Customer bearing shopkeeper's loss

Story shared by Agastya Kapoor: 

I went to this shop to take a print. I told the man to print me one copy of the file but he printed 2, maybe by mistake. When it was the time of billing, I asked how much did I have to pay. Per copy is Rupees 10, so the owner told that I need to pay Rupees 20.

I told him that I asked for only one copy. He confirmed it form the man on the printer and he was scared and full of guilt, and he admitted that I told him one copy. I told him that I'll pay only Rupees 10 and the owner agreed, in disgust. But, my heart didn't agree to this. I immediately told him that I'll pay Rupee 15 instead. I told him that together, we'll bear the loss. The owner was shocked for a fraction of second and agreed happily.

He turned around and told the man "देख, ये होता है व्यहार." They both felt so happy about this behavior and the man told me that India needs more people like me. Just Rupees 5 made a change, it touched two hearts and created a win-win situation for all. Just by offering myself to his loss, his whole world was moved, moved by love!

Compassion can move mountains!

The Free Store, Thane - A New Reality

Story shared by Parth J Dave:

27 May 2013

7 students. Different backgrounds. One common cause: Sharing.

It is around 4 in the evening. Some of us are setting up tables and chairs, unpacking materials, tying up banners and starting afresh.

We are nervous, anxious but excited.

Our banner reads, ‘We collect unwanted, reusable stuff and give it away to people who need them’.

Some of us take the courageous step of talking to groups of parents, students and customers in the shopping complex.

The curiosity builds up.

Within an hour or so, the curiosity converts into pickups. Children’s books go like hot cakes. Academic textbooks rediscover their shine as happy students choose them. Adults find their joy in unused greeting cards. Stationery items are gifted. Fulfillment is offered.

Stories are created:

1. A doctor visits our stall and offers free homoeopathic treatment for various common ailments at her clinic in the shopping complex.
2. A school Principal offers a stockpile of donations sourced from her school’s Lost and Found counter, that comprise of, sweaters, shoes, water bottles, umbrellas, a bucket and lots of love.
3. An elderly Uncle shares puzzles and sings for our Team. He entertains with his funny capers and skills in palmistry. It seemed that he got back his playful self that wanted to come out since a long time.
4. 2 boys from a nearby slum dwelling happen to visit us out of curiosity. They initially feel reluctant to simply pick up stuff for free, but it’s a beautiful sight when they realize it’s a safe space. They come back with another friend and not only collect board games, toys and stationery items for themselves, but also choose a nice kitchen set for their sisters.

The community comes together to share and make a real difference while our Team earns satisfaction and fulfillment in facilitating the magic.

One of our team members, Sejal, expresses her joy over the event:
"It was lovely being a part of something unique. Helping people get what they want and experiencing the smiles of gratitude. It was a sunny day, but it wasn't the heat but the smiles that made us feel warm. Had a nice experience of meeting and understanding different and new people. Would love to help out again if possible. Thank you for having me even if I am not remotely linked to the stream."

This is our material impact in three and a half hours:

18 Donors

Beneficiaries:

38 families & 1 children's orphanage

Students

A school Principal

Security Guards

Maids

Housewives

A bunch of happy kids :)

Resources redistributed:

42 Books

28 Academic books

35 pieces of clothing

11 Greeting cards

8 Umbrellas

~25 Water bottles

~5 pairs of shoes

~5 pairs of socks

3 bars of soap

3 CDs

2 Board games

1 Bucket

A few stationery items and

Lots of toys! :)

A simple idea. A new reality.

If you’re inspired by this new possibility,

You could join us for our upcoming events at Mumbai and Thane by filling up this quick volunteer form.

OR

You can take the lead in organizing a similar event in your city or locality. We will be more than happy to help you make a difference that makes the difference. Send us a mail at thefreestorethane@gmail.com

For more details, visit our Facebook Page.

Thank you to all those who generously offered their time, ideas, encouragement, resources and support! We are grateful to you.

With hope for a new future,

The Free Store, Thane Team

Guests donate blood, organs at Gujarat wedding

Story Source: The Times of India

VADODARA: When his daughter got married on Sunday, the guests didn't turn up with gifts. Instead many queued up to donate blood and pledged to donate their bodies. Having campaigned for blood and organ donation all his life, Dr R B Bhesania made it sure that he took up the cause even during his daughter's wedding. Over 370 people donated blood during the wedding organized on the outskirts of the city.

