I met Sheeba at her office at the Green Valley condominium complex at Gurgaon. The office has two cubicles, a waiting room and a cabin for the president of the resident welfare association. The walls are covered with draft plans of the complex, some sketches with a bird's eye view, and memos, circulars and calendars. There is a noisy water cooler towards the far end of the corridor that separates the cabin and the waiting room from the cubicles. A small room attached to the waiting room serves as the kitchen for office staff. I can see another set of rooms from a window behind Sheeba's desk. Two uniformed men are constantly glaring at sixteen screens in front of them and talking on phones.

Taha says: Tell me something about your work? Sheeba says: Well, I have been working here for two years now. I take care of the accounts, organize various events for the complex and manage all the services.

Taha says: How did this complex come into being? Sheeba says: Green valley was built by the Titan Tobacco Corporation, and the idea for building a condominium came from Rahul Jain, a property developer. Rahul went to the top bosses of TTC and convinced them about the idea. TTC in turn floated a company called Star line developers and made Rahul its managing director. Rahul went to the market with TTC name and got the clients. There was no marketing. It was decided to strategically use word of mouth publicity to garner clients.

Taha says: Why? Sheeba says: When Rahul thought of the complex he also had a very clear idea about who is going to inhabit this place. The profile of the future resident was clear-corporate financial elite. To begin with, top echelons of the TTC were approached, some agreed to book apartments at Green Valley. Then through informal conversations friends and acquaintances of these people were contacted. On paper the complex was ideal. It was not available for anyone. Payment was strictly by cheque, so a lot of interested buyers got discouraged. Services, like laundry, house cleaning, horticulture, and security were outsourced. Star line also promised to take one time payment from the owners regarding the maintenance of the complex. But they didn't keep their promise.

Taha says: What happened? Sheeba says: They took eight crore rupees from the owners for the upkeep of the condo but started billing the resident within six months of the occupation of the flats. When the residents tried to approach TTC they were asked to deal with star line as it was a separate legal entity. The residents formed their own association and went to courts. After five years in the courts, some time last month we finally won the case. The stra line will now pay all the amount due plus interest.

Taha says: Is your work of the routine kinds Sheeba says: Mostly routine but some time we also do dispute resolution.

Taha says: Of what nature? Sheeba says: We were having this problem of maid thievery.

Taha says: Tell me more about it? Sheeba says: Most of the residents here have maids working for them. Often people would lure maids for a promise of few hundred more rupees. This lead to acrimonious situations among neighbors, this where we would come in and try to settle the claim. Then of course we came up with a permanent solution.

Taha says: And what was that? Sheeba says: We have by laws for the complex. People just can't move on their own anywhere. Bylaws define correct behavior, between residents, employees and outsiders. So this is just like a mini city and is governed like one. To tackle the maid issue we introduced a sub clause in the section regarding terms of employment with respect to maids. It prohibited illegal movement of maids. Every employer was to give a certificate of no objection in an event when his maid wishes to work for someone else in the complex.

After the conversation I asked her if she could give me any copies of the memos and circulars pinned on the notice boards.

There are eleven committees that govern Green Valley. Every committee has a general secretary and three office bearers, they are assisted by the resident welfare association office. The general sectary and office bearers are elected from the owners. One such committee is the Security Committee. Sheeba gave handed me a circular of this committee.

It said Security and other related matters. The circular was about the problems related to security to be raised in next meeting of residents. The issue at hand pertained to guards leaving the posts to escort courier boys to various apartments thus increasing the possibility of a breach of security. Towards the end of the circular the committee congratulated the residents on successful completion of razor fencing along the border[ of the Green Valley complex].