E for Experiences

Episode 1 – Funny and exasperating!

At the Office:

Tring Tring. The Chennaigaga phone rang.
TRING...I answered: "Good evening, Chennaigaga."
The Voice: "Hello..CHENNAIGAGA?"
We pleasantly and eagerly replied: "Yes...this is CHENNAIGAGA...”
The Voice: "Do you have ‘I LOVE SINGAPORE’ T-shirts?"
So we replied with a heavy mixture of politeness & pranayama(!): "No, but we do have ‘I LOVE CHENNAI t-shirts."
The Voice (now The Noise): "Oh..do you know where i can get I Love Singapore tshirts?"
We said : "You can get them in Singapore."

Episode 2 – Unsettling and Unsteady

Throwback to the physical store – Founder’s voice.

A couple of men walked in to the store. They were brought to our store front in an auto rickshaw and the autorickshaw driver lurked outside the main entrance looking in as ours was a mainly-glass storefront. One of the men seemed to need support to stay upright. We were concerned but did not ask them anything until one of our team members came to me and told me that the man who seemed to be unsteady, was drunk. I asked him if he was sure and he asked me to go and see for myself. I went reluctantly and found that he was indeed inebriated and not behaving well. He was impatient, tottering and seemed edgy. He made sudden gestures and gave angry reactions at random. But he would not be distracted from his shopping!

The autorickshaw driver meanwhile saw me from outside and entered the store. He proudly came up to me and told me that it was he who brought them to the store -- he apparently wanted my acknowledgment. I told him he had brought a drunk man in which was not nice. He said, “But he will surely buy t-shirts”. I asked him, “What if something happens to him in the store like if he throws up or passes out or worse, some medical emergency, would that be ok?” I told the other man who was accompanying the unsteady man to please complete shopping quickly and take him away.

Was I wrong?

More on our experiences later. They are varied and have enriched our life experiences too and taught us many good lessons.