I'd gone across to the venue, by about a quarter to 10 in an auto rickshaw, which was the St Gregorios College, Pulamon, Kottarakkara. The fact was that our co-ordinator, Jayachandran was keeping the venue close to his chest. Wonder why? I'd gone to the college initially, only to be told by my Maman - he'd, also, fetched up from Thiruvananthapuram a while before - that the venue was at the turn for the institution on the Kollam - Chenkottah road, 150 mts east of Pulamon junction.
Meanwhile, I'd shuttled between the two gates - the college and the school gates are located 180 degrees to each other and the auto rikshaw driver must have wondered as to how disorganised I was - because of the confusion. The time given to me, again, by Jayachandran was 10 'o clock sharp. (That it took place finally, at 11, was a clear indicator of the elasticity of the 'punctuality' factor. There are many of us who've a tendency to keep facts within them....the momentary feeling of power exhilarates them, I suppose!)
Our Science Exploratory had reached the venue, having left Thiruvananthapuram in the morning and it had to be positioned at the venue. Accordingly, I gave directions to Aji to park the vehicle parallel to the V2 Shopping Complex at the eastern end of the row of shops and towards the right side of the main thoroughfare. Its rear platform was pulled out, the railings fixed and the awning above, drawn out and the stage looked imposing, getting many curious onlookers to crowd around almost instantly.
The MLA and the Chairperson of the Municipality were in attendance and Maman explained to the gathering regarding the procedure. It was basically to connect all traders, including the auto rickshaw fraternity through cashless transactions using the BHIM App. Incidentally, Bhim is the acronym for Bharat Interface for Money! There were our reps - the students from the college's chemistry department - who'd help us in the shop-to-shop registration by giving each vendor his/her QR Code which is unique and serves as his/her identifying factor, which would enable the financial transactions!
The children were handed over a cap and tee shirt and having adorned them, the entire lot, along with the guests, walked in a procession carrying a huge placard to the Pulamon junction from where the registration began. It was truly a colourful event and the whole of Kottarakkara took note of the event. The activity will continue for three days and we hope to announce the town's traders to have achieved 100% digital connectivity, for financial transactions, by Wednesday. It will be the second town to have achieved this status, after Kottayam.
We left by Maman's car and had visited the Malayala Manorama office at Kottayam for a short meeting around a half past 4. I got off, soon after, at Ettumanoor, caught a bus bound for Ernakulam but could reach the Vyttila hub after the departure of the last private bus to Guruvayur. It was then that I'd boarded the state road transport corporation's bus to Kannur and got off at Kunnamkulam by a quarter past 10, reaching home in an auto rickshaw 20' later.
Tailpiece.
During the journey, I'd got in touch with the Rajah Hospital's path lab to tie up for sending their team for the collection of Lekha's blood/urine samples for tests, early morning tomorrow. Armed with the results, we meet her doctor on the 5th as per the appointment already taken. It's the start of the next serial! There's never a dull moment!!
Meanwhile, I'd shuttled between the two gates - the college and the school gates are located 180 degrees to each other and the auto rikshaw driver must have wondered as to how disorganised I was - because of the confusion. The time given to me, again, by Jayachandran was 10 'o clock sharp. (That it took place finally, at 11, was a clear indicator of the elasticity of the 'punctuality' factor. There are many of us who've a tendency to keep facts within them....the momentary feeling of power exhilarates them, I suppose!)
Our Science Exploratory had reached the venue, having left Thiruvananthapuram in the morning and it had to be positioned at the venue. Accordingly, I gave directions to Aji to park the vehicle parallel to the V2 Shopping Complex at the eastern end of the row of shops and towards the right side of the main thoroughfare. Its rear platform was pulled out, the railings fixed and the awning above, drawn out and the stage looked imposing, getting many curious onlookers to crowd around almost instantly.
The MLA and the Chairperson of the Municipality were in attendance and Maman explained to the gathering regarding the procedure. It was basically to connect all traders, including the auto rickshaw fraternity through cashless transactions using the BHIM App. Incidentally, Bhim is the acronym for Bharat Interface for Money! There were our reps - the students from the college's chemistry department - who'd help us in the shop-to-shop registration by giving each vendor his/her QR Code which is unique and serves as his/her identifying factor, which would enable the financial transactions!
The children were handed over a cap and tee shirt and having adorned them, the entire lot, along with the guests, walked in a procession carrying a huge placard to the Pulamon junction from where the registration began. It was truly a colourful event and the whole of Kottarakkara took note of the event. The activity will continue for three days and we hope to announce the town's traders to have achieved 100% digital connectivity, for financial transactions, by Wednesday. It will be the second town to have achieved this status, after Kottayam.
We left by Maman's car and had visited the Malayala Manorama office at Kottayam for a short meeting around a half past 4. I got off, soon after, at Ettumanoor, caught a bus bound for Ernakulam but could reach the Vyttila hub after the departure of the last private bus to Guruvayur. It was then that I'd boarded the state road transport corporation's bus to Kannur and got off at Kunnamkulam by a quarter past 10, reaching home in an auto rickshaw 20' later.
Tailpiece.
During the journey, I'd got in touch with the Rajah Hospital's path lab to tie up for sending their team for the collection of Lekha's blood/urine samples for tests, early morning tomorrow. Armed with the results, we meet her doctor on the 5th as per the appointment already taken. It's the start of the next serial! There's never a dull moment!!
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