Antony Dilip, Jan 30 2012, Chennai
Indian tea
stalls have become one of unique characteristics of this great Nation. In any
part of the country they are the “hot-spots” of busy alleys where you can meet
different and distinct people. Once on a rainy evening, I entered a tea shop
which had every feature of a perfect Indian tea stall. Discs of biscuits
arranged inside glass jars, different flavors of tea bags, hot bronze boilers,
kettles blowing out steams, hot kaadai
on a kerosene burner, wooden benches, pile of news papers, group discussion,
politics and a stray dog sleeping at the entrance. The tea master (that is the
w! ay one calls the person who makes you tea. Maybe he masters it very well
that he can make a really long tea) happened to be the owner of the shop had a
welcoming smile. I ordered a “cup of tea”. He replied, “Hot bhajjis ready for you sir, two minutes”.
He spoke Tamil with a Malayalam accent and had a Chandan on his forehead; I don’t have to be Holmes or need Watson’s
help to conclude that he is from Kerala. I wasn’t hungry but his pleasant offer
made me order a plate of bhajji. With the very first bite of the bhajji, I realized that it had coconut
oil and it was made of the banana fruit. This is not the usual “roasted-batter
-coated plantain”. I didn’t like this new flavor, so I threw them into the
dustbin. Then I ordered few butter-biscuits and asked for the bill. The bill
was not a computerized paper with a neat tabular column with rows of products
bought and their rates across them. Also I did not have separate mention about
the tot! al, “service” tax, round-off and the grand Total. It was just a chit with numbers scribbled on
it showing no distinction between the numbers 4 and 6. The bill was 10 rupees
and I realized that he had missed to enter the bhajji’s price. When I told him that he had missed the bhajji in the bill, he said “You did not
eat, so you don’t have to pay”. I was shocked; a sense of guilt had filled my
heart and mind. I wanted to apologize,
so I told him “Annachi I m sorry. I
will pay for the bhajjis too”. But he
gave the same reply with a smile and added,” I will get paid only when you are
satisfied with my service”. Oh my god! What is happening? Did this tea-master
learn about customer satisfaction in IIM –A before starting his tea-stall? Or
does he really belong to the middle class who lament about the surging food
prices? Or is it because he is from the state of Kerala which has the highest
literacy rate? Before I could reiterate, I saw something else in the tea shop
which I had not noticed all this while. Babuji, father of this great Nation,
was smiling from a 30x35 frame and was embellished with a fresh garland. I
smiled in return. I left the shop paying for what I was asked for.
That night I
did not sleep.
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The Author of this post is my close friend. I know him for the past 7
years. Currently, he is working as a Software Engineer in iNautix. He is a
natural leader who loves to see/bring positive changes in our society. He
believes in reforming our administrative system for the upbringing
of a better world. A selfish dream, when
realized has the potential to uplift only our lives. But, a selfless social
dream, when realized, has the potential to uplift the society we live on,
thereby providing real improvement in our lives. Our Author falls in the latter
category.
