Not Just Another Workshop!!

SPACES was fortunate enough to be invited to conduct a session on Ornamental Gardening. It was indeed a unique way of blending both the organic methods of farming and the utilization of the space available in cities. Yes , space is the most important constraint even for garden enthusiasts and that proves to be a block for setting up gardens. Sometimes this block is less physical and more of an immediate rejection without exploring the available possibilities.

This very novel effort on educating the audience on such options was conducted by SUBHAM in association with Kasturba Residents Association. The organizers did a brilliant job by roping in notable groups working toward similar goals.

There was a talk by Ms.Lakshmi Sriram madam who explained about the little details that most of us tend to worry about and these were the precise information that would go a long way in producing better, healthier produce .. and that too at our own backyard! And then the famous organic shop – Restore‘s owner Mr.Anantu gave an inspiring talk about food security and there were some innovative products, specifically Eco-pots ,designed by Mr.Vijayan and his daughter. Not to forget the informative talk about different indigenous herbs and their uses.

SPACES gave a presentation on the terrace and other recent technologies coming up among which Hydroponics and Aquaponics were topics covered. Other than that we also gave a general idea on the important things to take care while having a roof garden and the concept of vertical planters. The topics were well received and the audience were full of questions later and hopefully many would want to take up the same.  Space saving techniques have become the order of the day and we were just too happy to share our knowledge.

All these aspects added quite a bit of dimension to the normal format. And in the afternoon session, we had group discussions with each of the resource,talking about their ideas or products or basically clearing all general doubts.

The whole atmosphere ,no doubt, presented a very healthy discussion platform for creative garden enthusiasts to get more and more of a clear perspective. A great initiative by the community and SUBHAM. SPACES hopes to see next time larger audiences and much more resources coming and putting forward their ideas and innovations.

Vidhya School, Medavakkam – Environment Awareness Workshop

Our biggest take-away from the workshop – No matter how much you prepare, the kids shall outsmart you! 🙂 

 

So, there we were unassumingly getting ready for what was going be our best experience so far interacting with children, checking and double-checking all the things to be taken to the school for the Environment Awareness Program scheduled on the 30th of November.

When we arrived, the children had already been assembled in the long hall, easily accommodating around 150-200 students at a time. There was an atmosphere of anticipation, as we tried to get comfortable and get on stage and on with the show. This was also our first time with such a big audience. So, understandably, we went in with some butterflies,but once we found our groove, we were all able to connect with the students.

Here are some of the pot-shots from the day:

The children, clearly amused by what they were hearing! 🙂

Eager to volunteer to answer.

Uma, passionately explaining about gardening.

Time for the next batch.

Driving a point or two about chemical abuse in the form of pesticides.

Students, rapt with attention.

Shainika, having a bit of fun with the audience.

She had the toughest job, handling the older kids. 🙂 Looks like she did pretty well.

And then our most favorite section, the career possibilities.

We ventured opinions, aims, dreams and aspirations. No prize for guessing, more doctors ,engineers and scientists in the making. 🙂

But amongst all of them, remained only one soul who wanted to become an agriculturist. But it did turn out her relative was in the same field.But hey, she at least knew it was an option.

The correspondent later told us that he was approached by a student, who had asked him, sir, all this information is incredible, but seriously, how will a kid from a government school know of so many possibilities that he/she could pursue?? we were baffled at the depth of insight , that this kid had, barely out of his high school.

Below are our favorite moments. Totally unplanned and came up with it at the nick-of-the moment. We made all the kids stand up, raise their hands and take an oath.

“To save the planet. to protect  and to nurture it.”

Well, the day had just begun and we came bearing tree saplings , around 400 of them, to distribute it to the students. The school made it into a competition, an ingenious idea that, to make sure none of the tree saps were neglected.

And made all the students pose with their new-found treasure 🙂

I must stress at this point, the kids have a lot more pocket-money than we ever did, all of them flashing their high funda notes and asking for seeds worth 10 bucks. Our cashiers had a tough time sorting out the ‘change’-issues 🙂 Kudos to them though for handling all that pressure.

These two pretty ladies seemed to be deliberating for a long time, deciding which seeds to buy.

Us, getting ready for the next item on the agenda, the demo session, which included parents.And enough break time to take a few more group pics.

Uma, a force to reckon with during the demo session.

