The Coconut Broom…
I never thought I will write about a broom…These are crazy times & I had to write something to let that craziness out of me, so here I’m writing a story about 2 brooms I bought a few days back. It is a mundane story but maybe I am appreciating mundane more & more in this extra ordinary time or I’m getting old…take your pick.
Broom 1 aka GEAR
Pure Digital experience- I went to one of e-Tailers, selected the best seller/A2Z’s choice, looked at ratings & reviews, view product specifications- MNC German made(it cannot get better than this), 3X durable, no dust, expandable handle to clear those cob webs in the wall corner(yups you get those nowadays) if only one exists to take care of mind’s webs…ahem…Took my X% discount off, Y% additional off on CC & checked out…A model online consumer journey path companies spend millions to ensure we follow.
Felt so good with my purchase, that I un-accidentally spilled over bread crumbs on the floor the day the broom was supposed to arrive. You never go wrong with precision of time of delivery, privilege of being a prime suspect…err customer. Only disappointment was it was not drone-delivered. Got a notification on MyGate app, pressed ok & my Nimbus 2000 moment arrived.
Broom 2 aka SCRUB
He was dark skinned, with thick mustache standing on side of the road, wearing a lungi, (I thought I was back in Malgudi days), carrying 2 brooms- one in each hand, waving- looking expectantly at passer-bys who were stopping to buy stuff from shops. I was waiting in my car for my wife who was buying hot chips(for people uninitiated on hot chips, a story perhaps for another day), he came to me and urged to buy the brooms- coconut made, he said, very strong. I shook my head- was probably still in post purchase euphoria of GEAR. He went off. I had nothing else to do, I was observing him selling- car by car, scooter, pedestrians- no luck. He was pulling the twigs strongly 2–3 times to show they don’t come off at all while giving demo of broom(our version of life…err…Livestreaming commerce).
I saw his wife on other side of the road, carrying much smaller stick brooms trying to sell too. There was a moped parked which carried the inventory. They did not appear to be from Bengaluru but maybe from a nearby village, probably coming to different areas of the city daily to sell these brooms.
Livelihood does not give everyone option to work from home.
I stepped out of my car and asked him to give me 2 brooms. We negotiated & agreed on a price( I was later scolded by my wife on why did I negotiate & not pay the ask price). I was not doing anything in pity or doing a favor. It was a fair deal. I thought if I don’t use it, I will give it to our apartment’s cleaning staff as the stuff looked good. He said in broken hindi, “ You take this home, you won’t regret it”. I brought 2 brooms home which were durable & natural back home, but I guess something else also came with it. Could not decipher it. Maybe plain old privilege guilt, happiness, fulfillment or my own Expecto Patronum(could not know at that time)
Jump to home screen
Scene 1: Our cleaning maid who had asked for a new broom, despite the fact GEAR arrived, was still using old almost bald broom for many days. I always thought she was being frugal & wanted to maximize utility from old broom & will switch over to newer one once older one is unusable
Scene 2: Scrub arrived. My maid saw it & said, can she use it. Sure, why not? She used it, looked completely satisfied & she is normally a quiet person but that day said- Bhaiya(brother), this is a very good broom- I’m able to clean faster & better & it also does not produce dust. Can you get me also one of these? I asked her why not use the Gear one, she felt embarrassed and said simply- it is not good. I tried showing her desperately the expandable handle feature to clean the cobwebs, she just smiled and looked at the chair…& it was the end of the broom story.
GEAR is now behind an almirah/or maybe under a bed waiting for its turn for a consumer who will use it. But it served its maker’s purpose well. #Consumerism
I earlier thought I will appear smart & throw all the gyaan we MBAs tend to give by over intellectualizing on consumer centricity, natural, sustainability, value driven products, blah-2–2 but it would have been unfair & would have taken the sheen off from the purest of emotions I felt when I saw that dark man, crossing the road after I bought the coconut broom, went off to his wife & chatting animatedly, his eyes making a silent prayer towards sky- we survived one more day!
Sometimes, it is hard to bring someone(or something) down even if it appears end of the world. Maybe it is called willpower. Maybe it is what thousands of health workers around the world have been blessed with- putting their lives in danger to ensure other people live.
We live.
To tell our own Broom story!
PS: I did not know before writing this story that Coconut is known as Tree of Life(Philippines) or as per Indian scriptures- kalpa vriksha, “the tree which provides all the necessities of life”.
As per this link “ Coconut signals a time of transition and inner reflection, especially if we are feeling restless or unfulfilled. Coconut inspires us to embark on a deeper more meaningful journey within our soul”.
A bit crazy- but the thought does occur from time to time. That dark man in a lungi & his wife were Coconut personified who came to me- to inspire, stir inner reflection, give HOPE. Who knows - it’s not without a reason, that Brooms are used in the magical world!