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A beautiful hamlet about 200 yards from the Butt Road bend on Mount
Poonamallee Road is a fork to the right, which takes one, after
St.Thomas Hospital, to Defence Officer’s Colony.
It is a medium sized colony of 200 plus bungalow built on plots
ranging from about 2.5 grounds to 3.5 grounds in extent, along two
main avenues and a few side roads.
 Retired
Service Officers, to whom these plots were allotted for purchase,
have built their own houses and settled here. This is one of the
well-run housing societies in the city. It has never received any
financial assistance from the Government or any private body.
The colony has all basic facilities such as good roads with shady
avenue trees and adequate light, excellent arrangement for storage
and supply of water, drainage and sewerage.
The society organizes milk supply for the residents and assists
them in paying their electricity and telephone bills. There is a
bank and a sub-post office.
A colony institute provides club activities, weekly tam bola and
outdoor games like tennis and badminton. It has a library, card
room, a children playpen and a lecture hall where social functions,
marriages and receptions are held. There is also a ladies club.
With a vast open ground on the west, the colony enjoys fresh air
and a pollution free environment. In addition to the famed St.Thomas
Church atop St.Thomas Mount and a mosque in the vicinity, there
are also a few temples in the area adding to its secular atmosphere.
While weekly bhajans are held by the devout in houses by turn,
come Christmas, the residents join together singing the spirit of
Yuletide. The Colonels, Generals, Admirals and the Wing Commanders
of the Colony assiduously discuss strategies of war and the fight
against terrorism on their regular morning or evening walks.
Many of the fitter soldiers enjoy playing tennis and badminton
everyday. The library is popular and the card room is ever busy
in the evenings with inveterate bridge players shouting themselves
hoarse at their ever-erring partners.
In Toto, the Colony marches on in true solidarity fashion, as it
has done for the last 40 years.
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