Hey guys

I am back from a very long sabbatical but I am afraid not to stay. These days the computer is seldom accessible to me so I have to make do with the small sessions that I am able to get my hands on. I hope that the scenario does not stay for a long time….. cause addicted that I am to computers and blogging….. I am afraid I will have to resort to net cafes which very honestly is not something that is palatable to me and I am not very comfortable with.

Time has been moving too fast at the moment and lots to do and very less time to do them all in resultant…. I am having to prioritise and make do with all the scrap sessions that I can lay my hands onto with my beloved computer.

You must be wondering what has all this got to do with my title basket ball!!! Well this is the latest news making rounds in my society, which I must say is causing a lot of controversial scenes and lots of eyebrow raising….. also I wanted to raise an open question…. not on the right and wrongs of the issue because I am sure that there are many and there are no pros and cons on the issue but a lot of perceptive ideas which could make every individual right in their own regard.

Flash back: So here is what happened……. My society is HUGE…… by mumbai standards…. it is really huge with lots of lawns and lots of open places which makes the society very self sufficient. The kids in the society till date have enjoyed the privilege of living and playing in a secured and happy environment. So what happened??

The major population of the society primarily comprises of senior citizens from government sectors who till date have run the society very skillfully. The whole thing has changed with the current elections where the young crowd won the elections. The Older generation did not like it and were not willing to take it lying down so on and of there have been spats and signature campaigns for this and that….. with everybody taking this side or that.

The children of the society have seldom ventured out of the society to play because there was place enough for the occasional gully cricket and a badminton court. The mothers rest in peace thinking that their children are playing just around the corner and the small children had their own park with all the small kiddies delight. There have been occasional incidences of the kids breaking the window panes and hitting the cars with their balls…. causing dents but apart from that not much harm done.

Present: The whole scenario changed when a new basket ball court was set up in one of the lawns reserved for the kids to play. The adjacent lawn was reserved for badminton….. so what happened??? The kids playing occasionally made noise which irked the senior citizens in the vicinity….. that’s not all they also said that the basket ball playing was ruining the sleep of their beloved plants and therefore like all other legitimate societies the playing inside the society should be banned.

I donno about the plants losing their sleep but this incident suddenly became very important with the paparazzi blowing it out of proportions….. in the press and subsequently the secretary of co-operative society intervening and officially banning all games. The mothers who have been able to live contented lives till now were not going to take this lying down so they in their turn issued letters to the secretary and again there were signature campaigns and lots of letters going to and fro with everybody having their own opinions and in some cases people within the same families having diverse opinions in the same letters. All in all an extensive public display of public opinions in various languages….. it actually made excellent reading. Bargains were worked upon with the senior citizens with parents saying that the kids would play for two hours only (6 to 8) every evening….. but apparently that is also the sleeping time for the plants…… so nothing happened there. The younger generation claim that the reason they bought flats in the society was because their kids could play safe and the older generation claim that they bought their flats knowing that it would be a retiring paradise….. as all the people who bought the flats at the same time were all going to retire at the same time…… making the society a retirement paradise.

The lid on the boiling stew blew up when the senior citizen alleging the whole thing threatened suicide and the whole thing was again blown out of proportions in the press and this time police coming into the scene. The younger generation suddenly took note of this and of late there has been animosity brewing but the letters reduced.

The kids have stopped playing in the vicinity of the society. As for me I am not able to take sides. My own parents are old so I know that at times the kids playing does disturb them. I also understand the need for kids to play safe specially with the current onslaught of the vehicular traffic and specially in cities like mumbai where there is no place for the kids to play this society’s USP has always been its lawns and its open and green spaces. Donno who won and whether at all there could be a win win situation but we all live in hope that the war between the generations will be resolved one day.