Parents , patiently hearing us out. A lot of them came and told us that they really enjoyed it and were eager to know more.

We made sure, they took a look at our posters explaining a lot of things, including, home composting, and essential herbal plants etc.

The stalls were a huge hit. We had throngs and throngs of kids and parents alike , wanting to buy us out. 🙂

Of course, at that point of time, i took over as the photographer, and it seemed, i was in demand too, of course scorned by my fellow mates, that i got the easier job. 😛 🙂 The boys and girls were more than happy to pose,proudly showing what they had bought.

And soon it was time for the bell to go off, and the school yard was absolutely teeming with children and their saps and their products. and I was in the middle of it all.

Hopefully, we had made some kind of impact on them. All we wanted them was to go home and do something worthwhile of the day spent getting so much of information and ideas.

But it seemed like , even after the last bell, the kids were still swarming the stalls. Some of our fast-moving products turned out to be the seeds and when we ran out, we got some extra packets and packed it on the spot and sold it to them. In fact it looked like, as one of our team member pointed out,  “a chef barking out orders and the cook preparing them and bringing it out to the customer”. Our well-oiled team did a fine job, under the intense crowd and satisfying most of them.

The spearheads, during the stalls. and it happened to be a Navin’s first stall experience too, and what an experience that 🙂

So after a pretty long and satisfying day, things came to an end, our seeds box were next to empty and the last of the batch of kids had just emptied the school yard. Heaps of thanks to Mrs.Kalarani and Mr.Vidhyasagar (Correspondent of Vidhya school) for all their support and encouragement.

What would make it more interesting is if each and every one of our readers too would take an oath that the students took, SPACES included, to protect,nurture and preserve the environment and decided to follow through. That would be our biggest achievement and success and nothing else, none of these workshops,demos,presentations or awareness programs. Simple mechanism. Be the change you want to be.

Medavakkam workshop on Sunday Oct 6th

When we started out this company, we had a vision and that was for every house in chennai to have atleast a small garden.
Looks like we’re heading in the right direction. SPACES is conducting a workshop slash sale at medavakkam.
We are looking forward to this sunday-October 6th and eager to interact with everyone over there. Hopefully we will also learn a few things! 🙂
Interested people can head over there…and check out our goods and probably get a few pointers too.

You can also get consultation from the visiting siddhaa professionals. It is going to be a wholesome experience. Check out the above poster for more information regarding the event.

GREEN THUMBS @ Eldams road

The past few weeks have been surreal. and we had to showcase at yet another stall this weekend. And this particular association came from a surprising and unexpected quarter. Obviously,we were overjoyed and excited at the opportunity.

I still remember when me and my partner had discussed after seeing Kamakshi Nursery’s page on Facebook and exclaiming that these were amazing people doing the things we had hoped for as well.

And few days later… Surprise!! My partner announces,”you’ll never guess who just invited us to co-host a gardening event”. And that marked the beginning.We were fervently trying to tie up all loose ends and get everything ready for d-day. It was to be a three-day affair.

Posters put up at the entrance of Sri Parvati Gallery @ eldams road.

Our porch display

An entire stretch of our goodies for sale!! 🙂

This garden stall, unlike the others we’ve been part of, was held right in the heart of Chennai city at Eldams road. Well, almost. And the gallery by itself was well renowned for  exhibiting great talents and their works over there. Two more companies joined along with us for the event. They were Adeniums India & Sai baba aquarium. Mr. Jalandhar Reddy, owner of Adeniums India, has also been in the bonsai industry for many years. He too is one of our inspirations & our well-wisher.

Lovely Adeniums for sale!

Kamakshi nursery, needless to say, are pioneers in what they do and have been in this business for over 40 years.They exhibited wide varieties of bonsais, beautiful orchids and exotic varieties of cacti during the stalls. We were only humbled by their invitation and equally glad we got to be a part of it. Mr.Srinivasan, who owns kamakshi nursery, is  still going strong at 75 with his passion for greenery. One can only hope to have that amount of staggering strength at that age.His daughter, Ms.Radha Srinivasan, has also dedicated herself to the cause. But being raised among  passionate garden lovers, it wasn’t too difficult a stand for her to take.

Mr.Srinivasan , owner of Kamakshi nursery

Ms.Radha Srinivasan, some bonds are created for a lifetime. Atleast ,that’s how we felt.

