Ooty flower show 2009 – Blessing Youth Mission – part 2

District Collector Office, Ooty

Our Drivers have parked our vehicles in front of the “Higgin Badham bookshop” book shop in front of the District Collector Office, Ooty. Two security guard was guarding that government building.

In front of the District Collector Office, Ooty our National Flag was flying proudly. We have taken few clicks.

Lot of police were running here and there to control the traffic. the whole city was converted in to one-way to avoid a traffic jam because of the weekend crowd.

Higgin Badham Bookshop, Ooty

The “Higgin Badham bookshop” was very old building, at least a hundred years old. The architecture reflects the British Architecture.

Parrot Green Buildings - Vasthuvoda Velayaaa?

We started walking towards the ” Government Botanical Garden” from there because of the heavy crowd police were stopping all the vehicles almost a kilometer away.  On the way I saw a Church. In it’s wall I noticed a rock price filled with the details of when the building was started its service to the public. It was 1896.

We crossed the church and move up towards the garden. Every where police and volunteers stood and helping the tourists. In the next tern I noticed a pair of green buildings stood brightly because they were wearing a “Parr0t Green Building”. One second I thought it might have been the game of “Vasthu Sasthirangal”. Any how, in the background dark green color was helping the buildings to look somewhat better.

Flute Seller, Ooty

The House Toy

I saw a guy making fantastic, amazing house models and ship models using bamboo sticks. hats off to his great designing skills. (price of the house Rs.250 as per the had written paper tag. For the ship he didn’t put any price tag.) I bought a flute for Rs. 10, he gave me an offer of if i buy three flutes he will be “ok” with a price of Rs. 20. But I bought only one flute. In the next shop I bought a “Spider Man” mask for Rs. 8.00.

People busy in shopping, Ooty

The Toy House - Designer

On both the sides of the road, people from different geography were busy in bargaining. Toy Balls for Rs 15 (pepsi or colo written on it) in were moved from the sellers hand to a crying kids hand.

Their parents were talking to the baby girl that her quota was over of that trip. I hope she don’t hear that, but her eyes wide opened and a slight smile blossomed in her face.

We reached the Government Botanical Gorden after 20 minutes of walk. One of team member bought the tickets. In front of the garden there was a board freely giving valuable information of the nearest tourist place.

SIMS park                        –  20  km
Doddapetta                      –  8     km
Rose Garden                    –  1     km
Pykara Boat House       –  24  km
Kodanadu View Point  – 44  km

Auto Tariff, Ooty

Another board which tells you the correct fixed auto price to reach all the nearest destinations. In all the auto stands I was the tariffs.  I came to know that it was the 113th Flower Show conducted by government of India, Ooty.

I was excited about the flower show and started moving inside.

Ooty flower show 2009 – Blessing Youth Mission – part 1

Ooty flower show 2009 – Blessing Youth Mission –

Before entering the Government Botanical Garden

village hotel - cot used as table

We started from our Blessing Youth Mission Literature Hall near Park Station, Chennai to Ooty flower show –  2009 in a van on Friday evening around 6:30 pm. When we started we were only six in number. On the way my friends joined with me.  The Bangalore-Chennai Highway was filled with traffic and it took us one hour to reach the Outer Ring Road,Chennai.

two men are eating chicken fried rice

We stopped our vehicle to have dinner after we crossed the busy road. I noticed a peculiar (deviating from the usual or expected ) way the village hotel was serving food. They placed a wooden rope cot. In the center of the cot they placed a wooden piece and which was used as a table. People were watching IPL 2009 in the television.

solt dominated fried egg rice

We had fried rice, egg rice, chicken rice, roti and dal. Food was filled with salt. The roti was not up to the expectation. we bought lot of snacks like murukoo, banana, sweets and some drinks (pepsi and sprit 🙂 ).

After half an hour passed, we filled fuel for the van. The guy who filled the fuel spilled some diesel,  our driver had a quarrel with the petrol bunk owner. Then we started watching some spiritual video songs. On the way we picked up Nithi anna and his family. In Vellore, Abee  joined along with his son and son’s friend.

st. joseph's higher secondary school, ooty

We paid around Rs. 400 as road tax in tolls, and two times to police of Rs 20. We reached the “St. Joseph’s Higher Secondary School, Ooty”, around 7:00 am. After a long time I had a chance to visit a school. we had to use common toilet and bathrooms. We stood in queue to get our breakfast “Uppumaa” with chattini and a banana.

benny anan is doing a prayer

After that we assembled for a prayer. Abee anna gave as a very good message on “How to keep our good habits of our’s from the worldly things. Doing ministry can be of various forms/methods. Helping others with what ever talent you have is known as ministry. To do that you have to avoid worldly thoughts; you have to meditate regularly.

