdened with other works, they will not have time and patience to do all the paper works. Is it necessary to accuse and blackmail over the emails? What COM wanted was, requesting the concerned resident to visit the office and sit and spend a little time to establish such things. When this was not carried out by the resident and threatening email is received, COM felt incapable of doing so and felt resigning ENMASS and paved the way for the resident with adequate knowledge and expertise. While the resident owns two flats but none of his family member can contribute even 1 hour a week to sit with COM but blackmailing with emails would certainly be felt harassing.

 

6. When the resident felt that a stack is necessary for STP, what was his action when the apartment was taken over from the builder. Incidentally he is personally close to the builder too. There was a 6 feet pipe. And those who live in Jaihind from beginning know how much it was stinking when the same resident was part of COM for 2 years. At that time, though there was a 6' pipe, the manhole was always open since it was surface aeration and the vent pipe was meaningless. At present requesting for a stack for 3 floor height looks to be more funny. The stack may be needed or not is a big debate. In a forum, certainly someone would ask what I stated above on the stack. It is good to look the path we travelled rather than blaming on the path what we travel now.

 

7. When the resident talks more about duty and responsibility etc, the first question comes is, the same resident quit half way in AGM saying that he is going for dinner outside with family and can't afford to stay till completion of AGM. Certainly when a "responsible" resident can not stay for one more hour to complete AGM, in a forum, someone would definitely ask how he is trustworthy to follow his guidelines. And when someone can go out every week outside for a dinner with family and can not spend half an hour a week in JARA office, certainly everyone would be frustrated by the attitude. We are all living together for the past 18 years and by now everyone knows the other person's traits.

 

8. As suggested by the same resident to have a external manager appointed, I fully support the same. He can take up the responsibility along with his family member too who is also educated and knowledgeable and also a owner in Jaihind, and establish a new set up and implement all regulations. Instead of doing the same, forcing the COM which is run by ladies who really find it so difficult to manage alongside running the families too, is not a good attitude. Even we can propose remuneration to the COM which may encourage some other to come forward to work for JARA who is in financial need and struggling an outside employment. Instead of being constructive, blackmailing and threatening does not look like a matured attitude.

 

9. As I personally see, we are so much disturbed. Whenever, I come on holidays, I find it difficult to have one "undisturbed" meal session at home since some phone calls, disputes, visits keep on coming up. I find that residents just keep calling / visiting during odd hours for silly requirements. I have been telling my wife Mahalakshmi to train someone else and get a break but somehow they are forced to continue. Sometime, our visits outside is cancelled citing some JARA requirements. The question comes to me, why we need to sacrifice our personal life style, when someone can not sacrifice even a dinner session once in a year during AGM? Also some of the residents reside at home and keep watching a movie but not attending even AGM. Hence this time, we have taken compulsory stepping down from the position. If this is the same feeling felt by other COM members, they are also joining the fray. This should not be considered as fielding a plot against a particular resident who is accusing. In general if someone can do something better, why the other has to hinder the path?

 

10. I have seen the attitude from many resident owners. They don't want to be disturbed. They want to live a cool life. They may have their own lifestyle not to be disturbed by accepting the responsibility of JARA. They forget that the members of COM are also having family and they too have their personal commitment / lifestyle and they also want to lead life style as they like. Why they need to toil continuously for years to maintain something which is owned by others too. It must be noted that every common facility is owned by every owner of JARA. JARA is not an external service entity like mobile service or cable TV service. So it is a must that every resident owner must take a position in JARA COM and manage for a year atleast. Since many resident owners reside at home and do not even attend AGM, it was decided to select the new COM by lot. I know even by doing so, the resident will not visit the JARA office. If the selected COM members do not assume the office, the curtains will be pulled down from 1st May 2018 onwards and all will face NO Water / NO STP / No DG / NO security....

 

11. The outside owners are also not having any responsibility to attend atleast AGM. All such non-resident owners do not even update their contact details nor make a courtesy call / visit even when they comedown to Jaihind. Instead, when they  fix a new tenant or if they get notice for some tax issues, they give a call, especially for some car park issues etc. Funnily at that point, they come with some bursting recommendations in order to get a car park allocated for their tenants. If they can't attend even AGM, what is the point in even entertaining their phone calls at the time of their needs? The non-resident owners must also think that getting rent alone is not their responsibility towards their property.  

 

As a conclusion, JARA is not an external entity for few to suffer and others to enjoy. Everyone is equally responsible and accountable and must come forward to take care of things which they also own. Simply forcing someone to manage JARA continuously and keeping away and enjoying and also accusing the COM should not be the attitude furthermore.

 

Last but not least, living within a gated community and challenging each other at the age of 75+ does not look alright and youngsters would develop such attitude. And literally waste of time on proving - disproving each other and we do not achieve anything by that. Instead spend the time constructively to plan the new burning issues arising in the form of new garbage disposal arrangements demanded by Municipality etc.

 

Regards,

Swaminathan