A Chapter Closes.
By Rummuser. Filed in People, Relationships |Tags: Home delivery, Loyalty, People
Earlier this evening, a very important person came to take leave of us. We have known him for the past eight years as one of the most cheerful and obliging people that we have ever known.
He was the Counter Salesman and home delivery person for the neighborhood chemist that we had been customers of, for the past fifteen years. The last eight years however, were when our purchases of medicines went up due to the illness of my wife. As part of their regular service, the Chemists extended home delivery service which was our lifeline. I would simply telephone them and by evening, the medicines would be delivered home.
The owner was a General Practitioner from Mumbai who took retirement and moved to Pune to spend his retirement in better climes. He became our neighbor in our co-op and opened this shop just half a kilometer away from where we live.
He has grown older and wishes to spend his time in better pursuits and has closed down the business with effect from last Sunday after he personally called on all his customers to announce the clousure and to explain the reason for the closure.
The Assistant who came to take leave of me, joins the doctor’s son’s business located about 15 Kms away from where we live. It is a measure of that man’s character that he came to take leave of us just as his employer did. He need not have. I however was touched that he chose to do so. He has assured us that he would visit us for a cup of tea whenever he came to the doctor’s residence on any errand.
We shall miss that man. On every visit, he would cheerfully ask us about our well being and inform us of any juicy news in the neighborhood. He would also share news about his children and their academic achievements. Whenever we needed some other help from him, he has never denied us the service as long as his employer did not object. Ever helpful and cheerful, that breed is a rapidly dying one. I wonder why. Apart from difference in the character, we also notice that other home delivery services have a high turnover of people. We see new faces every few months. This man however has stayed with one employer all these years and has just shifted from the father to the son’s employment.
Do you have such people in your lives? I am sure that there must be people like plumbers, electricians and other service providers from among whom one or two may be like this. What impact do such people have on your lives?
Sunday, January 18th 2009 at 03:06 |
We have a few:
Nick, our car mechanic
Dave, our UPS delivery man
Richard, our painter
Other Richard, our electrician
These people keep the infrastructure of our lives intact and extend our sense of community. These are service providers with names…
Conrad´s last blog post..Powerlessness and Rage
Rummuser Reply:
January 18th, 2009 at 21:16
@Conrad, Yes my friend too has a name. I did not mention it as it is quite a tongue twister for non Indians!
Sunday, January 18th 2009 at 08:24 |
It’s sad that I don’t know too many people like this. The funny thing is that I think a generation before me, there were a lot more people who were apt to stay in the same job all their lives and retire from the same company. However, my generation realized rapidly rising prices and found that in order to survive we couldn’t stay with the same company for years on end if they were only giving standard cost-of-living raises each year because those never really did keep up with the cost of living. So in order to give yourself a raise, you would have to leave a job and find a new one with a higher starting salary. But the economy has downturned and people no longer have that luxury anymore. This future should be interesting to say the least.
Rummuser Reply:
January 18th, 2009 at 21:14
@teeni, How true. Yes indeed, 2010 onwards, I believe that we shall see a world living in a totally different way than it did the last few years. Lessons learnt these past couple of years will leave us all a great deal wiser and saner. Or, at least I hope so.
Sunday, January 18th 2009 at 16:41 |
About 15 years back, I was working as the Works Manager of a Too Room Company. The General Manger of the company left us in disgrace and started his own toolroom. He enticed a few skilled tool makers of our company to join him and one of them was Raghupathy. But before quitting, he came to me for advice. I told him that the ex General Mangaer was not trustworthy. But the increase in emoluments made Raghpathy join him. After a year or less, he came back to me and said that he was not being treated properly and he wanted to leave the company and come back to us. I suggested that he start his own tool making business and I would refer some customers to him. After a few months, he came to thank me and said that he had established his business properly and had started doing reasonably well. I then lost track of him.
After a few years, there was a tooling problem, in one of the companys, in which I was a consultant. I suggested that they contact Raghupathy, and he would sort the problem out. After a few days, when I was entering this company, I saw a brand new Toyota Corolla, parked, and was wondering who it was. The works manager of this company came to me and said that Mr.Raghpathy had come and set the problem with his own hands, but when he was asked to give his bill for the service rendered, he told them to consult me. After ascertaining the content of work done, I recommended an amount one would pay for a skilled tool maker. The works manager, looked at me astonishingly and said that Raghupathy had come in a chauffer driven Toyota Corolla, and did the work given to him, just because he could not say no to me. I called Raghpathy into the room, and he said that, he has a fairly large sized company, employing 50 people, and doing very well. He attributed his success to my advice and support and was waiting for a chance to show his gratitude.
