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How to be your neighbours' pride

The secret to a happy neighbourhood is in rising above petty issues

EXTENDED FAMILY Good neighbours are a blessing

"I could box their ears!" says an incensed Aparna about her noisy neighbours. "I wonder if they ever talk. They only scream," she complains. out of my bed." Says Bhavna: "Can you believe it, our neighbours do not cook non-vegetarian food simply because there are lots of vegetarians living in our street?"

Now, what makes neighbours good or bad? Sensitivity, says Anandhi, retired Government employee. "No doubt, each one is entitled to his ways. But only so far as it does not affect those around." Kalyana Krishnan K., bank officer, cannot agree more. "My neighbours constantly quarrel and play the music at full blast. Even conversations are very loud. It is difficult for my school-going daughters to study and aged father to relax. I have tried telling them. There is only momentary respite. We now share a strained relationship." Aparna, who works night shifts, plugs the headphone to the television to avoid disturbing her neighbours. "It rankles every time my neighbours talk aloud."

Space is another issue, says homemaker Nirmala S. Many a time, neighbours are left squirming, with gossipmongers refusing to leave. "We may want to spend quality time with the family, and it gets difficult with neighbours at home," complains Sundar P., a student. And, many think slyly dumping the trash in their neighbours' compound is the best way out. "When our neighbours moved in, they had no water connection, and we helped them out. But once they got it, all communication ended. They never stopped by even when my wife lost her mother," says Raman P., a retired professor. Good neighbours are sometimes as much a blessing as a requisite for working mothers.

Good old days

Anandhi reminisces the days when both her daughters on their return from school were treated to hot rotis and dosas by her neighbour. Anandhi's daughters recall their mother making bhel puri and pav bhaji for the apartment kids.

"Moral support is the greatest advantage of having cordial neighbours. I'll never forget how my neighbours came to help when my daughter fell ill, and my husband was out of town," says Anju A., a teacher. As in any other relationship, so in this too, everyone should put their best foot forward. "In any neighbourhood, there always will be problems of car parking, pets, garbage and noisy music. A neighbour's responsibility lies in rising above these," says Thiyagu, working in a private firm. <167,0.35m,1>So, the key to earning a good neighbour is being one!

W. SREELALITHA

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