Making neighbourhoods lively

Binita Sashi and Gargi Advaithi love children. So they have created their world around them.
Both reside in K. K. Nagar in the western neighbourhood of this city and while they manage their own ventures in the sprawling neighbourhood still dominated by the Housing Board apartment blocks, they put their heads together to organise workshops and summer camps.
The duo were also responsible for a string of events to mark Madras Day. The gracious general manager of the Green Park Hotel in Vadapalani volunteered to provide a banquet hall free of cost and even offered refreshments to the guests who enjoyed workshops, story-telling and two talks.
The attendance at this event on a wet Sunday triggered ideas in Binita and Gargi.
Of the need to create and host such events that would make this part of the neighbourhood a happening place.
Religious discourses, classical music concerts and Sanskrit and Bhagawad Gita classes populate the calendar here. A play or a fun fete pops up as a surprise.
And Binita and Gargi feel that it is time they made an effort, a real, earnest effort to provide this neighbourhood with some interesting programmes.
Public talks on fascinating subjects seem easy to think of. If a network of speakers can be built and the owners of spaces like Hotel Green Park can play host, then the talks will fill the annual calendar.
The duo have worked closely with a local school which has a large but simple auditorium. Now this space can be used to stage plays in Thamizh and English or hold theatre workshops. If groups can volunteer freely, then another set of dots will fill the neighbourhood calendar.
Binita and Gargi are setting out to play a role in the public space. And if you can help in any way, I am sure the duo will appreciate it (contact - 99404 50495/ 96000 83124).
Look at how Sadanand Menon has made available two wonderful spaces at 1, Elliots Beach Road in Besant Nagar to any body which wants to host not-for-profit events - rock concerts, plays, film screenings, talks. . .