Cleanliness

Abhinav and me had Evening walk after a Long break ( Brother Marriage and Overseas Vacation….good I got some excuses). We found Trashes on street and I was commenting that “ Some bad boys thrown trash on street”. 

Abhinav Quickly replied “ Trash should be given to Trash Collector who comes in morning”. But Why Thatha ( Grandfather) throws Trash outside the shop? Is he bad boy?

I have no answers.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

(But in My village, Shop Trash will be kept on street in Night, Trash Collectors collects in the morning. House Trash will be given directly to Trash Collectors).

PM Shree Narendra Modi announced Swachh Bharat Abhiyan which is Clean India Campaign. Let’s all Participate and show our Spirit towards Cleanliness and It will be path for our next generation.  

Kuala Lumpur and Singapore Experience

Preface:

We had our Family Overseas Vacation Last week. It was much awaited and came to reality after Air Asia Announced their 5^th Anniversary Offer on November 2013. My Daddy is most interested to see Singapore hence I Booked Tickets for Kuala Lumpur. Schedule Journey is on Sep 13-18, 2014. Yes It was big gap from the date of booking to date of Journey.

Real Experience

I booked 8 Tickets and we all set to go Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Then My Brother Marriage got Engaged and Booker another separate ticket for his fiancée. ( Before Marriage J ). I discussed with Make My Trip, Balmer Lawrie, Cox & Kings and Thomas Cook Also with Separate Tour Operators in Singapore & Kula Lumpur. I received Positive response from Balmer Lawrie, Cox & Kings and Local Abroad Tour Operators. I avoided Local Abroad Tour Operators due to Disconnect and Trust issue. Cox & Kings Quoted 30% higher than Balmer Lawrie for the same Itinerary. So I decided to go with Balmer Lawrie which is Govt of India Enterprise. We all applied for Visa and received the same with a suspense of uncertainty. We started our Tour on Sep 13, 2014.

Day 1 – Sep 13, 2014:

We are Total 9 persons but Two groups. One group is ( My bro and Bro Wife) going for their Honey Moon which is planned only in Malaysia. Another Group ( Me, Priya, Abhinav, My Mom, My dad, Priya’s Uncle and Priya’s Aunty) is going for their Overseas Vacation which is planned in Malaysia and Singapore. Our Air Asia flight took off on time and many of the group persons cleared their maiden flight / maiden overseas flight.

At Trichy Airport

Inside AirAsia Flight

At KLIA 2

At KLIA2

We started at 925am from Trichy, India and reached 355pm at Kuala Lumpur. Meet and greet was missing but the fellow left with Welcome message and Driver contact number. Immediately got Malaysia Sim card from Maxis which is available at Airport arrivals gate. Maxis has good plans than cellcom. Driver took Meet and Greet responsibility and took us to Hotel. Honeymoon group went to Domestic Departure for their Langkawi flight. Driven Kannan explained well about his country, his origin, Palm tree, Putrjaya city and KL people & Life style. Even we talked about Real Estate….

We stayed in Hotel Sentral Pudu which is very near to Berjaya Times Square ( Big Mall, Mono station, Singapore Coach Pick up place….).

View From Room

At Berjaya Times Square

Selfie @ Room

Room is really good and neat & We had better View. Had dinner in Muslim Restaurant near by Times Square.

Day 2 – Sep 14, 2014:

Hotel Breakfast  is like half European ( Corn flakes, Bread Toast, Coffee / Tea), Quarter Chinese & Malay. Had  breakfast for Stomach not for Tongue. My father had hard time to digest those food by seeing itself. Picked up at hotel for Singapore travel by Starmart Coach which is really good in terms of Big Seat with inbuilt Massager, Fully Air Conditioned and Very high suspension.

At Starmart Coach

Selfie @ Starmart

Reached Singapore by 315pm after exit immigration at Malaysia and Entry immigration at Singapore. Checked in at Hotel Cultural and left Luggage immediately for Sentosa Tour. My Friend Vignesh Kanna met us in Hotel with his wife and kid. He gave us Bag full of Snacks and Singapore currency for our Expenses. Cable Car ride enjoyed by all of us. It provided Hawkish view of Island. Then we had our Late Lunch at 430 in Subway ( luckily they had Veg Pattie). Under water world is really amazing place with different Sea Living things, Corals and  much more live species. Dolphin Lagoon is fantastic but it should be renamed as Sea Lion (Seal) Lagoon show.

