The Untold Story - The unsung Warriors
Like it or not, pain has always been an irrefutable part of life of each one of us ever since times immortal. None of us can escape pain. Broadly speaking, pain manifests itself in many forms, like physical pain to self, or any family member/friend, emotional pain, which generally is more psychological, and has its roots in the mind, circumstantial pain - when you are wronged physically or financially by a third person, and societal pain which impacts us because of the Govt. policies, activities in the neighborhood /surroundings, and on which we have no control.
Pain, on account of first two reasons, to self/family, is our baby and is to be handled by each one of us to the best of our abilities, and we don't hold any one else responsible for that. But pain on account of last two reasons, viz., societal and circumstantial is something which generally is accepted by us grudgingly, and we curse and lament why we had to have that pain at all.
But then, there are some people who feel pain of others, as well and as intense as their own, when they see such people in pain, even when they are not related to them. Like, when you read stories of people losing their life in stray accidents, losing their hard earned money in cyber scam or losing money in pyramid/chit fund companies, or of people who book their Flats with Builders, put in lot of their own money, take Bank Loans, and foot EMIs, and for some reasons get stuck up with bleak chances of getting possession etc.
And remember, we are talking here about pain of those people whom we do not know personally, but whose plight we read in Newspapers/media every other day and feel sorry for that kind of state of affairs for them. We really pity all such people, for their uncalled sufferings, and wish them safe future and Good Luck.
The subject matter of 'pain of others', we are talking about here, relates to our biggest investment, viz., the Flat we book in a gated community, to enjoy life in opulence. Post handing over of possession of Flats, Builders, as per Sale Agreement, take care of maintenance of the Residents' Society for initial 2 years. Problem starts when the Society maintenance responsibilities is transferred to Residents' Society, which at the initial 3-5 years period after possession, is inhabited by merely 20% owners, 30% tenants, and balance 50% Flats lying vacant. In the midst of this scenario, finding Volunteers among 20% owner occupants, becomes an uphill task, and the pain begins there.
In run up to that, the residents struggle to look for Volunteers among themselves who can lead the Residents' Association activities and can as well coordinate with Builder for taking over maintenance activities. With no visible participation from most of the occupant owners, the brave hearts among the owner residents, who step in to take over the reins of Society formation, are the one who take all the pains in completing the take over formalities with Builder, maintain semblance with other resident owners, and the pain they have to bear in the process is focus of my writing today.
While such Volunteers too have their own personal life, and are entitled to as much peaceful living as every other owner residents, yet they throw their hat in the ring to ensure that take over is smooth and residents, rather experience better living conditions, than they enjoyed during the initial 2 years when Builder was discharging responsibility of maintenance.
The brave hearts, among the residents, commonly referred to as Volunteers, take the responsibilities of Residents' Society formation, registration, Bank account opening, completing the handover formalities, taking over of AMCs documents of various items, like Lifts, Gen Set, Electrical and Plumbing designs etc., documenting the process of various activities, selection of vendors for Security, Housekeeping, Plumber, Electrician, Gardner etc.
Moreover, all resident owners and even tenants, staying in such Societies look up to these Volunteers for redressial of any of their grievance and Kudos to them, for they attend to desperate calls of residents, even at odd hours too.
Such Volunteers, remember all our fellow owner residents, are as much entitled to peaceful living as all other residents, and yet they ever smilingly and ever sportingly give comfort to all residents and solve their problems. These Volunteers literally are one stop solution to all the resident's problems.
Then gated community residents means, you are amongst the elite of society, and these Volunteers have to always exhibit a matured stance whenever any issue goes for a toss, and ensure semblance among all the residents. Though most of owner residents, by and large, are always appreciative of self-less, but thankless work being carried out by such forced Volunteers, yet that token of gratitude to them is hardly enough to keep their pumps running.
Such Volunteers are the one who have their families, a regular job, or business , and we wonder how do they take out time to manage Residents' Society affairs along with their office/family routine. Frankly speaking, they sacrifice their own family bliss in an attempt to keep the Society safe, vibrant & blissful.
We call such Volunteers as ANGELS, the self-less WARRIORS, who walk couple of miles extra to get every other residents the kind of life they longed when they booked Flat with the Builder. And remember, they do all that selfless work themselves, just to keep the maintenance cost as minimum as feasible, so that residents in turn have to bear minimal maintenance cost.
Let's all continue to cooperate with the resident Volunteers, and share some of their burdens, to help them bear the pains & pangs of managing the affairs of Residents' Society, to ultimate advantage of all the residents. One tangible contribution owners can think of, in case of any controversy in respect of way forward in handling a particular issue, is to let the owners give their views, through a poll or otherwise, but let the elected MC take the final decision, and that should be binding on all the Owners.
Salute to such self-less Warriors, the Angels, for they bear so much so that all rest of the residents can live peacefully. They take pains so that all residents have no pain.
They are a rare tribe Friends, who need to be admired and respected. And preserved, lest they succumb to burn-out. Trust their wisdom, for they have a larger perspective in their minds.
Praise & Cherish the unsung Warriors!