Little did I know about the Goodwill Stores and the way it worked until a good friend told me that he picked up a TV and a couch from one such store on his short term visit to USA at a collective price of $11. It was surprising to me how social work could shape up in such a fine business model. It was heartening for me to see that, at a time when most of the world is busy trying to find ways out to make money, there's a concept that liberally disposes money to all the classes of people. Goodwill has ever since kept me thinking.
My father was a businessman and he had to make day-to-day dealings with various merchants like stationers, cloth sellers, food raw material suppliers and much more and since I was a very little girl that time, I would go to most of these vendors along with him as a part of my scooter rides. His dealings with all the merchants were ever so crisp and friendly and so well stuffed with honesty and humanity that it made him stand out as a customer. His goodwill was building without he knowing it much and then over the years, when his business grew his goodwill was reflective, as the transactions were made in large sums of money and large consignments of goods sheerly on trust and name basis.
The years went by...the goodwill multiplied, what stopped was his breath. This day eleven years ago, he moved on with his journey to another world and what he left for us more than memories was goodwill. His last journey was carried out in an army vehicle instead of an ambulance much out of goodwill for a civilian businessman. Whichever old places we go to or his old friends that we happen to meet never cease to rave about his genuinity; no money loans ever taken by him were pending (which could have made us suffer if not dealt well with). Even today when I go to some of those stores where I can get my school stationery supplies or to the cloth merchant, they behave more as my uncles than mere businessmen; I happen to receive goods from them on sixty percent or more discounted prices...simply because I am the daughter of Ramnath Shah. This way all the places where my father touched his soul, he created a much personalized goodwill store for us, his children!
With this, I would like to ask a simple question to all of you reading this note...what is it that you want to leave for this world, for your children, for those who cherished your existence?
I received Goodwill as inheritance from my father and I would like to create that for my generations to come and for everyone who thought my existence was worthwhile.
Think.Love.Live!
Nirupama
My father was a businessman and he had to make day-to-day dealings with various merchants like stationers, cloth sellers, food raw material suppliers and much more and since I was a very little girl that time, I would go to most of these vendors along with him as a part of my scooter rides. His dealings with all the merchants were ever so crisp and friendly and so well stuffed with honesty and humanity that it made him stand out as a customer. His goodwill was building without he knowing it much and then over the years, when his business grew his goodwill was reflective, as the transactions were made in large sums of money and large consignments of goods sheerly on trust and name basis.
The years went by...the goodwill multiplied, what stopped was his breath. This day eleven years ago, he moved on with his journey to another world and what he left for us more than memories was goodwill. His last journey was carried out in an army vehicle instead of an ambulance much out of goodwill for a civilian businessman. Whichever old places we go to or his old friends that we happen to meet never cease to rave about his genuinity; no money loans ever taken by him were pending (which could have made us suffer if not dealt well with). Even today when I go to some of those stores where I can get my school stationery supplies or to the cloth merchant, they behave more as my uncles than mere businessmen; I happen to receive goods from them on sixty percent or more discounted prices...simply because I am the daughter of Ramnath Shah. This way all the places where my father touched his soul, he created a much personalized goodwill store for us, his children!
With this, I would like to ask a simple question to all of you reading this note...what is it that you want to leave for this world, for your children, for those who cherished your existence?
I received Goodwill as inheritance from my father and I would like to create that for my generations to come and for everyone who thought my existence was worthwhile.
Think.Love.Live!
Nirupama
No comments:
Post a Comment