On Travellator @ Underwate World 

Testing Shark Teeth

80% performance contribution by Two Sea Lions. 20% contributed by 3 Dolphins. Had some time at Beach station. Wings of Time is mix of Laser Show, Dancing fountains, Live Graphics Projection with theme/concept on open air where sea breeze hits us.

Wings of Time Show @ Sentosa Island

The Show was great though it began with little noisy. Had Superb dinner at Jewels of India Restaurant.

Day 3 – Sep 15, 2014:

After Hotel Breakfast, We all had Mini City tour Viz: Merlion Park in fulletron road, Singapore Office Buildings, F1 Race tracks & Stadium, China town, Little India and Shree Mari amma Temple ( Built 1827). Weather helped a lot to us for roaming around for Photo snaps.

At Merilion Park

So thirsty Abhinav

Taller than Skyscrapper

Shree Maha Mariamman Temple (1827)

Then we all reached Universal Studio, Singapore by 1130Am. It was already crowded and we were standing in Long Queue for each Rides. Though My Father and Priya Uncle & aunt are 60+ in their age, they all had fun with almost all rides. Total world in theme parks are 7 ( Hollywood, Sci-fi city, New york, Ancient Egypt, Lost world, far Far away and Madagascar).

Dino's Dentist

Infront of Far Far Away

Happy After Shrek 4D

Liberty of Statue @ Singapore

Despicable Pair

Universal Globe

 Abhinav had restriction on certain rides due to his height (102 vs required of 112). We all Enjoyed

Transformer 3D

Revenge of Mummy

TRANSFORMERS The Ride: The  Ultimate 3D Battle, Accelerator, Revenge of Mummy, Lights, Camera, Action!™ Hosted by Steven Spielberg, Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase, Canopy Flyer™, Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure™, Shrek 4-D Adventure, Enchanted Airways, and Madagascar: A Crate Adventure. All rides are great and very thrilling and fun filled except Space chase. The great point is “ after 530pm, there are very very less participants in each ride and you can enjoy your favorite ride multiple times during this time”. Me, Priya and Abhinav enjoyed Transformer ride Twice. We all lost our energy almost and running on reserve J. Again Dinner at Jewels of India Restaurant at Little India, My Dad enjoyed “rasam as Soup”.

Day 4 – Sep 16, 2014:

We checked out Cultural Hotel, Singapore and dropped at Starmart Coach Station @ Golden Mile Complex. Abhinav ticket was forcefully bought due to his age above 2 years, finally it was reimbursed by my Malaysia Tour agent.

Relaxing between Long Stretch

The journey was faster than onward and reached 120pm 2 Kuala Lumpur. Immigration at both countries went faster. But Our Taxi failed to pick up us on time. Had Lunch at Same Muslim Restaurant. My bro and his wife joined us from their Langkawi trip. Relaxed at Hotel Sentral Pudu for a while and we started our Kuala Lumpur Night Tour. We spent some time in China Town, Shree Mari Amman Temple, KL Tower and Petronas Tower. We had our dinner at Atmosphere 360  Revolving restaurant which is at KL Tower ( 250m above ground).

KL Tower @ Night View

Petronas @ Night View

Scallop, Mussel and Salmon @ Atmosphere 360 

Mari Amman Temple, Singapore

Prawns Ready to Go

After Dinner @ Revolving Resturant

Taller than Petronas

All elevators shows your floor Number whereas here it shows in Meters J. Abhinav and Me enjoyed Mussel, Scallop, Oyester, Tiger Prawn, Salmon and Crab at restaurant which provided hawkish view of Kuala Lumpur City and its beauty. Took 30 minutes at Petronas Tower Photo shoot. Reached hotel at 1110PM.

