OMR Greens go shopping

With 4 days left for T-Day (Sat., Sept.29) Gopalan R, Neeraj Singh and I went to Kelambakkam to shop for hardware that we need to clear the OMR trash heap that sits bang in front of our apartments complex, Mantri Synergy.  Hand-in-Hand, green NGO, didn't confirm till Monday our request for loan of implements such as shovel, earth scraper,and tokri.

Meanwhile, we had a re-think on hardware hiring Vs buying and decided on buying the hardware (as suggested by my friend Ramkumar).The cost - nearly Rs.1,200 - made business sense, for we may have to pay transport cost from Mamallapuram organic waste disposal plant, even if  Hand-in-Hand loaned us the trash collection implements.

 We shopped for disposable gloves and mouth mask at Saravana Medicals. Its owner Mr B Kumar waived the charges - about Rs.250 - when he heard of OMR Greens and the purpose for which we needed mouth mask and gloves.  Incidentally, Mr Kumar's is the first sponsorship OMR Greens have recieved. We started off with Rs. 8,000 as contribution by 8 founder members.

Of this we spent Rs.4,000 on ourselves, buying designer T-shirts. Neeraj and his wife didn't bill us for designing T-shirt. Those who want to get OMR Greens T-shirt could contact Neeraj with Rs.400. He is available at neerajrajpoot@gmail.com ; Phone- 9600159307

T-Day (trash-busting day): Sat.,Sept.29
Time: From 7.30 a m (till 9.30 when it gets too warm)
Place: Pavement trash heap opposite Mantri Synergy, Padur, OMR.

Nilgiri's@Navalur, OMR

Nilgiri's has opened shop at Navalur, and my D block friend Rahul who dropped in there is fairly impressed with the set-up. Vegetables are fresh, he says. The management that advertised 'free home delivery' clarified, when I called, that the facility doesn't extend to us at Mantri's. Free home delivery is done only within three kms of the shop, and this too, for customers running up a bill in excess of Rs.1,000. Call 044 45552224/26

Oru Kal, Erandu Maangai

Sunday summer afternoons are not designed for shopping for saplings. But we were anxious to get things moving,  so that our plans for this Saturday ( April 28 ) don't get shot down by some wise guy who comes up with five reasons why we can't plant four saplings to celebrate the first elected executive to Mantri apartments association.
So Sourav (C-block), Rahul(D) and I took a drive along ECR in search of a nursery; and found what we were looking for,  after half-hour drive in punishing heat.
And at the toll-gate on the Kelambakkam turning,  they don't show consideration for local residents going shopping at an ECR nursery at Muthukadu village. We were billed Rs.45 as toll-charge, for a trip to a neibourhood nursery to buy  saplings worth less than Rs.350.  We aren't complaining ; merely mentioning that rules are made not for people, but  for someone's profit..  Irony was that the chap at the toll gate took back the receipt he had given us, as we returned from our shopping trip. Which made us wonder if  the toll-gate guy who threw the rule-book at us  recycled  our Rs.45-receipt by giving it to someone else.

But for this irritant, we felt fairly pleased at having done what we set out to do. Shopping for saplings proved less costly and more satisfactory than we had anticipated. So we felt we deserved a  treat, and treated ourselves to something chilled  at Kovalam beach (see photos uploaded in Mantri synergy site). The beach was much too crowded, being a Sunday.  The boy at a private parking lot doubled the charges to Rs.20.
Sourav, Rahul and I have decided  to share expenses,  though we aren't going to turn down offers from others who wish to chip in. Unlike on earlier tree-planting, when PropCare arranged for saplings, and the digging at their expense, we are this time  paying  for it all the from our contributions, to make it truly  a Mantri residents contributory celebrations. . .
We have bought two mango, two sapota and a gauva saplings, to be planted on the poolside lawns on Saturday (April 28), at 4.30 p m. The lady at the nursery told us the plants would start giving fruits in five years.  By 2017 we can count on growing our own variety of mango, - GiriHari - ;sapota - , Vasupota; and guava - Indugava. Celebration of EC members this way, we believe, would help spread greater awareness about our community tree-planting programme. You could say, we are  'killing two birds with one stone'. Oru kal, Erandu Maangai, is how we say it in Tamil.

Need a ramp to shop entrance

Mantri Synergy builders who have provided ramps at the entrance to residential blocks haven't done it for the departmental store in the Clubhouse. I can't see my mother (90 plus and using a walker) doing shopping at Mantris.
A ramp at the shop entrance would also be needed for movement of shopping carts. Whoever sets up shop at the Clubhouse should arrange for shopping carts to facilitate resident-shoppers to carry their buys right up to the lift-bay of their residential block. Shop-owner or PropCare can deploy a person to wheel back to the Clubhouse the shopping carts left by residents at various blocks.