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Oh the travails of association (that's why the title. It certainly does not mean Associated Press in this context, or did you think so?) By 'association' I mean a body of 'self-important so and sos' who keep meeting every couple of weeks or every couple of a couple of weeks. Well, just last year I was willy-nilly co-opted into being on the management of one such body. Today is one of those 'all important meetings' which go on for 4 hours and conclude with nothing.

Mind you, this association seems to be really effective in many ways, but I do not agree with all their methods. I agreed to join only because I wanted to get them to implement waste segregation ..... which I did. I tried to get them to implement common composting for the entire block. I did not succeed.

Now sorry for bringing up the same topic, but it does feature very prominently in my life. In fact, it does sometimes serve positive purposes. My back. No, I shan't go into any gory details. I just mention that unmentionable word because in this case, it has served my purpose. (Damn it, why shouldn't I make use of something that gives me grief at other times? Let it serve SOME useful purpose in my life after all!) Somewhere along the way, I found out that the 'association' or the 'ass'-0-ciation is a very patriarchal body. Why does it need women members? Let me ask you, why does the BJP need Smriti Irani or why does any political party need them (with the exception of an Italian lady, Mayawati and Didi)? Just to prove to the world that they are very egalitarian. As I was not willing to be a decorative item seated on a chair (while clutching at her back and then tottering on her knees when she stood up after 4 hours), nor was I willing to get into confrontational mode, I used the eternal loyal, faithful, unmentionable as my excuse to edge out of the meeting and out of the 'ass'-0-ciation. No, don't get me wrong. I would have stayed if I could have convinced them to shell out some money for a community composter. Since they didn't, I decided to say good-bye to all my home-composting and hand over my rotten kitchen waste to them (segregated of course) to dispose of. After all, I have paid for segregation for an entire year without giving them any waste. No, of course, it was not just that. It broke my little heart to say good-bye to home-composting (which I do hope will be a temporary out-sourced care solution) but the eternal faithful ensured I had to.

That was one issue. The second issue is the fact that I often end up being counted when I don't want to be - i.e. when they make decisions I am not so sure of ..... and that just be virtue of me occupying an unobtrusive chair in one corner of the room. (Yes, I do prefer to maintain low profile in some places). One such decision was about not allowing bachelors to occupy any apartment. Since I am a staunch supporter of bachelors and bachelorettes, I ended up with heart and head screaming out 'WHY NOT'? Is it not enough that you ended up married? Now you want them to fall into the same trap and if they don't do so willingly, you will ensure you pull them in just because you can't get out of the said trap? 'Ass'-0-ciations I have come to the conclusion, are groups of people hell bent on encouraging perjury. For instance, bachelors are not welcome. So someone has to marry just to get an accommodation and then they are free to divorce. Divorcees, btw are not thrown out to the best of my knowledge, though they might not be welcomed with open arms if they are already divorced before stepping into said accommodation. Alternatively, they must at least pretend to be married. No one checks out their marriage certificates, do they? I say this with authority based on the fact that I have not been asked for mine to date, nor do I sport any of the trappings of marriage to prove my marital status. Maybe the fact that I don't act all lovey-dovey around the BH is enough proof of the fact? So long as they get a member of the opposite gender (operative word, MIND IT) to move in with them and SAY they are married, nothing matters anymore.

Being part of this 'ass'-0-ciation has left me with unpleasant associations. So I check out. I am now free to criticise them whenever I feel like. No, not really. Only constructive criticism.

 

Nice to see your response JS Ma'am. I agree a paying guest accommodation does not run as well as regular households. Many of them don't take care of the house, don't care to abide by the rules and regulations and often create a lot of nuisance. But to club all unmarried individuals together as a category to be banned is unfair. The concept that a person has to either be married to have a roof over their head or a home of their own is extremely discriminatory. Even single women wanting to rent an entire house to themselves are discriminated against.

Hmm, getting corporates to manage the apartment and holding them responsible for it is not a bad idea after all. Only I suppose people are scared to let out apartments to corporates for fear that they might not get the house back.

 

Well said, Balajee. The other side of the coin is many don't turn up at meetings which are announced time and again with multiple reminders and then complain when any decision is taken saying where was the quorum for the meeting to take any decision? So no one wants to do anything or let anything be done.

 

To add to the list: Not attend meetings when called. Stop managing committee from taking any steps forward to improve facilities, change lifts which are written off by company, not pay for facilities, stop them from organizing any orderly parking facilities ......