Rummuser Reply:
January 18th, 2009 at 21:12
@arvind, That is a great story. Yes, there are souls like this still around.
Monday, January 19th 2009 at 06:41 |
Rummuser, That “nothing” figure in the corner of your replies is begging for your picture.
Rummuser Reply:
January 19th, 2009 at 21:19
@bikehikebabe, I do not know how to fix it. I shall seek expert advise and take care of it. Thanks for pointing it out. Believe me, it is not modesty that prevents me from putting it up there!
Monday, January 19th 2009 at 10:26 |
I sat here tonight pondering your question…
As I did theses popped into my life: My doctor Dr. Goicecia, more doctors…Dr. Sheehan now retired though i have run into him here and there to keep in touch. What touches me is this frienship and this gratitude and my lists of who fit this grows and grows. There are these that have cared for me for years at Costco. They and there are many faces who were there year after year. I would see some of them out and about town and we would talk and share. I haven’t been going there these last few years and I miss them now as I recall there kindness and care. The lists again kept rising at work those who are always there in care and in kindness there are countless names in my life who fit this…I thank you for such a acknowledgement of one who has cared for your family so well. In mine as well there are so many of these types of service proxiders that I am blessed by in daily life.
Namaste,
Ramana
Rummuser Reply:
January 19th, 2009 at 21:08
@Diane, I saw your other comment before I did this and responded that you are blessed. Here you confirm it. Namaste Diane.
Monday, January 19th 2009 at 10:30 |
We might be here for hours reading the lengthy never-ending list of the names that have been that in my life towards me and my family.
Namsate,
Diane
Sorry for the typos…earlier! OOPS..
Rummuser Reply:
January 19th, 2009 at 21:07
@Diane, You are blessed. Namaste.
Monday, January 19th 2009 at 15:21 |
Ramana,
Annie has lived in the UK since 1992 and in London since 1994. She has had a Filipino lady by the name of Marilu come and clean for her twice a week during all that time, and has seen Annie go through a divorce and a remarriage in that time. She has also seen Haifleigh grow from 4 year old to now and has been a constant source in our household since 2000 when annie and I got married, but, come to think of it, she also cleaned for us when we lived in Maida Vale.
She cannot be classified as a great cleaner as she is a bit slapdash, but is very trustworthy and inherits all our throwaways including furniture, laptops, clothes, TVs etc etc and has inherited most of the furniture I brought back from Delhi. I think that Padmini has met her as has Ranjan if I am not mistaken. I believe that she is actually a qualified doctor but has worked as a cleaner since her arrival in the UK many years ago. Now that must be worth a book or two!!
Rummuser Reply:
January 19th, 2009 at 21:06
@Barath Rajgopaul, Yes, indeed. That is a great story worth investigating and writing about. I am taking it up with Gudlu to see if she will do the honors.
Monday, January 19th 2009 at 16:48 |
As family retainers go we seem to have better luck than others. The kind of pewople who have come into our lives, stayed on and when they left, kept in touch are indeed many.
I would like to talk about Krishnan. He came as a general dogsbody to our house in the early sixties–scrawny, emaciated and speechless. He stayed in our home and one day was thrown out. Our mother had found him to be a boy who was honest and willing to learn. He was desptched off to Calcutta to our uncles’s house where he started off as a cook and then housekeeper.
When Uncle Swamy moved back to Madras, Krishnan became a driver and was driven to nuts by Aunty Savithri. He also kept track of the coconuts, the drumsticks, the sapotas and guavas in the garden and was barman (with sips to bolster him up), general factotum for the family. The joke in the family was that if Krishnan was asked to go anywhere in Chennai, his reference began with TNagar. So he would make his way first to TNagar and then go elsewhere even if it was all in opposite direction.
However his attachment to Amma and to RR, AR and me was phenomenal even though we were not in his daily life. He was most attached to Shankar. His own life was out of a ‘Slumdog’ fantasy. After the older generation passed away he became feeble and moved back to his village. Last year when he was seriously ill, Asha went to see him in the hospital in hinterland Kerala. He was in tears!
Kesavan and Raphael were two other people who were part of our childhood. Kesavan is now doing well as a caterer. I don’t know what the news of Raphael is.
I too had Kala as my general housekeeper for many years. Early last year she too retired after a valve replacement but comes every month to see me. She knows every member of the family. Now I have a replacement for her called Rani.
We are truly blessed to have such people in our lives.
Padmini Natarajan´s last blog post..Express Yourself Contest #49–The Actress
Rummuser Reply:
January 19th, 2009 at 21:04
@Padmini Natarajan, Yes, that we do don’t we? Now that I have heard from all three of you, I can recall a number of other people who have played significant roles in our lives at various places and times.