HELLO TO QUARTER LIFE - BIG BAZZAR

Catalytic Words - Providing the Positivity

It's 19th March, 2012. A boy of 15 who belongs to middle class family, studying in government school is heading towards his 10th board examination center for the final time. It was Gujarati paper on that day. And after that, there seems nothing except freedom. Freedom that every child wishes to have just because for the first time in life, they have been placed under pressure i.e. so called Exam Stress. They have been through so many challenges throughout the year regarding their studies to get the dream result in their board examination. So does he. He worked so hard for his board exams and finally when the results were declared, he emerges out as a Champion. He stood out as a School Topper and finally had the reward that he deserved for all his hard work. Let's check the inside story of that boy who was just of 15. Inside story is neither related to the amount of hard work he did for the board exams nor related to any formula that how to be a topper of the school...

It's 14th April, 2012. When he returned back to Rajkot his home from Nagpur. He along with his family paid a visit to Nagpur as his granny passed away during his board exams. So for last one paper, he was all alone at his home and there was no moral support as all his family members went to Nagpur due to demise of his granny. But yeah it's fine. That's life...

So later when he returned from Nagpur, he found that one of his friend who was in the same class 10th with him, was seeking for a job. He also started looking for a job. Hey! Are you kidding? No I'm not. He was actually seeking for a job. Every kid has some dreams and aspirations that how they gonna spend their class 10th summer vacation. They will rest a lot, they will travel a lot. They will live all the leisure of life. But here the story of this boy was going on some different track. He went to D-Mart not to buy anything but to ask for a job. It was so obvious that none of the firm will give any kind of responsible work to a kid. So that work gonna be distasteful obviously.

When he went to D-mart, he was called inside a chamber for an interview. He went there sat on the chair in front of manager. And he asked him few basic questions like what's your name, what's your age, what qualifications do you have. When the boy replied that his age is 15 and he recently appeared in board exams, manager was all blank and stayed silent for a while. Then he said, "Sorry we cannot hire you as you are too young to do a job, so go home and focus on your studies". He requested the manager to allot him some work as he was firm to do anything. But at the end, his age was just 15. Later, without any sort of pleadings further, he went back to home riding his bicycle.

The next day he found that his friend who is also seeking a job was working at Big Bazzar. He asked him to join as he also wanted to work. His friend called him up, talked with the manager and all and they agreed at the end. They asked the boy to join from 16th April, 2012. And told that his working hours will be 12 hours, 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM and Salary will be 5000/- per month without any holiday. He with many aims and dreams in his eyes, was all set to go...

16th April, 2012. As it was his first day, he was called at 9:00 AM before the store opens. He went there at sharp 9:00 AM with a cap on his head with casual clothes and bright smile having many questions deep inside they what works he gonna do there. He was allotted a post of housekeeping there. The definition of housekeeping is doing basic cleaning tasks. And yes, he didn't feel any guilt to do that work. He was ready to enjoy the work he is gonna be allotted. So at morning when he went there, his supervisor told him to clean all the front glass doors of the Big Bazzar. He gave him a bucket of water, mop, clothes and a few newspapers. He said okay. I will complete it in a while. Supervisor instructed him to complete within an hour as store soon gonna open.

The next day, he was told to come from 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM and that will be his working hours. He agreed as he is not having any other choice. It was his class 10th summer vacation and he also desires to have his own leisure, but he decided to support his family and that's where he was firm with his mindset. He wants to be a grown up child and matured as early as possible and so, the kind of work doesn't bother him ever. He always stays neutral in all circumstances. It's probably the beginning of something big...

So finally he joined and accepted the job. First five days were casual and he was just getting used to the situations he was facing. He used to sweep the floors, clean the floors, stand with cashier and pack the products of customers that they purchased in bags, sometimes went to warehouse and did some labour work, and many such task he used to do their without any hesitation. It's hard to cope up sometimes as they just shout at you when something went wrong just because of that boy. But yeah it is fair, such thing teaches you many lessons of life. On 21st April, 2012 when he was busy with some work, he had a call from his dad. His dad was very angry at him. He already had an issue with his dad as his dad didn't allow him to do that job. But he was firm to do and so since last 5 days he was punctual with his timings and reach at his work at sharp 11:00 AM. His dad scolded him in call and he just got tears in his eyes. He went to washroom for a while, cried their in silent. He felt that as he wasn't doing anything wrong their, he was just working though his dad shouted at him. Dad shouted just because he couldn't see his 15 year boy working as a housekeeping boy. The boy called his best mate and asked him that was he doing anything wrong out there working as housekeeping boy? His Best friend backed him and told him not to give up. He told him to keep going and said that his dad soon will understand that how strong you'll be once you just get that experience from their. So he just felt bit calmed and on that day, he learned that it's not acceptable to get emotional when you are working in a professional firm. So he just washed your face and set himself back to the work.