Anna has given Joseph and David as examples for obedience. Kishan Singh sung two nice worship songs. Then did a small prayer and we got nice blue t-shirt and a cap. All my friends came from different parts of Tamil Nadu. We were one less than 80 in number. Groups of youth came from Tanjour, Trichy, Selam, Thirunelveli and other places.

worship songs -morning session

We reached the Government Botanical Garden around 10:00 am. On the way, we saw lot of small shops selling attractive toys, dresses, fruits and veritable.  The complete road was filled with people. A police man was shouting in a mike to clear the crowd in front of the main gate.

Beyond or deviating from the usual or expected

What do you do when you find a Cobra or venomous snake in your house or garden?

What do you do when you find a Cobra or a Venomous Snake in your house?
(Venomous – Extremely poisonous or injurious; producing venom)

cobra

I strongly advise – Please do not kill snakes if you have any way of calling a trained expert to safely remove it from you house or garden. Snakes do not take any active interest in humans. They will try to escape from that place the moment they note  human presence.

For most of us, if we happen to see a snake in our house (drawer / box / bush) or garden, the first thing  that runs in our mind is to hit that snake with a broom or stick or any other form of stick (Cricket bat / Hokey Bat / Cricket Stump) . Never ever do that.

First Thing you have to do

1. Move all family members straightaway from that area
2. Do not attempt to interact with it at all
3. Call to experts who handle snakes
4. Make a mental note of it’s markings, color, length and so on (These days everyone holds a mobile phone with camera. Just click

Other points to remember

1. If you find a snake in a drawer / box / bush or somewhere difficult to access leave it alone and keep watching it movement until the experts come
2. Don’t go near any snake if you don’t know how to hit a snake or handle a snake attack

Common tips

1. Try to get some basic knowledge about how to distinguish between venomous snakes and non venomous snakes
2. Always keep a list of doctors’ and clinics’ phone numbers for emergency purposes
3. Try to teach your kid about snacks and ask them to inform adults in the house if at all they find any one of them

References:

1. Snacks in India: Wildlife – Snakes in India.
2. You could have a glance: The Whitaker guide to Indian snakes

Why I am wrote this post?

My apartment is located near a pond.There are lot of bushes all along the bank, on both sides. Last week, when kids in my apartment were playing in the portico, they saw a snake coming at the side of our apartment. They informed the adults about this snake immediately. Adults asked everybody to move from that place. In a few minutes that snake went to the back side of my apartment and settles down in a hole. Then my friends, Darvin and Justin gave a call to the Guindy National Park people. After an hour they came and captured the snake and moved it to the zoo. They gave some money as a token of gratitude.

Here is the number to call them : 044 – 2220 0335 / 98848 47673 (Guindy National Park)

some useful video clips from http://www.youtube.com – posted by expert village.

1. How to Survive a Venomous Snake Bite : First Aid if a Child Bitten by a Snake?
2. How to Survive a Venomous Snake Bite : What Are the Most Common Venomous Snakes?
3. How to Survive a Venomous Snake Bite : How to Identify Coral & King Snakes?
4. How to Survive a Venomous Snake Bite : How to Avoid Snake Bites?
5. How to Survive a Venomous Snake Bite : How to Use An Extractor to Remove Snake Venom?

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Some interesting photos in flickr.com by captain Suresh Sharma

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How to travel from Chennai to Madurai if you don’t have a reserved ticket.

I booked a ticket in Chennai Express a couple of weeks back to travel from Madurai to Chennai. That time the waiting list number was 215. I thought I will definitely get the RAC (Reservation against cancellation). But when the chart got prepared I was in the waiting list category only (WL-13). So I decided to travel by bus.

All my family members thought I am going to struggle to get a direct bus to Chennai. I went to the bus stand with my uncle (Mattuthavani Bus Stand Madurai). Outside of the bus stand itself I asked few private buses.  Their ticket cost 375 to 430. But there is one problem with these buses. There were no standard starting time.

Once I had an experience with this kind of bus in Chennai Egmore area.I got the ticket around 9.00 pm and that bus started around 11.00 pm and reached Madurai next day 11.00 am. The guy who sold the ticket said “Sir, there are few seats only left in the bus.” So I bought the ticket in a hurry. But when I reached the bus I came to new very few (three or four) passenger were already boarded. Slowly I realized that reaming seats they have to fill and then only they will start the bus.

Back to our Madurai bus stand, one of the government bus driver helped us with a valuable information. He guided us to the current booking center. In that current booking center I stood in a queue  for almost fifteen minutes and I got a token for RS. 10.00, These are called Special Chennai Buses.

They Issued me the token around 6:45 pm and my seat number was 34. Within five minutes I boarded on the bus. The bus was pretty old, and they charged me Rs. 144.00 to Chennai. Most of the (99%) are normal buses. But if you are in a hurry, these buses are a nice solution to your problem.

In our travel that bus stopped at three places. In the fist stopping I had two parathas for Rs 25.00 and a Thunder Coconut for Rs 10.00.  One guy went to a shop were a grandma was shouting “Each Rs 10.00”, But the moment he chose a tender coconut, she said that it was Rs 15.00. He said he don’t want than and left that place. She scolded commonly that people are earning much but not willing to spend.

