Plagued by rats

 

Cinemax theatre needs a pied piper. No one else seems to be doing an adequate job of taking care of rats at he cinema hall in Dev Arc Mall. The very day Mirror reported about an Amdavadi being bitten by a rodent and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation raiding the premises, movie buffs were overrun by rats at a late-night show.

On Saturday, a gang of friends — mostly in their thirties — decided to catch up with each other after a couple of busy months. They booked 16 seats — A-7 to A-18 and B-12 to B-15 — for  the 9.30 pm show of Agent Vinod. A few minutes into the movie, the group sitting in row A detected a stink. Then they jumped up. “Rats were running up and down the seats. Soon we also realised where the awful smell was coming from. There was a dead rat behind one of the seats,” said Saket Shah, a resident of Satellite.

“We drew the attention of the staff to the problem. They requested us to ‘adjust’ as they could not help us in any way,” said the 31-year-old COO of Continental Warehouse Corporation Ltd.

Mansi Shah, 30, who was seated in row A with her young daughter said, “Imagine the fright we received on spotting so many rats jump around the seats. What if one of them had bitten my child? The theatre management had to ensure the safety of the people who come here to watch the movie. If they were really concerned about the well-being of their patrons, they would have shut down the theatre and cleaned it up properly so that such an incident is not repeated.”

Shah brought the issue to the notice of Regional Head (Cinemax) Kunal Sawhney late on Saturday. “However, he treated the matter lightly. In fact, he was very rude to us,” claimed Saket.

When Mirror contacted Sawhney, he said, “We regularly carry out pest control at the theatre. The AMC visited our place on Saturday and checked the property.”

Blaming the mall, he said, “Most of the shops at the mall are empty. This leads rats to our property, the only place they can find food. We have written to the mall and are hopeful they will help us resolve the problem.”

However, Manager (Dev Arc) Niral Shah refused to shoulder the blame. “We do not face rodent problems. We will talk to the Cinemax authorities about this,” he said.

The incident occurred a day after Mirror reported about a rat that chewed on Tanmay Patel, a 29-year-old businessman, who was watching a movie at Cinemax in Dev Arc mall on Friday afternoon (Ratted out; AM, March 24). This prompted AMC to conduct a check.

Deputy Health Officer (New West Zone) Milan Nayak, who checked the theatre on Saturday morning, said, “We did not find any problem with the theatre. However, if customers have faced problems, we will take action. We might even close their operations to carry out a detailed check.”

Meanwhile, the victims asked, “Will AMC just conduct cursory checks or seal Cinemax that has been violating norms of hygiene? Ahmedabad knows how deadly plague can be. Is the corporation waiting for something terrible to happen before taking any steps?”

Ahmedabad is the Best!

While the country is reeling under criticism for its poor sanitation facilities after the recent 2011 Census report revealed that it had more cellphones than toilets, the scene is just the reverse here in Ahmedabad.

The report says that 83 per cent Amdavadi households have toilets while only 61.8 per cent have cellphones. This is in sharp contrast to the national average of 46.9 per cent households with toilets and 53.2 per cent with cellphones.

The Household Amenities Census 2011 also put spotlight on luxury living and availability of modern amenities in this bustling megacity. The data corroborates the much-acclaimed liveability status of the city — it was in the shortlist of seven finalists for the prestigious Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize in Singapore recently.

COMFORTABLE LIVING

As per the data, majority of Amdavadis live in one and two bedroom houses — 39.1 per cent households have only one room and 30.8 per cent have two rooms. Around 79.9 per cent houses — second lowest in the state and way below the national average of 86.6 per cent— have owners as the occupants while 18 per cent have been rented out.

Every other district, except Surat at 60.7 per cent, registers a higher percentage of owned households.

