What are a few things that very successful people never do?

1. THEY NEVER GOSSIP:
 When successful people want to share the inside scoop, they just speak openly about their preferences and thoughts.

2. THEY NEVER INTERRUPT:
 Listen, they truly listen to what others have to say. They try to learn from what everyone else thinks.

3. THEY NEVER RESENT:
 Remarkably successful people put all their emotional energy into focusing not on others have done, but on what they will do. When you hold onto it, only YOU lose.

4. THEY NEVER FIT IN (just to fit in):
 They have decided to simply be who they are.

5. THEY NEVER LET THE PAST DICTATE THEIR FUTURE:
We all make mistakes, we all have challenges. Remarkably successful people believe their past should inform them but not define them.

6. THEY ARE NEVER LATE:
Successful people start their day a little early. They plan ahead.

7. THEY NEVER DECIDE THEY DON'T HAVE THE TIME:
They figure out what's important and strip away all the stuff that isn't.

8. THEY ARE NEVER AFRAID TO TAKE RISKS:
They put their fear aside and get started. They are often afraid, but they are most afraid of looking back and thinking."if only I had...."

Ambaram's handloom, baby

July 31, 2018 12:17 IST Ambaram creates hand-woven cotton clothes and accessories for new-borns

One afternoon, SP Arun Kumar chanced upon a pillow at his home in Madurai. It changed the course of his life. “It was stuffed with old baby clothes that belonged to my sister and me,” recalls the 29-year-old. Kumar felt the fabric, ran his hands through the embroidery that his mother had done. “It was unlike anything I saw at the regular textile stores,” he says. “The clothes were simple, made of the softest cotton, and the colours were mild and pleasant.” Kumar, who then worked as a web-designer in Chennai, thought, why not make quality baby clothes? He didn’t like city life anyway and saw the business idea as something that would take him back to his roots.

“My sister Ponmani and I came up with the concept for a line of clothes that are suited for our weather conditions and are kinder on the skin and environment,” says Kumar. That’s how Ambaram came to be. Started in December 2016, the company makes hand-woven clothes for new-borns and babies up to the age of one. According to Kumar, Ambaram means fabric in ancient Tamil.

Kumar says that hand-woven cotton is better suited for South India’s weather. “Knitted fabrics, for instance, are not breathable. Wear them in the hot sun and you can see how the material doesn’t let sunlight in.” Kumar says that nylon and polyester are a big no-no. “Dressing up babies in such fabrics, according to me, is an act of violence,” he feels. “We strive to go the Gandhian way — we source fabrics from Gandhigram at Dindigul and from handloom weavers in and around the weaving clusters of Chennimalai,” he adds.

Ponmani, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Fashion and Garment Design, patterns the clothes. The Ambaram team is all for no frills — their range consists of off-white jablas with pastel borders and tie-ups, shorts, and nappies. “We wanted to keep off zippers, buttons, and elastic that can hurt baby skin,” explains Kumar. The brother-sister duo is now working on clothes for kids up to the age of five. “We plan to introduce frocks and kurta-pyjama sets with simple thread work,” he adds.

Ambaram’s USP is its gift box — a combination of jablas, nappies, bibs, shorts, a bracelet made of vasambu (calamus root), palm leaf rattle, and a handmade cradle mobile. Kumar sources the rattles from palm-leaf artisans in Thiruchendur and Ramanathapuram. “We wanted to provide an eco-friendly alternative to the flood of plastic toys in the market.”

Most of their orders are online. They market their products on their Facebook page and by word-of-mouth. Ambaram’s unit is at Puliyanur village, Villupuram. “When we first visited the village, we saw most parents there worked in far off places and visited their children only during weekends. Their children grew up with their grandparents and lacked a connect with their parents,” says Kumar. Along with Ponmani, he stared a tailoring school to provide women there an alternative livelihood. “Today, we have a team of three that works for us,” he says. “We hope the unit becomes self-sustainable.”

Roof Gardening

Love to grow your own vegetables on a terrace garden? NM Mythreyan and V Balasubramaniam offer city dwellers advice on the nuts and bolts of setting up one

The first thing I notice when I reach the terrace is how organised everything is. The plants are arranged in neat rows, in green HDPE grow bags. There is a green shade net at one end which covers one third of the terrace, the walls are lime-washed. The area has been well utilised and there’s even a small fruit section atop the water tank.

NM Mythreyan, who set up the garden with his brother-in-law V Balasubramaniam says, “We decided to start a roof garden about seven years ago. But at the time, we mostly had flowering plants. They flourished and in a short while we had a beautiful garden of ornamental plants. We then tried planting vegetables. These turned out very well and after a few months we noticed that our vegetable bill came down significantly. So we replaced most of the flowering plants with vegetables. To facilitate cross pollination, we also planted herbs.” He adds, “Today about 70% of our weekly vegetables comes from our terrace garden — and its all organic.”

Mythreyan continues, “On weeks we had excess, we offered some of our vegetables to our neighbours and soon, a lot of them started coming to us for advice on setting up their own terrace gardens.”

Balasubramaniam explains: “That’s when we decided to offer advice and supplies to help people set up terrace gardens. From the outset we decided that our priority was not to make money but to help people. We charge a nominal fee for advice and add a small margin to the supplies to help us sustain the business. We’ve helped build over 1,500 terrace gardens across Chennai.” They have set-up a company called Indra Terrace Gardens that Yogalakshmi, Mythreyan’s wife runs.

Balasubramaniam says that they grow brinjal, chillies, curry leaves, tomatoes and leafy greens like spinach. In the summer, they plant cluster beans, cucumber, watermelon, okra, and bitter gourd and in winter, long beans, radish, carrot, beetroot, capsicum, among others.

When asked if water seeps into the floor below, Balasubramaniam says, “We use HDPE grow bags instead of clay pots that can crack easily and are quite heavy. The bags are light and waterproof. We also use coir mixed soil which absorbs and holds water.” The duo collects dry leaves and food waste is a compost bin. This is converted into bio manure for the plants.

Water from their kitchen is routed to the garden. For pest control, they use neem oil, castor oil, a mix of chilli, ginger and garlic extracts. They’ve also planted flowering plants that act as a natural pest control agent.

Mythreyan and Balasubramaniam hope to raise awareness on terrace gardens. “A lot of people are not aware that an area of 500 to 600 sqft is all that’s needed to meet 60 to 70% of the vegetable requirements of a family of four. The vegetables are organic, and having plants also brings down the temperature of the floors below. Also, the initial cost of setting this up is low and so is the maintenance.”

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Green house

  Fabricating and putting up a 500 sq ft green shade net comes up to Rs. 35,000.

  Plants, bags, manure, coir-peat soil, seeds and saplings required for a 1,000 sq ft terrace garden cost approximately Rs. 10,000.

  One needs to spend about 30 minutes a day to maintain a 1000 sq ft terrace garden.

  For details, call 9884046327 email indragardens@gmail.com.