The time when Mommy was proud about him transacting at the Counter

June 6th 2015

Whatsap Chat that AA can read when he grows up. I had gone into nostalgia about my childhood days of how I learned to shop.

6/6/2015, 10:59 PM - Rashmi Dutta: <Media omitted>

6/6/2015, 11:00 PM - Rashmi Dutta: Yesterday, I had taken him to khadi. I gave me 100 rs and told him to go to the cash counter and buy mixed grain and fryms.
6/6/2015, 11:01 PM - Rashmi Dutta: I am sitting downstairs and if you zoom the picture u will see aditya standing near cash counter up the stairs.

6/6/2015, 11:01 PM - Rashmi Dutta: Where ppl are sitting in front of desktops

6/6/2015, 11:31 PM - Ushashri: 😀 yeah I see him. Did he get mixed grains?

6/7/2015, 12:11 AM - Rashmi Dutta: Yes will click

6/7/2015, 12:40 AM - shridevi gaddam: I too saw him. So Rashmi, you are training him to man of the house? Good idea.

6/7/2015, 12:47 AM - shridevi gaddam: Shopping in my time...early 80's used to be tricky business. It was more than abt confidence, it was abt skill:
1) ability to remember what mom said about the item to be bought

3) ability to quickly answer the shopkeeper or his gumaasta (clerk)/men's questions with alternative or descriptive details abt the product
2) ability to speak up in the crowd at the counter of the busy and shrewd baniya (shopkeeper)
4) ability to count the change

5) ability to bring back home the items in good shape

6/7/2015, 12:48 AM - shridevi gaddam: It was nothing like today's supermarkets, where u pick ur stuff, stand in the line and pay money with assurance that you are going to get the right change, and finally they have packaged items.

6/7/2015, 12:50 AM - shridevi gaddam: On top of these things, if mistakes happened and mom sent you back to return the goods, mastering the embarassment of going back to avoid mom's wrath.

6/7/2015, 12:51 AM - shridevi gaddam: Oh god!! It was hell until I mastered the art of Indian shopkeeping.

6/7/2015, 1:02 AM - Ushashri: I am totally with GSD! So well enunciated abt shopping in our age and times. All this automated billing system is making youngsters poor in basic math skills.

6/7/2015, 1:04 AM - Ushashri: My prof is USA was so surprised of Chinese clerks being able to count and do math operations in their heads. What he found out is that inchina billing is not as automated as USA.

6/7/2015, 1:21 AM - Rashmi Dutta: Well, I also train aditya for PR skills


6/7/2015, 1:24 AM - Rashmi Dutta: How to start on positive note by saying ram ram in Delhi, hello, in general with a smile, it makes the counter ppl more nice, courteous and they smile back at you. I learnt from mamaji. Ram ram works with govt bank ppl with whom I interact,  they become soft.
6/7/2015, 1:24 AM - Rashmi Dutta: And give their best in fulfilling my request
6/7/2015, 1:24 AM - Rashmi Dutta: Also in western world

6/7/2015, 1:25 AM - Rashmi Dutta: I learnt it and here mamaji reaffirmed it