Day before yesterday, I visited a bookstore at Powai—a
small, nondescript shop that caters mostly to the requirements of
schoolchildren in the locality, nothing like Landmark or Crossword—to buy a
Marathi textbook for my Daughter, who will be studying it as part of her school
curriculum in the Class 1.
As the shopkeeper handed me the book, I discovered, much to
my dismay, that I was not carrying enough cash, nor did the store accept credit
cards. Since I do not have a Paytm account (yes, we exist) and wasn't carrying my
ATM cards either, which would’ve enabled me to take out money from one of the
nearby ATMs, paying for the book seemed out of the question. It seemed as if I'd
have to make a repeat trip to the bookstore some other day.
And that was when the shopkeeper surprised me by saying (in
Hindi, and I translate): "Sir, please keep the book. You can leave your
number here and pay me some other day."
To say I was surprised would be seriously understating it.
The guy didn't know me from Adam, showed no interest in taking down my address—which
I gave him of my own volition—or even saving my number on his mobile, and was
letting me go with a piece of his merchandise without bothering in the
slightest about payment. In this super-materialistic, super-consumerist age,
such things are no less than small miracles. But then, as someone said, this is
something that can happen in Mumbai only.
P.S.: I got someone else to Paytm him the money just now and
he was courteous enough to call and confirm receipt. Hope for a decent world
yet?
No comments:
Post a Comment