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We're all fed up of those RWAs that have come alive in the most authoritarian and arbitrary way. They've brought about the worst in our mostly friendly neighborhoods. But this story is about a truly cooperative housing society in Bhayander, just outside Mumbai. (1/7)
My cousin has lived in the same housing complex all 38 years of his life. In March, soon after the situation began to get bad, he went through his society's balancesheet and figured that it was alright to stop paying maintenance bills for 6 months. (2/7)
He got everyone to agree to this proposal. This has been a massive relief at a time when many in the neighborhood lost jobs or suffered salary cuts. They've also halved the maintenance bill for the following 6 months. (3/7)
Next, he and some other active members worked to solve the problem of grocery delivery. There were two things to address: the risk of infection if everyone left home for the market, and the doubling of prices by opportunitistic kirana stores. (4/7)
So, they set up a chat group, and twice a week they took grocery orders late in the night, and then, at 6 am, went out on their motorcycles to buy from wholesalers. They'd return and organize a sale in the neighborhood at prices lower than kiranas, but with a small profit. (5/7)
This effort has had two advantages: first, the profit has been used to supply FREE groceries to members who have lost jobs; second, the kiranas have had to lower their prices to the win customers back. (6/7)
And, finally, in a perfect example of how goodness begets goodness, another group in the same society has come together to replicate this idea -- but they've gotten competitive and are offering even lower prices! (7/7)
