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We& #39;re all fed up of those RWAs that have come alive in the most authoritarian and arbitrary way. They& #39;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& #39;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& #39;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& #39;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& #39;ve gotten competitive and are offering even lower prices! (7/7)
