M90 Issues – the problem

Without ado, let’s get straight away in this tale.

            Towards the end of 2015, an apartment in my building M90/1, was sold to a doctor. That fellow kept refurbishing, reconfiguring by smashing and shovelling the rooms. The other residents adding up to “we” were worried that the new entrant may dig so deep as to knock the building down; maybe he was in search of some hidden treasures. We were disturbed, rattled by this endless shovelling; but we kept quiet hoping it will go away.

For the next three months they kept despoiling the ground floor apartment – with all those noise and heaps of construction refuse – we held our nerves and patience. Hoping someday they will settle down.

            Then the new owner – Dr. Karthic Babu Natarajan – started to occupy the FREE COMMON SPACE by having new tiles laid; that’s when I woke up. Within a month, this rapacious doctor had installed a 40 ft private gate, 30 ft of signage, a private generator and by now I realized this fellow was no ordinary Apollo Hospital consultant but a veteran land grabber with access to political power. His partner in crime was Dr. Vanmathy Venkatapathy, daughter of an ex-MP in the 14^th Lok Sabha. It was almost like they could do anything they wished, the Chennai Corporation, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board and Thiruvanmiyur Police would turn the other way.

            I was livid. These rapacious, avaricious, and corrupt doctors just did not bother. It felt that in this building the rest of five residents don’t count at all. We have staying in this building since 1974 and suddenly it is sold to a rowdy who was robbing our lands and devaluating our properties. Drunk with absolute power, the goons violated all building violations with impunity – as though they were collectors and zamindars and we were serfs expected to wait outside with folded hands -despite our protests.

            They purchased M90/1  - M90/2 is in Africa, M90/3 and M90/5 were cajoled and persuaded so much so that these residents acted as SYNAPSE CLINIC”s personal assistants. I at M90/4 was livid while M90/6 did not bother. The Corporation people sensed my helplessness and they had an alibi for their inaction: We would have taken action had at least a couple of residents raised their voice.

            So the past 12 months this apartment lost its charm. The 10 ft open gate from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm is an open invitation to stray dogs, the private generator makes noises above the permissible decibel levels, that I thought: Better to sell this place if I find a right price.

            It appalled me to realize that no one rose in protest at the flagrant violations. The M105 lady who would be disturbed by the generator kept mum. She is some sort of a leader and nothing seem to stir anyone. As for me, I was a raving and ranting idiot: how could this happen in a posh colony like Besant Nagar?? How could a metropolis like Chennai be in the grips of thugs and goons?

            I went complaining to the local civic bodies – Corporation, Electricity Board, Thiruvanmiyur Police under whose jurisdiction our building falls – and not a whimper. The constable said after a scrutiny said: These are big fishes; no common person can violate with such gay abandon as though a private property.  I sent tweets to PMO but Modi was busy on overseas tours and demonization and so he gave this petition a miss. I wrote to Urban Affairs Minister Mr. Venkaiah Naidu but he was busy in Parliamentary Affairs duties. No response, as dead as a dodo from Delhi. Besides they can always say: this is a state subject.

            So I approached Adyar publications – Adyar Times and Adyar Talk with pictures and this blog post. One felt this was private matter angst (stupid fellow, how can an ex-MP’s daughter swallowing prime property in a posh colony be private? Had I been the editor, I would run this story for a week for this has lot of middle-class eyeballs potential written all over it) while the other felt that this is a “common interest” problem but for somehow reason did not pursue it. 

            In desperation I wrote to Mumbai Mirror editor Faye D’Souza who shouts on Urban Debate each night: This is shameful, despicable on the conditions of Mumbai roads and that damn Bellandur lake in Bangalore. I thought my case would appeal to her social conscience but she ignored it as they saw no story in my plight and no TRPs.  Only Mohandas Pai, a panellist on Arnab Goswami's debates, responded saying: this is a fit case for a police complaint after reading my blog post. But then he resides in Bangalore and not Chennai where DMK and AIADMK are a law unto themselves. 

            I told myself that I will take this case to United Nations Secretary General if need be. This is my home for the last 28 years and I am not going to allow corrupt doctors to come into my life uninvited and throw my life out of gear – I was anyway going along that rocky road walking with a noose in hand without this added nuisance. now I steeled myself: I will die protecting my house. I will not be a coward any more.