Wednesday 8 May 2013

The Little Girl in the Mall

About a month back,  I visited the nearby mall and wandered into a big retail chain named Pantaloons. 

After the usual browsing , I bought a simple top and stood in the queue for making the payment.  Just in front of me in the queue stood a lady with her daughter. The little girl was about 12 years old , had nicely trimmed hair ,wore a simple pink dress , and was very cute.  But what happened subsequently took me beyond her looks and I was simply at awe of her .....

She stood there with her mother, observing the people, tapping her foot impatiently. Suddenly she asked   
"Ma, I saw a poster displayed near the entrance about saving trees and asking people not to use plastic,  but I see that everybody is carrying their articles in big green plastic bags !

"Well, you see, to discourage people using plastic, the shop is charging Rs 7 for each plastic bag" Her mother explained. 

I saw a look of puzzlement in the little girl's eyes .

"But Ma, charging money is not fair.... people do not come to malls with bags to carry their things   ! And again,  if they are charging money, they should give Paper Bags ...

Her mother did not have an answer. I was curious to know what the girl will ask next ...

Well, she did not answer. As her mother went ahead in the queue, the little girl asked for a paper and a pen from her mother and started writing an application. She wrote that she did not approve of the plastic bags being given as this raises environmental pollution and that Pantaloons should stop this immediately and replace them with paper bags. Then she went around the shop with her application and talked to several people and got their signatures in the application. I too signed on it.  Both her mother and I  made our payments and I saw the mother sitting on a chair patiently as she saw her daughter mobilize the crowd.It seemed that  her  mother must have been used to these incidents ! 

Out of curiosity , I too joined the little girl in her small little campaign. After getting quite a lot of signatures , she looked at me and said, "Will you come with me to the manager's cabin ?"  I nodded my head, full of admiration for the little girl. Once we went inside the manager's cabin, she waited patiently till she got is attention after he finished chatting with  someone on his cell. 

"Yes ! Tell me" He said disinterestedly. The little girl gave the application to him and explained ! I listened. 

"Is this a joke ? " He said looking at me. " Don't you know all the shops are doing the same thing !"

It was my turn now. I told him pointing at the little girl

" If a small girl can understand this , you know that this is not a joke ! We do not care who is doing what ! We feel that you are increasing environmental pollution by encouraging plastic and at the same time making  money at the cost of  the environment and govt. policies.  Please take care of this and accept this application.  I have friends in the press and I will write an open letter to Biyani - the owner of the Pantaloons chain - about this.  It is our duty as a citizen to protest if we see something is wrong and we have every right to protest. "

The manager looked at me and the little girl.  He accepted the letter . 

We came out of his room triumphantly. The little girl ran to her mother and excitedly relayed the happening inside the manager's room.  I smiled and walked towards them and congratulated the mother about having such a daughter. She was a proud mom. 

The little girl was a leader ! She will be an asset wherever she goes... 

Today, I went to Pantaloons again.

 I saw paper bags being given instead of plastic ones !



28 comments:

  1. Lovely incident recollection. Curious... what is the GIRL's Name??

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    1. Her name is as lovely as she is (Sucharita (Su - Good, Charita : Character)

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  2. Thanks for sharing it. Now lets do our bit of sharing it across so that we can also bring difference!

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  3. Great indeed. What ails society is the lack of INITIATIVE to do good. The girl has exhibited the first Quality of a Leader. As a Leader, she gathered support from others detailing the need of the hour. Others [in this case the "I"] volunteer help and Success is ensured. Great indeed
    Prof Punch

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    1. Dear Prof. Punch, You are absolutely right ! Only if all of us took a little bit of initiative rather than thinking " What it is in for me .... ? "

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  4. a leader for sure - lets hope age and bitter experiences do not pull her down

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  5. Defnitely an inspiring one. She will be an asset to world (Not only india).

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  6. wow! the little girl seems to have more spunk than us adults

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  7. thanks for the piece. this also reflects upon the practice of organizations adopting processes for compliance's sake. Seldom do few walk up to the higher management to really make a difference. hope more of us discover the little girl in ourselves.

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  8. Great....greater....GREATEST....Excellent!

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  9. The more the age and education the greater the breach of laws and defiance to change. My father (RIP) always said that there is a distinct difference between literacy and education. Most of us are literate but poorly educated. There are many who are young and educated but not very literate. The 12 year old and many like her are educated; however as they get more and more literate one wonders what will happen.

    Modernization and globalization are funny words..in simple terms it means we invent technologies to cure our problems and then endure to eradicate the maladies therefrom.

    We created machines to ease our life and then work out on machines to maintain our health; we have made advances in petro based products and now talk about carbon foot prints.
    Life is indeed an irony and even the Creator will be laughing at the plight of the simple homo sapiens he sent out into this world.

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  10. This is an excellent example of a budding leader and a conscientious leader at that.
    More important is the message that she wants to convey to all.
    99% of us feel this way, but do nothing but crib and let it pass. I think it is a wake up call to us to DO SOMETHING when you see something wrong happening.
    Great story.
    Thank you Ananya Das for this wonderful piece.

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  11. Thanks, Ananya .Would definitely pass on this real motivation to my students. Wonderful job done , Suchitra. Hats off to her teacher.

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  12. Very nice observation-lateral thinking, we have many such people hidden within all of us. We need more such people in our political set-up. This is the way to actual cleaning. While bringing the legislation to stop plastics less than 40 microns and give option to charge plastics more than 40 microns, we should have taken this step further. But who will let this happen. This reminds me of my trip to US, where one a road trip to airport, I overheard a mother talking to her friend about her daughter "She is good in Maths and Science, I want her to grow up and be in the senate". Can we do the same in India? To say it bluntly the answer is "No". Why? On second thoughts I want to clarify that it is not due to lack of good brains but rather due to over-burdened brain where we stop at the first available option and not go a step further.

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    1. Ajay, Yes ... "not to go a step further ... " ... I just hope Sucharita remains like this even when she grows up ...

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  13. Thank u for sharing. This is a refreshing inspiration.

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  14. Inspiring story. Change is difficult and its painful at times. And often change is good.

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  15. Thanks for sharing this wonderful experience . Wish it should be followed by all other shop owner. And Girl itself is a real hero. God bless her .

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  16. wonderful inspirational incident. Thanks for sharing

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  17. Srinivasan Boopathy,

    Thanks a lot for sketching the little girl. I have put that in the blog post !

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  18. great job ...others can take a cue










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  19. If they can charge for the bag I think it would be even better if they can give canvas bags

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  20. I'm ok for to help her and another. Can i see you about this subject.

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  21. Nice blog its really a good thought of that girl

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  22. wow.. morning shows the day really.. this girl reinstates our faith in the young generation. they are not that insensitive and yes it is our duty to save the planet and keep the pollution levels low so that our children do not suffer. truly hope that the other high end brands soon follow suit.

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