Image Courtesy: ibtimes.co.uk thehindu
It was a partly cloudy day of December, 2015, when me, my husband and dad went to Porur to send a courier. Since we did not have an envelope, we went to the first shop on the left at Porur junction to buy one. It was then that my eyes noticed some candles in the shop which were displayed for sale. Much to my surprise, the medium sized candles were priced at 100 rupees each and the big ones at 500 each. Wait, what !! I couldn’t resist myself from asking the sales lady at the counter,”The whole city is trapped in darkness, how do you expect a poor man to buy a candle at such high prices?”
She replied,”No problem. Many people bought it and they will continue to buy.” I got so furious over this rude and greedy reply. This shopkeeper wanted to get rich overnight and was taking undue advantage of the adverse situation in which the people were trapped. I told her,”Right now Chennai has shown how humanity and unity are more important than money and fame. God! Help such people!”
Just as we stepped out of the shop, few meters away, there was another lady who was sitting on the water clogged road to sell vegetables. Even though I was still thinking about the candles episode, I got curious to find out how high the vegetables were priced at. The vegetables were neatly packed in separate packets, each weighing 250 grams. I asked her the price. She politely answered,”All vegetables at 10 rupees per packet”. Once again, I was surprised. When the market price for Lady Finger was Rs. 80/kg, Onions Rs. 65/kg, Capsicum Rs. 75/kg, Carrots Rs. 65 /kg, this lady was selling it a price as low as 40 rupees per kg for all vegetables. The quality of the vegetables was good too. I purchased some vegetables from her. I asked her,”Where do you stay? Is your house in a livable and safe condition?” She smiled and said,”I, too lost my stuff in the floods. But life has to go on. We have to stop cribbing over what has happened.” I offered her some money as a token of help but she simply refused, saying,”There are people worse than me, please help them out.”
Intention of sharing this experience is not to make you think whether it’s correct to buy from supermarkets or local vendors but to let you know about the contrasts. It is these kind hearted human beings who work as angels in times of calamities and troubles. May we all meet such angels, may we all be one!
Submitted By – Dr Gayathri Naveen
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