Air plants displayed by kamakshi nursery.

Exotic cacti varieties

The amount of fun we had in the total of three days were amazing and we were taught that our perseverance matters. And not to be disheartened. Mr. Srinivasan is truly our greatest role model.

As always, Day 1 being a Friday was kind of slow-moving. But since there had been enough advertisement through Facebook and local newspapers, we were much more hopeful for the following day. Day 2 and 3 just skipped by in full flow. If there weren’t customers, there were laid back, fun banter going back and forth between all of us.

We had great sales over the weekend, so much that some of our supplies got over and we had to send back a few dejected souls with assurance that we’ll have them in stock at our offices when they call us.

In between all this excitement , we had cause for more. A famous South Indian TV channel namely RAJ MUSIC’s official , had dropped by and he wanted to make a short session/video clip about the stalls we had put up. This was definitely a prodigious add-on!!

 Raj music TV official who happened to drop by.

We also indulged in exchange of goods between the hosts and we couldn’t resist buying some of their pretty orchids as a gift to one of our team member.

The dazzling orchid bought by us.

A close up on a variety of orchid.

Meanwhile , the amount of people we got to meet and the encouragement we got were truly boundless.We had loads of drop-ins and surprised looks when we mentioned, “Yes, we run the company, a couple of twenty year old’s”. We had some inquiring and sharing their theories and ideas about hydroponics and aquaponics and other innovations and futuristic designs they’ve thought of. Of all the stalls we’ve ever put up so far ,this was the most fun highlight . Our spirits no doubt doubled.

Some of our garden kits, products and a module about growing greens that we put up!!

Vertical panel system 

Bamboo planters, aesthetically pleasing!!

Terracotta pots galore!! 

Sixteen paneled vertical garden!!

Amazing people that we met: 

Can you imagine a father-son combo who were involved with running chemical factories turning a new leaf and deciding to take on the green industry and wanting to give back something to the rural society ? Or a sports news TV executive wanting to create a setup with a theme of community gardens with a bartering system and arduously working towards it? Well these were the fortuitous encounters we had and were absolutely thrilled.

Serious group discussion!! 

We had people checking in on us till the very last hour. And after the day’s toil, it proved to be a herculean effort to sell that last one. And whoopee, it got sold, thanks to one of our dear friend who happened to witness the entire episode and completely entered into a bout of aggressive marketing. If you’re reading this, can we recruit you please? 😛 🙂

The Last sale of the weekend!!

And so there we were, packing off and loading everything back into our trucks , only to unpack again in a couple of weeks time. It was time for an unplanned surprise dinner with old friends and to enjoy the success of the weekend. Until next time. 🙂

 

There aren’t just zoos at Vandalur, there are CARNIVALS too!!

Where we were expecting a more serene setting, we were in for a shock!!

The colors, banners, balloons, and the confetti. The whole atmosphere tugged at the child in us to go “Wheeeee…….!!” It was a perfect carnival in every sense.

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Proof we were there 😛 🙂

The ‘grand mela’ (carnival in hindi) – long shot!!

This just  gives us an idea of how our city life has changed and consequently we have too. We live in a world where Lifestyle discounts & free coupons at Domino’s are closely followed. The last time I probably visited a place like this and had so much fun would be the trade fare years ago, which happens regularly at the Island grounds (Chennai) and it was quite a happy occasion for me as a kid.

One of the rare few together.

When we had a few minutes to spare to click a few pics!

On the prowl! 🙂

Enjoying a bit of a lazy moment. 🙂

Our banner!! 😀

That’s why this apartment complex and the carnival held there bought great joy to us. for a simple fact, we enjoy as a community.

The clouds had just opened up and what followed was a quick shower. And we were hoping  the event wasn’t going to get washed away. but apart from a few drips here and there , we were good to go. The rains had left behind a sweet smelling aroma, something to enjoy.

There was this buzz as kids running around everywhere and parents after them frantically! Food, chat, clothes,henna stalls, games, beauty products and so on …the list goes on. They even had a constant MC entertaining the crowd. The karaoke was supposed to be the high finish!!

