Doc Talk

In another evening of doing things differently, we brought the community a fun and informative hour of playing Doctor, with a Doctor.

Dr Suresh Wadhwani, a Consultant in Emergency Medicine, in the UK, is on his annual vacation to India and was happy to share the basics of first aid and emergency care, with our children. He has worked with youngsters for a long time and believes that, today, this is the group that needs to be fortified with life-saving skills to build their confidence and ability to face daily challenges.  We couldn’t agree more, as to be able to use things that we take for granted in the house, throw away as waste and give no thought to in terms of usability, is an important step towards self-reliance.

Doc Talk saw a healthy (no pun intended) turn-out of more than 20 children, sprained ankles not withstanding. As the hour ticked on, more participants trickled in. Many were with their parents and the informal and cosy chat was expertly handled by the Doctor in-charge.

More as a friend than an instructor, Dr Wadhwani answered questions posed on simple sore throats, fevers, minor bruises and bee stings before tackling diabolical deliberations on fractures, battery ingestions, snake bites and acid poisoning. We learnt about the dangers that lurk around us as accident zones in the the forms of misplaced lego cubes and soapy water. We also learnt to recognise and handle choking hazards like buttons and watch cells. The Doctor introduced the children to the saving grace of old newspapers as roller splints, venom antidotes in the forms of the humble turmeric, onion and vinegar and the importance of keeping our surroundings clean and hygienic.

The interactive session was most timely, what with the season playing climactic tricks, tired and often ailing grandparents at their wits’ end, and parents, thanks to work pressures, unyielding traffic and high decibel distances, usually too far to reach within those first few crucial moments of an emergency, before specialist care arrives.

The children came away empowered and very excited and we hope we can make the next session even more interactive with more practical first-aid sessions and demos.

Dr W, we thank you for your time and commitment and look forward to having you back with us, this time with a larger adult audience. And yes, we also wish your splinted forearm, a speedy recovery!

getting around close

brave heart

audience gathers in the wings

look hear see

keen parents

watching them learn

captive crowd

getting the point

more trickle in

The newspaper hero: splint-in-time

Green Patriots ask

more Qs

this funny business of care!

cute assassin: watch battery

the inside story

gagging to save a life

And we thank you for your time

An evening well-spent

bidding goodbyes before the smoke screen rises

Party with purpose

Ending the year on a high, TeamGreen threw our fantabulous Green Patriots a fun party on the 23rd of Dec, to celebrate their stunning success.

There was a lot of twisting and teasing but the facts were there for all to see! Our children had achieved the impossible! After their DTD campaign resulted in making 98% of our residents segregate their waste at source, they toiled over various exams at school, before our heroes finally let their hair down, just before heading out on their holidays.

If we have started a big movement of change in our neighbourhood, to understand why conservation is important and appreciate the immense responsibility we have upon us to slow down the planet’s decline, it essential to understand the science behind it all.

 delivered big time, with a thoroughly entertaining quiz on the environment and conservation. There was enquiry, enactment and splendid interaction, what with parents and their children helping each other and also playing equal rounds of dumb charades to keep everyone in splits! The bonding was most wonderful, not just between the parent-child teams that participated, but among all those in the room too. Thankyou, Aradhana, Vasuki and team, we look forward to another fun-filled show, soon.

Followed by some more fun and dance, newer friends and lots more to look forward to, the day ended well with Pizzas and promises to make greater waves in 2015!

As always, thanks are due again:
Azaan and Shushank, thanks for coming along at the last minute and giving us a mini DJ night – you boys are saviours!
Sanaya Pai, your most creative doodles and note pads were a hit with the Green Patriots  – well done and keep it up!
FMS team, for all the organisation, decorations and support, in spite of the many challenges the day came with, thanks for making it all work out so well!

Happy 2015 all, we will see you with tonnes more, sooner than you think!
Till then, Keep Green, Think Green!

High Achievers!

November was momentous in every sense. But then, we did promise grander things in the coming months!

To tackle the issue of unsegregated waste and the many problems it was creating for the complex, in terms of avoidable expenses, low morale among staff and the fear of government fines in the wake of landfills shutting out Bangalore, we decided to embark on a multi-pronged approach.