While BRTS has won the city laurels at international level and revamped the public transport system, the city records an impressive number when it comes to two and four wheelers. Around 46.3 per cent houses own a two-wheeler and 11.7 per cent a four-wheeler. The figures are not only highest in the state but more than double the national average of 21 per cent in two-wheelers and 4.7 per cent in four-wheelers. Incidentally, the number of households with bicycles — 45.5 per cent — is almost equal to the national average of 44.8.

BANKING ON BANKS

Nearly 67.3 per cent Amdavadi houses avail banking services. This is again highest in the state and higher than the national average of 58.7 per cent. Almost 77.6 per cent houses in the city own television sets and 8.5 per cent own computers with internet connectivity.

However, while Amdavadis are known for their love for swish new cellphones, only 61.8 per cent homes own this gadget. In Rajkot, a whopping 71.4 per cent own a cellphone while Junagadh comes a close second at 69.2 per cent.

Only 5.2 per cent houses in the city have a landline connection, marginally higher than the national average of 4 per cent.

WE ARE POWER-FUL

The city also has maximum LPG connections in the kitchen — nearly 64.6 per cent houses use LPG for cooking. This is not only highest in Gujarat but nearly thrice the national average of 28.6 per cent. Surat comes a second with 62.7 per cent.

As compared to the national average of 67.3 per cent, nearly 97.4 per cent houses in Ahmedabad have power connectivity. In fact, 90.4 per cent houses in Gujarat boast of electricity connection, cocking a snook at the national average of 67.3 per cent. The data also show that 84.7 per cent households in Ahmedabad have tap water facility — nearly double the national average of 43.5 per cent — and 67 per cent use treated water.

Census Deputy Director (Gujarat) S Varade said, “As per data analysis, Gujarat has the highest density of cellphones, computers, electricity connections and landline phones in the country.”

GUJARAT’S AHEAD

Census Director (Gujarat) Manish Bharadwaj said, “In the past 10 years, power connectivity in the state has improved greatly. This has led to an increase in the density of televisions, computers, internet connections, landline phones and cellphones in the state. This reflects Gujarat’s development. The district-wise and city-wise data was sent by the Centre. We will release this on March 31.”

He added that the department’s 150-odd employees had worked round the year to collate and prepare the data report.

Urban Development Minister Nitin Patel said, “There has been a rise in the usage of computers and internet. The government has brought broadband connections to cities as well as villages. Also, we have linked the entire state through GSWAN network.”

AGRI BOOST

He added that industries have boosted Gujarat’s development but due credit should also be given to agricultural production. “If there is an increase in agricultural output, the villagers will purchase luxury items like vehicles, televisions and refrigerators from the city. Also, real estate in the city is bought not just by NRIs but also people from rural areas who want a second home in the city they visit frequently. Thus, increase in agricultural production also boosts the economy of cities.”

Heaven and Hell - near-death experience

In December, 1943, George Ritchie died of pneumonia. Nine minutes later, miraculously and unaccountably, he returned to life to tell of his amazing near-death experience in the afterlife. His near-death experience was the one that profoundly moved Raymond Moody to begin seriously investigating the near-death experience. Since Dr. Moody is considered to be the "father of the near-death experience," Dr. Ritchie's near-death experience is in a class of its own. You will find his experience to be one of the most profound near-death experiences ever documented. The following is a brief summary of Dr. George Ritchie's near-death experience. You can read his NDE testimony in its entirety in his ground-breaking books Return From Tomorrow and his follow-up book Ordered to Return: My Life After Dying.