Day 5 – Sep 17, 2014:

We started for Bathu Caves and Genting Highlands. Reached 400 million years old Bathu Caves by 11AM and My Mom decided not to climb 350 steps due to her joint pain. Monkeys robbed many peoples water bottle, Banana, Flowers…etc. 42.7m tall Lord Murugan reveals his calmness and beauty. The Mountain is very steep and really exhausted upon climbing. We all had good darshan and blessings from Lord Murugan.

Abhinav with Traditional Costume

Lord Murugan @ Bathu Caves

Inside the Cave

After Darshan @ Dark Cave Entry

Abhinav played with Pigeon herd by chasing , feeding and touching. Then we started for genting Highlands, stopped at another Muslim restaurant for Lunch. We all had Dosa. Genting is 1800 meters of elevation and we stopped for Asia’s Longest Cable car which is 3.38Km Long with Scenic View of Misty Mountains at throw away price of just 6 ringgits. Then Abhinav enjoyed all Indoor theme park rides and we all had fun in Snow world which is maintained at -5°C. Since my Mom interested in Monorail Journey, we were dropped at End station of MonoRail and had Complete ride on it. It was very good upto two stops then, It becomes fully crowded. We spent some time in Berjaya Times Square mall and did some shopping.

Awaiting for Our Cabin

Inside Skyway

Selfie @ First World

@ Snow world

@ Berjaya Times Square Mall

We had Dinner at same Muslim restaurant. Slept at Hotel for our early wakeup due to Early Morning flight.

Day 6 – Sep 18, 2014:

We were dropped at KLIA2 Airport with packed breakfast from Hotel. Our Bottled waters are dropped in bin at Security clearance whereas Breakfast was allowed. We booked total weight of Luggage for 80KG; Actual Luggage weight is at 79.3KG. Enjoyed our flight from KL to Trichy. Landed on time but with jerky landing.

View from UtchiPillayar Temple

So Happy After seeing his Favourite God

Spent two days (Sep 18 and 19)  in Trichy by visiting following temples.

• Brahmapureeswarar Temple, Thirupattur 
• Samyapuram Mariamman Temple
• Sri Rangam Rangamannar
• Thiruvanaika Temple ( Neer Sthalam)
• Thaymanuvar Temple
• Utchi Pillayar Temple

Reached Chennai on Sep 20, 2014 by Rockfort Express.

Vinayagar Chaturthi - Continuation

I asked Abhinav to draw Lord Pillayar as part of wishes to Lord. Abhinav told me that it is neither easy nor difficult and he confirmed that he will draw on his wish only. 

Below is his maiden attempt. He picked color on his own. He wants to leave his signature also.

How corporates Looting more Money from Common Man?

During my Brother's Marriage time, My additional Leave was little bit utilized to help my father at Karthik Stores. Below are my observations.

1. My father used to order Hindustan Unilever Products, Cadbury Products, GSK...etc from Agency during my school days. Order memo was very simple and Payment terms also very simple. In tooth paste section, we used to have Colgate, Close-up, Pepsodent, Vicco, Dabur. Only close-up had 2 variants ( Red and Blue). SKUs are Manageable. So Order memo and Delivery was very simple. Payment Terms used to be 30 Days credit or until next order memo.

- But Now, Order memo is 4 page Computer Printout with "N" Number of SKUs. Such a Simple Soap Lifebouy, has atleast 7 variants by falavors. 3 Variants by weight. So totally 21 variants. My daddy is having tough time manage Infinite variants from each Company each brand. End users are also having their own taste, so we cant ignore each variants. My daddy bought 3 nos to 12 nos in each variants based on previous sales experience and few are based in Beta testing. Credit period also reduced to 1 week-10 days max. Such a large capital is Blocked and some may not even move & stays as inventory.

Small shop owners are having tough time.

2. Had a chance to arrange Cadbury Choclates in its cabinet. Found below change in a month time. Reduction in weight by 25% (approx), Prize of choclate is same Rs 5.
You Should belive both are Rs 5 choclate and one is dated 06/2014 and another one dated 7/2014.

weight is reduced from 12 gm (2012) to 6 gm (2014). Company doubled their profit in 2 years time. In above picture, Company increased their profit 25% (approx) in a month time. Die hard customers making the corporate Kitty wealthy.

There are many things to list and will update during course of time.