At a Process Level, OWC segregated waste inside the unit to take in only organic kitchen waste for composting. We further improved the process by ensuring that storage parameters were organised, clear targets were established and staff accountability gained transparency.

Our composting levels are now showing the highest figures since installation in 2010 (2000+ kgs of compost produced in just two months!). Healthy competition has been set among staff to not just meet, but exceed expectations – this is showing in their heightened work ethic. Production levels are most encouraging and the staff is always on the look out to improve quality on all levels.

Now, all we have to ensure is that only segregated waste is removed from the towers, residents discard waste responsibly and GWE sends out minimum reject waste to the landfills.

This is our game plan:
1. Green Patriots under the supervision of TeamGreen, took off on a relentless DTD awareness campaign, to reach out to residents. We are nearly done. All visits are duly recorded for easy reference.

2. FMS and TeamGreen combined forces to launch a week-long focussed Maids’ SAS Orientation drive, in mid November. Each oriented maid was given a stamp on her ID card which will need to be re-stamped at the next orientation. Security has also been roped in for stringent checks.Orientations will be repeated every quarter.

3. Our next battle is to sensitise residents to reduce the use of plastic and other non-biodegradable material that cannot be composted in-house or recycled. This type of material constitutes reject waste that finds its way to a landfill and the apartment complex stands to be fined heavily if we cross the maximum allowed level.

Within 11 days of completing the Maids’ orientation and Security being beefed up to check entry of un-stamped domestic help, GWE recorded its highest compliance ever, at 98%! The average that week stood over 95%, translating to a current average of over 90%, overall.

Never mind the short time span in which this was achieved, these levels are a good 10% beyond our most optimistic expectations. Proof: diligence, hard work and follow-up at all levels, together with tremendous support from the residents, can make magic!

The credit goes to our children, our super fantastic Green Patriots. The confidence with which they educated residents much older than their age, the resolve they have shown to make a difference and the results we are seeing so soon into the drive, now give us the confidence that we are on the route to hitting the mandatory 100% compliance point, very soon.

Well done, Woodizens. Green patriots, you rock!

Swachch GWE for Swachch Bharat

ORR bins for litter-free GWE

President addresses and felicitates HK staff

Swachch GWE team

Green Patriots with HK staff

Green Patriots in session

Green Patriots learn the ropes

OWC staff incentivise to mark first bulk sale of Compost

OWC staff in their own new garden patch

Green Patriots launch DTD SAS campaign, with the President’s door as first Port of call.

While the Prime Minister launched the Swachch Bharat movement up north, we celebrated Gandhi Jayanti by launching the Swachch GWE movement right here. After felicitating the HK staff, while the bunch marched off to the basements to start the sprucing from lower ground up, TeamGreen Sr and Jr headed to the OWC unit to complete some important business of our own.

We had made our first public sale of in-house compost at the Hasiru Santhe and secured a standing order for regular compost sales off the back of that success – this staff’s dedication to the job (utterly menial in nature) deserved to be recognised. A monetary incentive, a neat approach to their work site and a little garden patch to call their own boosted morale on many levels. Happy faces all round made our day and spurred us on to greater goals.

The day progressed with the Green Patriots making their first door-to-door SAS calls, beginning with the President’s door and moving to other MC members – propagating a ‘lead from the front’ ethos, for a job that promised to be herculean.

The month ended on a high with our first bulk sale of 2000 kg of in-house compost, to a resident buyer, on the 31st of Oct, with a target to be ready with greater quantities for quarterly sales, thereafter.

Make way for the Green Patriots!

September 29, was momentous – TeamGreen inducted its first batch of junior members!

Astute, aware and passionate to change the world, these young guns met, discussed, debated and started their own crusade within GWE with an impromptu debate on the environmental challenges that we are faced with. We decided to start the change at home and some very grand plans are afoot.

These wonder kids are full of ideas and enthusiasm and we are certain the world is safe in their able little hands.

When Diwali turned green

It’s been a while since we’ve updated this blog, but that’s because we have packed in a crazy lot of stuff, this batch of weeks. There have been many highlights and lots to look forward to.

September 23, marked a new thought into turning Diwali 2014, green.

This time, we decided that we would leave it to the rest of the world to remind us about the ills of loud and smoky fireworks, frightened animals and seniors, and cruelty of child labour in fireworks factories.