In Thindivanam we got a new driver and a conductor. I  had a coffee for Rs. 6.00.  The new conductor checked the passengers number and we continued our journey.

They started exactly at 7:00 pm and reached Chennai (Thambaram) at 6:00 am. I reached my home safely and back to my regular work.

If you don’t have a reserved ticket, or an emergency trip you have to make, just go to this current booking center and get a token for Rs 10.00.

Thanks to the Madurai Transport Corporation for this wonderful initiative.

Why we have to take a few moments before leaving a super mart?

Did your family members are tempted by the big attractive “mega offer – buy one and get one free” posters. Here is  my experience with super markets / retail stores.

1.  Relience Super, (latest)
No 7, VP Rathinnasamy Nadar Road, Bibikulam, Madurai.

Saturday, 9th May 2009.

I and my wife Jebakani with  my son Alan Jeffsan went to Relience shop to purchase some food  items in a hurry. We have to reach the house as soon as possible because I have to return the vehicle to my uncle.  We bought iddly rise,  weat atta, toordal, moongdal, tomato, banana … here comes the story. Before paying the bill my wife got attracted buy the “buy one get one free offer” placed in front of pillow covers.

check the blue rubber-stamp which will avoide you from checking the bill

Immediately I told her definitely there would be some problem in the billing.(Because of my previous experience with More.com at madipakkam, Relience Fresh at madipakam). These local system (computers used to bill and maintain the inventry) handling computer engineers only knows how to make an offer and some time they will not update the prices of the goods properly.  But she refused and said last time it may be an accidental thing.

She took four pieces of  pillow covers labeled Rs 49.00 (mentioned in the product bar code slip). Fortunately after billing my wife noticed that the billing machine billed Rs 69.00 for each pillow cover.

But bill will be bit focusing because they will show the 1st product once with price. Then the second product with price which will be followed by the same price with a minus sign. (If a product contains an offer of buy one get one free there is no need to print it’s as 69.00 Rs and in the second line -69.00 Rs. Just print once.)

On top of all these confusion they will apply the rubber sign “Thank you” ….. and all. My wife verified with the person who stud on the billing machine. Then the bill forwarded to a shop manager. He took ten minutes to verify it, and then he gave the bill to the customer support counter.

There they tried few times to verify what went wrong? and finally they said they will return the money to me and they will take the product back.

The funniest part is my wife took almost 10 to 15 minutes (I was standing in the queue to pay the bill)  to select four  pieces with same design and same price range. They where simply sending the bill to one person to another. one guy went inside their admin section for almost ten minutes. After that he came and ask me to put sign on a bill which mentioned that I am returning the product. I did that and they asked my mobile number. I wrote down my mobile number.

The man who gave us the bill gave this number as his shop manger's number

Almost five time I asked that guys that give my the feedback / complaints note book. But they haven’t provided me. I gave them the example, in Chennai we have seen complaint / suggestions note in most of the super marts.

After that we got the money back. But why i thought of writing this post is While the guy is trying to get the change 138 Rs. 

His manager was telling him to give 140 rs …  He said no problem boy just give him the 140 rs we will tally it latter

… Do they train the managers to play with customers feelings. Don’t it look odd to anyone when somebody spoke like that?

I got my money back. Twice I asked why was it happened. They said some problem with the computer. I asked them to remove the remaining pillow covers from there. But they haven’t.

What ever complaints you have made also they won’t immediately remove the problematic product from display. If they could have moved those problematic pillow covers, I would have wrote a happy post.

The way you will be treated by these guys, as if we have done some thing wrong. If there is any mistakes in the bill, immediately they will call another guy (Definitely he won’t be there) he has to come from in side the admin section. Then that guy will cross check you bill for several time in the system which was kept in front of the customer support guy. I thought of calling this MR Karthikeyan. M and left that idea. This number was given by them after I asked for a contact number.

2.  Relience Fresh, (Madipakkam – 9th April 2009)

I bought some snacks from this shop. I paid my bill using my ICICI C Card. Then that girl detected 2,220 instead of 220 rs. She was trying to cancel that order with out informing me. After the bill came out for 2,220 she got panic and called her supervisor.

He came there, he said he canceled the order and produced me the second bill which said “Void Sale”. He said, with in one day the money will returned to my C Card again.

I check in my card details but i haven’t got any transaction like this.

I am not mentioning Relience is doing wrong. Human errors will happen. But as a customer we should be aware of online banking transactions, If at all some thing went wrong how to overcome from that …  If you have a doubt in your bill feel free to ask them .. what went wrong?

we as customers has to take a few moments before leaving a super mart.

• Check the products you have purchased are present in the covers.
  
• Check the bill at least the product values more than 100 rs.
  
• No need of a calculator. Add the values approximately and verify.
  
• You have to check the amount of product which you have bought for the offer price.
  
• You have to check your bill especially if the guy enters bar code manually.
  
• Check the expiry date of food product which holds an offer price.
• Make sure that you spend at least 2 to 3 minutes after paid the bill.

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