"The idea was to spread awareness about donating blood and organs. Wedding is an auspicious occasion to make people understand the importance of life. My daughter Dhvani and son-in-law Jay Pandya (both doctors) readily agreed to donate their blood on the wedding day. It was the best wedding gift for us," Bhesania said.

He has also registered the event for Guinness Book of World Records and Limca Book of Records. "We had decided not to give any gold or valuables to our daughter. Instead, we asked the couple to take a pledge they would donate their blood and body as well. The couple also took the pledge that they won't support female foeticide, stay away from tobacco products and encourage others for blood and organ donation," Bhesania said.

Members of Muslim community also donated blood during the wedding as a mark of communal harmony. The doctor had organized a similar donation camp during his son Siddharth's wedding in 2011. Bhesania set the trend of organizing blood donation camps during weddings and condolence meetings in the state. He has organized such camps at dozens of social occasions in Gujarat including the conservative Saurashtra region.

The Courage to Ask

Story shared by Parth J Dave:

Some of us friends were travelling together to Mumbai. In the train journey, my friend Bhumi happened to share a message with me that she had been sending to her friends over WhatsApp and Facebook.

The message moved me to no extent, and would like to share the entire text here:

Hello guyz,

This is Bhumi Bhanushali:)
Where: Mumbai/ Udaipur
Need: A wedding suit/
chaniya choli (non silk preferably) and a reception gown that I can wear for my cousins wedding :)

Because I believe my friends and well wishers have more than Amazing collection to offer me and the part of money I save can find a lil more meaningful purpose to serve :)

A Lil Flashback:
With all the excitement of my closest cousin getting married soon, I was all set to buy a fancy reception gown and a classy choli for myself and look my best for the day until few days back..when something happened that really shook me from inside and suddenly the idea didn't seem as exciting or appealing as before. 

So I was in a room with four other friends and as part of some activity had to share my bucket list for life ( which I very excitingly made that included things from going to the moon ..to doing shark diving and manyyyy more) ..but before me, a friend (18 year old) shared the list of just 4 things he aspired to do in his lifetime..that included:

• Educating his younger brothers in an English medium school (that costs just INR2500 a year)
• Owning a house (any smallest of place that he can call home ).
• Becoming a photo journalist(to make world aware of the impact urbanization is having on rural India)
• Just once ride in an air plane.
...And that's it !!!

It hit me hard to realize that someone, in the same room as me is struggling for just the basics (and who was almost going to join the Naxal movement at the age of 18, just so that he could earn enough to educate n feed his brothers). Suddenly, I was so ashamed and unsure of all the things I once thought to be the coolest & so important and wanted to do in my life.. ! 

And I was reminded of all the big wedding shopping plans and the dresses I was yet to spend big bucks on.. and just the idea made me super guilty. As Somewhere, I realized my addiction to mall culture, brands and all the urban habits & lifestyle might be having on the farmers, not so fortunate ones(financially) nd the real rural India.

For some reason I was disturbed and some friends came to the rescue. One of them shared about someone he knew, fasting once a week to sponsor a meal for the street kids with the saved money and grains..and the element of 'giving up something that is important to u and pass it on to others as a gift' touched me and I decided to gather up courage to do something on a similar line ...

So just to really thank my friend to introduce me to the other side of the world (and the other side of myself as well) ..I decided to give up the idea of going any more shopping for the wedding and instead will ask for support from you guys with your worn wedding collection and would be contributing 20% of what I save for his brothers' education and to make a part of his bucket list come alive ..! :))
Also this is an experiment to take the first towards 'contributing rather than just consuming' and kinda 'walk the talk' thingi..if u know what I mean! :)
.. So yea..finally after all that ..I'd love to have you guys support me in whichever ways in this journey for me to possibly take it to next level even in the years to come :)

Witnessing this very noble, courageous act of asking inspires me irrespective of whether I support her in the initiative or not. 

Would like to know your thoughts on the same...

Hello and Welcome!

Welcome to this blog!

This blog emerged out of a need to collect and share stories of gift culture.

Stories that embody love, trust, generosity, empathy, compassion and similar other values that come from the heart.

Stories that speak of a courageous, new culture of sharing, collaboration, cooperation and forgiveness.

As Nipun Mehta shares in his TED talk, a gift culture can primarily be marked by the following shifts:
- Consumption to Contribution
- Transaction to Trust
- Isolation to Community
- Scarcity to Abundance


We welcome you to co-create this space by sending in stories that have moved you and that you wish to share with everyone to parthjdave9[at]gmail.com