George leaves his body and sees it lying in his bed. He is not aware the dead body in his bed is his. Wanting eagerly to travel to Richmond, Virginia to start college, he finds himself flying in the air toward a city. He is not sure how he acquired these strange powers of flight and transparency. He arrives at a city and discovers he has lost his solidness. He flies back to the hospital and sees his lifeless body in the morgue and realizes he has died. Suddenly, Jesus appears emitting a tremendous light and love. George's entire life appears before him. Jesus asks, "What have you done with your life?" He realizes Jesus is not judging him, but he is judging himself. Jesus gives him a tour of four different dimensions in the afterlife. They both fly toward a large city on Earth where they notice a group of assembly-line workers at work. He witnesses the spirit of a woman trying desperately to obtain a cigarette from the workers who are oblivious to her presence. This woman died severely addicted to cigarettes. In a house, Jesus shows him the spirit of a boy following a living teenage girl and begging for forgiveness while the girl is completely unaware of the boy's presence. Jesus tells George that the boy committed suicide and is "chained to every consequence of his act." Jesus shows George a bar filled with sailors who are heavily drinking. Spirits try desperately and in vain to get a drink or to control the sailors' alcoholic behavior. These spirits are from humans who die severely alcoholic. He is horrified as he observes a drunken sailor pass out and an alcoholic spirit jump into the body of the sailor. Jesus takes him to a new dimension away from Earth and shows him a kind of "receiving station" where spirits would arrive in a deep hypnotic sleep because of their beliefs. These are spirits who believe they must sleep after death until Jesus returns. Jesus shows him a dimension where angry spirits are locked in hand-to-hand combat, trying in vain to hurt each other. He hears verbal abuse going on. He observes some trying in vain to get sexual gratification from each other. He also sees spirits arguing over some religious or political point and trying to kill the ones who did not agree with them. Here, he realizes he is seeing hell. These are spirits who are locked into some earthly desire that went beyond the physical and which cannot be satisfied in the spirit. He is then taken to a different dimension appearing like an enormous university. Here he observes people dressed as monks engaged in some form of artistic behavior or research. He is taken into an enormous library where all the important books of the universe are assembled. He asks Jesus if this is heaven. He replies that these are the people who grew beyond selfish desires while on Earth. George realizes these people cannot see Jesus, just as the others could not see him in hell. Jesus takes him into outer space toward a distant city made of brilliant light of a similar description to the city in the Book of Revelation. He speculates this is the place where people go who have become Christ-like while on Earth. Here, love was the dominant focus of life. He realizes he is seeing heaven, but he is not allowed to go in. Jesus then shows him the future of the Earth. He then returns to his physical body.

"Death is nothing more than a doorway, something you walk through." - Dr. George Ritchie

Why is it so hot in the summer?

In the Northern Hemisphere, the reason it's so hot in the summer is because the North Pole is tilted toward the Sun! Because of this tilt, the Sun is more directly overhead and its rays hit the Earth at a steep angle. This concentrates the heat in a small area.

During the summer months the Earth’s atmosphere acts like a blanket and holds the heat. Summer begins on June 21-22 in the Northern Hemisphere. Astronomers refer to the arrival of this event as the Summer Solstice. The long daylight hours during the summer months allow the Earth plenty of time to reach warm temperatures as the Sun’s rays beam down. The Sun is extremely hot because of two chemical elements, hydrogen and helium. These elements explode continually causing light and heat. The temperature on the Sun’s surface is 10,000 degrees F!

More Information :-

cientists believe that the reason the Earth is tilted on its axis is because it was hit by a large body soon after the Earth was formed. Since then movement of large air masses, formation and movement of continents, and lowered sea levels have also affected the tilt. 

The Earth is tilted on its axis by an average of 23.5 degrees.

There are some words that are probably new to you in this information. These words include: 

atmosphere – air that surrounds the Earth

axis – straight line around which an object turns

continents – one of 7 great masses of land on Earth

explode – to blow up

helium – a colorless gas

hydrogen – a colorless gas that burns easily

Northern Hemisphere – part of the world where the United States is located

tilted - leaning

Exploration:-

On a sunny day stand in the sunlight in your backyard and notice how warm you are.  Then go and stand where there is shade. Are you cooler in the shade? That is because the sun’s hot rays are not beaming directly down on you and making you feel hotter. 

Draw pictures of the Sun and Earth. Color the Sun bright yellow and the Earth green. Show some of the Sun’s bright yellow rays beaming down on the Earth!