We, instead, invited our dear Woodizens to tell us, what they thought of Diwali and the role of fire crackers in celebrating this festival of lights.

Was the festival about sparkles? Or was it about coughing up a whole bunch of reasons why in spite of thick smoke on the water, fire in the sky was still tempting?  What would they have liked to change about the traditional way of celebrating Diwali? And, was there still a way to have it all and yet leave a safe world for our children?

Well, they told us! The Pillars of Promise were a testimony to the resounding fact that GWE is largely a forward thinking and sensitive community. The caricatures and thoughts scribbled on those pillars at the Club House, threw up a host of ideas on how Diwali can be as festive as ever, without the evils of pollution that recent generations have introduced into its celebrations! Those who felt more strongly, took the vow to make Diwali 2014, a dhamaaka, but with a difference!

The Knots of NO that fluttered on the trees by the pillars were proof that GWE was a force to reckon with. Every little ribbon, every silky thread and every piece of fabric knotted to the tree,  in the days running up to Diwali, symbolised a pledge towards making this Diwali, smoke-free, bright and the greenest ever. In one emphatic gesture, the larger community said NO to a toxic and noisy Diwali.

And while in the background, the Owners’ Association went about organising a grand Diwali Fireworks display with eco-friendly pyrotechnics (yes, they exist, it was a fantastic evening of camaraderie and these low-toxic explosives have proven their fabulousness), the first ever in GWE, TeamGreen quietly went about its job of sensitising and effecting change in a generation that is reluctant to break free from the conveniences we have come to hold close.

How successful were we? Let’s just say, GWE has arrived 🙂

Hasiru Santhe

TeamGreen was a proud invitee to Hasiru Santhe, an agro fair organised by the BBMP and the Ministry of Agriculture, Karnataka, on Aug 24, 2014.

The fair’s main focus was to educate the public on waste management and further the government’s efforts towards making Bangalore garbage-free. The local area MLA and Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Krishna Byre Gowda, is a staunch pioneer of the idea in the area and along with his enterprising wife, Mrs Meenakshi Byre Gowda, has supported and helped promote GWE’s initiatives towards zero waste and recycling.

On Mrs Meenaskshi Byre Gowda’s behest, TeamGreen had the privilege of putting up an abridged version of the street play on stage. We made our statement on waste segregation at source, zero waste and saving water, to a lot of appreciation.

At our stall, we showcased our in-house waste management system and discussed options to improve snags. The highlight of the day was also the first public sale we made of the compost we produced on-site, in our OWC facility – the complete solution to organic waste produced in our homes and garden, everyday. We sold 430 kgs of dry home-made compost at the stall and continue to receive keen visitors and enthusiastic buyers at GWE, following the event.

It was a day of gusto, immense team work and tremendous pride, the perfect icing on a cake made of sheer passion and selfless diligence.

Play Smart Play Wise

Saturday, 09 August, 2014.

TeamGreen proudly staged its eight-act ‘Play Smart Play Wise’ marathon of street plays this weekend, in an event dedicated to the conservation of the environment.

The focus was on taking a strong message to all Woodizens, that the environment is key to our well-being and only in the preservation of the planet can we hope to keep up our standards of living. We played on site-specific issues to make the matter urgent and effective.

The eight skits moved from block to block until the rain played spoil sport and we had to run for cover, never once allowing the evening to be washed out. We rallied and played our message home to a fantastic audience and to much cheer.

It was a stunning success with requests to perform again at different events, in and outside GWE.

Our thanks go out to each and every Woodizen, young and old, who came out and toiled right from scripting to acting to directing and stage managing. Beyond, we thank all departments of GWEAOA for making the evening possible despite the odds of weather – special thanks to : FMS, S&S, CH and CC! Treasury, we have spared you yet again 😉 Thank you, MC, for participating and setting a new standard of solidarity and camaraderie – we will be calling on your kind support again, sooner than you can imagine! 🙂

Big thanks go out to:
– Mr Uday Yedur, for becoming the in-house cameraman and giving us the pictures you see here.
– Mr Balaji, for organising the videographer at such short notice.
– BMI, for kindly editing the rushes, at the shortest notice ever.

Click here to watch the Video.
http://1drv.ms/1t6AgPy

The stills are here too. Enjoy.