We had an awesome time at our stall. We were juxtaposed in between a gaming stall and an organic food stall. And to add to all the confusion, the chat shop (Indian snacks/delicacies) was just temptingly placed right in front of us. It’s a wonder we didn’t blow all the money over there for stuffing ourselves.  😛 🙂

Initially , the moving crowd was a bit slow. But then things started picking up and went pretty wild. Me and my partner could barely hold fort. Thank goodness, we had one of our friend helping us out a bit to. It’s a whole other ball game when you stand there in the stall and explain to each person who walks up, try to list out all the products and elucidate their ease of use. It is important to shed all those inhibitions and reservations and just go and converse with them and invite them into your world. It truly is an art.

The concept of anybody having a garden in Chennai is only slowly picking up. But we were amazed at the turnout at our stalls. But the sale of vegetable seeds were the greatest hit. People kept buying them in bunches.That was quite unexpected. Lots of people were sharing and swapping their garden stories. Some were apprehensive about keeping and maintaining a garden in their balcony and some decided to go for it.

We hope many more communities, let it be apartment complexes or streets or a colony, try to adopt these carnival concept and have a way to connect to each other. It certainly sounds simple and straight-forward. Just takes a step. We’ve been living in the virtual world for too long, lets head back to the real world.

Overall, another stall experience, done and dusted!! And we are as proud as ever.

Events through the week!!!

Expos! Presentations! Quite a busy past week we had.

We put up stalls in Mogappair Golden Colony Park. It was supposed to be just a one day affair. But we decided to extend it to a few more days. The first day was the best of course. We had advertised through Mogappair Mail. They had even put up a small one column article for us. Thanks to those and the news paper inserts we had sent out, there were loads of people from nearby areas like Padi , Korattur, Porur etc who had taken the trouble to come on out to our expo on a Sunday. I know that is difficult. It is after all our only rest-day! 🙂 Some came with an idea to buy, some were just curious to know what they were in for. There were a few people who asked a lot about our products, and went back enriched with information.

So the Expo was very robust till lunchtime and then again after 4:00 pm when everyone came out of their homes, all set for a walk, after taking a siesta from the scorching midday sun and heat. And we were there ready.

This was a lot different from our experience from selling at Pallikaranai I have to say. The approach, the attitude everything was different. And it was a huge learning curve for us. As we were just getting exposed to the “customer-dealing” front of our business.

So a lot of our well wishers were explaining that the morning crowd is much more than the evening crowd and that we should stick on for some more time. And the park authorities were more than happy to let us stay for then entire week if possible. 🙂

Here are some pics which I clicked, whenever i could, from the Expo:-

The whole team at work!! :):) (above)

The next big thing were our presentations over the weekend , added to all this were a birthday and an anniversary of our dear friends , SPACES had a fun and hard time juggling it all! 🙂 🙂

So the presentation work began overnight and got completed hours before our first presentation. It felt like a college assignment :P. Anyway the first one was for E-farm. I’m sure a lot of you would’ve heard about them. They are pioneers at what they do. Helping farmers, suppliers and the buyers to meet at a common ground and bringing them together. It was a great experience for us to go back to the place where we were one among the audiences a year ago at their very workshop for which we were asked to talk. It was all very informal and we all warmed to the audience right away. After our talk and a little bit of connecting with the crowd and light chit-chat, Mr.Venkat dove right back into his discussions which were worth listening to. He is a very straight forward, down to earth guy who tells it as it is.

The following day was for Madras Day Celebrations, where the event called Chennai Big Idea was held for people to talk about the civic issues and find a unique, realistic, creative idea to overcome them. We were one among 15 ideas and honestly we felt humbled to be a part of it. Ideas as creative as making potholes-street-art  to having grandiose stage for our rich cultured art to show off, everything under the sun was discussed. Even though our presentation was one among the last, and we were somewhat pressed for time, we had a nice time. It was refreshing to actually hear everybody think out of their box and hearing them out. Unfortunately there are no pictures of these two presentations yet, will post them as soon as we get a hold of them.

Again, it was a weekend well spent i would say!

It’s important that we do contribute, in any way possible, to the community that has given us so much. It’s not just enough to crib about the corporation.If we do have some idea, find a way to implement it. As a gentleman pointed out on Sunday at the Chennai Big Idea Event, no better way to follow through an idea to just START. In any small way possible. It is time we do something to make our little world a better place to live in before we move on to discuss/crib about the “global issues”.