Dear Jeyamohan,
Recently, I attended the Botany introductory class conducted by Lokamadevi Madam at Nithiyavanam, Vellimalai. My parents could not come with me, so I attended the class with my uncle Venkatesh and my aunt Preethi and their family.
From the class, I came to know about many plants and their behaviours. Madam also spoke about women who were pushed out of science. Following that, after dinner at night, she told us some stories about great women and their inventions.
The best part of the two-and-a-half days was the botanical hunt. For that, Madam came with some preparations and gave us tasks to complete. She divided us into groups and asked us to complete the tasks within one hour. Our group leader was Saranya Akka. She further divided us into groups of two, and each group was assigned one task. My teammate was Aravind, and we both explored the whole Nithiyavanam.
During this time, we helped Menaka Madam, who is a PhD scholar working under Lokamadevi Madam. We noticed that she was finding it difficult to reach a flower she had been searching for over the last two years in Nithiyavanam. The flower was at a height, and she was trying to reach it, so we helped her, pluck it and gave it to her. She explained to us that the flower is called Kattu Gundumalli, and it blooms only once a year. After this activity, we did tree hugging, tree meditation, and then we had a quiz session.
In the class, Madam showed us many plants that I had never seen before and taught us about the dangers of certain plants as well. She also showed us some plants that looked like animals and insects. The whole two-and-a-half days were a wonderful experience. It was a very good opportunity for us to understand plants better.
This is the best class I have ever attended. I sincerely thank Lokamadevi Madam for teaching us and giving us this wonderful experience. I also thank you for arranging these classes for us.
With love,
Pon Mukesh.
