The Hindu             11.07.2013

VUDA Housing Colony, a place for close-knit senior citizens

Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA) Housing Colony,
Seethammadhara was the next oldest colony after the A.P.Housing Board
scheme which was established in the 1990’s when MLA Suryanarayana Reddy
was the Chairman of VUDA. Located at the foot of the hills in a
picturesque environment, the group housing project proved to be a bane
to the middle class segment.

In the beginning in 1994 when the
flats were constructed prospective owners were apprehensive on living in
isolation as there were no other houses in the neighbourhood. However
the emergence of multiple housing layouts including the LIC housing
project and other private layouts over a period of time removed the tag
of isolation and the whole region graduated into a posh and lively
residential township.

Uma Prasad, secretary of the Seethammadhara
VUDA Apartments Welfare Association says that in the rat race of life
everyone is preoccupied with daily chores of life and one hardly finds
time to know what is happening in their neighbourhood except on Sunday
when one finds time to greet one another. However occasions like
marriages, festivals and public holidays give one an opportunity to
meet, to interact and to socialize and that is the time one can catch up
with the happenings, good or bad, in the neighbourhood, she adds.

The
real neighbourhood watchers are the 100 odd senior citizens who after
shunting out their busy family members to their jobs finds time to meet
at the colony park and discuss multiple issues like politics,
neighbourhood issues, an upcoming marriage in one of their homes, an
invitation to attend marriage anniversary of one of their sons in the
midweek and the telephone call of their daughters living abroad and so
on. Every day the senior citizen friends have ample things to talk about
and each one shares the developments in their families in the past 24
hours. The morning meetings are lively with a minimum of 50 senior
citizens gathering at any given time in the park they themselves had
developed with lot of greenery including flora and fauna. Dr. Dasharath
Ram, a general medical practitioner, one of the colony residents says
that he whiles away time practicing medicine even at the age of 80 plus
with his son living far away in a metro city. There was a time when
grandfathers and grandmothers counted on their grandchildren to spend
the rest of their life in the lively presence of grandchildren but now
times have changed and to dream of such an interaction is a luxury. The
emotional chords of love had broken away and become a casualty to the
nuclear family concept. The band of the elderly grandfathers and
grandmothers are lonely ones, carrying on their last phase of journey in
pain, disappointment, with dreams unrealised and a sense of defeat.
Today all that one has to contend hearing their just born
granddaughter’s cry on telephone out there from America, says
septuagenarian Jaya Lakshmi.

The senior citizens get together in
the park is the only solace for us to live our tomorrows happily. Every
meeting gives us hope to look forward to with a sense of belonging, says
Dhanunjaya. We are channelising our energies together for the
development of the colony, he adds.

About 144 families live
together in the same number of flats in the ABCDEF blocks in the gated
residential colony. Due to the efforts of the master association goods
roads were laid, excellent street lighting is in place but the colony
inmates are unhappy with the VUDA which failed to keep its word with
regard to building a community hall. Even the present Vice-Chairman
Yuvaraj too promised to personally visit the colony and do the needful.

The
six residential blocks have one welfare association for each block
apart from a master association which works for the integrated
development of the entire colony.

Ram Ravi Shankar, a resident of
the colony engaged with blood donation movement says that the colony is
one family sharing joys and sorrows together. All festivals are
celebrated with religious fervour and unity while women do pooja
together. They make the colony colourful by organising cultural
programmes and celebrating events, festivals and even family
get-togethers. Gouri, an employee in a software company says the green
hills, sight of rainfall and the fellowship of the colony inmates gives
her reasons to rejoice. Most of the socializing takes place in the
common festival celebrations and in family get-togethers at the block
levels A to F. The residents are urging the GVMC to supply drinking
water to the colony. Presently they are getting only the ground water
supplied by VUDA housing water scheme. The residents regret that despite
being in the heart of the city, the GVMC drinking water supply is not
accessible to them.

We as residents are
a happy lot. The residents need a community hall. VUDA promised to
build one for us but even after two decades the promise is not kept. We
also want the GVMC to extend its drinking water supply to us.

V.V.Narasimham,President of the residents association

We
are happy to be part of the VUDA colony. It is a closely knit family.
Though we are busy with our daily chores we find time to interact with
one another during weekends. We celebrate living together and sharing
joys and sorrows

Ram Ravi Shankar Patnaik,resident

AT A GLANCE

MLA Velagapudi Rama Krishna

Zonal Commissioner: Cell: 9848308824

3 Town Law and Order telephone: 2755517

Traffic & Crime : 2755348

Fuse Off Call Office telephone: 232739254

Electricity Assistant Engineer: 9440812522 Land Line: 2739254