The work he liked the most was packing the stuff in carry bags for customers. That's where he found his time of leisure, chit chats with the cashier was a good experience. His cashier mate always told him to focus on his studies once the vacation gets over. Cashier with whom he used to stay told him that he works for 9 straight hours for 7500/- per month. And as it's a Mall you don't even look for Sundays. It's like round a clock duty.

The one of toughest phase for him during his work experience was from 28th to 31st April, 2012. Those were the days when Big Bazzar allotted discounts on every products to attract many customers. They called it as Big Day. And they just increased the working hours from 12 hours to 13.5 hours a day. It was a terrible experience for a 15 year boy. But as you can't escape from your duty, you just need to stick to your work no matter how hard it is. So that boy carried on with his work with a firm mindset. He was used to with the conditions now so there's nothing new for him. On 1st May, 2012 when that phase of Big Day was over, supervisor of housekeeping department allotted them to take off all the banners hanged in the entire mall for the occasion of Big Day. So he and his friend were given a long steel foldable ladder and they both were off the mark. It took nearly 4 hours to complete the task and after that, they both seems completely exhausted. But still when boy looked at his wrist watch, it showed 8 o'clock. So it means that its still 3 hours before he can get back to home. Ah! Not fair...

The most monotonous though pleasing moment of the day was the lunch time. Monotonous just because no near and dear ones around and pleasing because he gonna get food then. His mom used to pack a tiffin for him at morning 10:30 when he was about to left for work. So he had that tiffin at around 2:30 PM. The food wasn't that warm but the taste gets enhanced because of the hunger you had after doing a lot of hardwork. So that also taught him the values of the things he had in life.

13th May, 2012, Sunday. He planned to go out with his family once he gets return back to home from work . As it was a Sunday, it always been a busy day at mall during weekends. And he asked his supervisor that he wanted to go back to home 2 hours early that day. So he requested his supervisor to allow him to leave at 9:00 PM. His supervisor wasn't interested in that deal though allowed him to leave. But before that, something worst was waiting for the boy. As it was a Sunday and store was much crowded as compared to rest other days. At Eatable sections, one customer unintentionally dropped a Sauce Glass Bottle on the floor and Sauce and pieces of glass scattered all over the floor. Supervisor of the housekeeping department called that boy and asked him to clean the floor as early as possible. It seems weird to carry out such work in presence of thousands of people. His face turned gloomy but he have to, he cannot deny on that. Firstly he collected piece of glass which were scattered all over the floor carefully and dumped it. Then he went to the warehouse and from there, he took a mop and a bucket of water. As it was a sauce, it's so dense. So it's difficult to clean it up and that too on shiny tiles. He just keep on cleaning the floor with his head down. He didn't mind people looking at him, he just thought that his task was to clean up the floor and that's where he put all his focus. It's hard to deal with such situations in life, but at the same time such experience can teach you the best lessons of life.

It was a rule out their that, you need to stand all the time during your working hours. You can check in the mall that they just use to stand all the time whether customer is there or not. So to take rest, that boy use to play a trick. At evening he used to go out of the store to collect all the scattered trolleys that were placed by the customers after loading their buys into the cars from trolley. So he just went on to collect them all. So during that time, he used to check the entire basement area, parking lot, and on the road side too. As he was outside the store, no eyes were on him, so he just use to sit behind a car for about 5 minutes and take all the rest of his life within a moment. As they don't allow you to sit, you need to be smart and play such tricks. So that's where he use to sit and think about his own life. he thought that one can't carry on with these kind of bulk of hardwork and getting almost nothing out if it. So he felt that if he want to hit big in future, he need to study hard, work hard and need to achieve his all dignities and vanish out all the family problems. Alarm rang in his ordinary mobile, 5 mins over. He got up and get inside the store with that collection of trolley which seems like a toy train.

He ended up with his job on 31st May 2012. That was his last day of job at the age of 15. The job which taught him many things. Money wasn't proved to be a prime factor then, but that experience does. Once you pass through such tough phase in life. Nothing can stop you then. Just because you already had enough motivation within you. You need to look for various aspects in life and react according to the circumstances of life. There was a shear need of money and so he worked for that tiny little penny, which seems to be very less when you count, but it's damn worthy if you feel so. Every tiny little contribution to your family is important and that's where he step up to face any challenges of life and that's where that boy was just turned into Unstoppable.

31st May,2012 His last moments where touching a bit. At around 11:10 PM when he used to sign off from his duty. He was walking along with his bicycle up the ramp from basement to the ground level. When you look at from the Ground level, the boy and his bicycle emerges out from the darkness of basement to the faint brightness of the world where his parents with their eyes full of tears and heart filled with pride just looking at their boy. Boy with billion dreams in his eyes, chasing them all. Onwards and Upwards...Cheers for life...!!!