PR in Train

It was a lazy Monday morning (actually all mornings are lazy). My friend and I were in a crowded Churchgate train. Though we were sitting opposite each other we were not able to see each other’s face. I was trying to talk to her but it was not possible because of the crowd. We were reaching dadar and everyone knows that the most of the people get down at dadar.

So when my train reached dadar, most of the crowd got off and now train was little empty than before at least I could see my friends face. Though we were still not able to talk but we were talking in sign language. There was this man who got in from dadar and he was selling a pack of three pens for Rs.20. This man was different than the other sellers who usually try to shout and sell their product. He was very peacefully coming near every seat and was talking about the product that he had. As he passed my seat, I heard some ladies sitting next to me talking to each other. They were saying that, “This is train ka samman. There is no guarantee of these things. You never know they might not even write properly.”

The man was crossing our seat and he happened to hear what these ladies were talking about him and his product. He stopped near my seat, looked at them. The ladies were a bit surprised but they didn’t react. The man smiled at them and said, “Madam, we are poor people and when I leave my home every morning, I just pray to god that the things we sell should earn us our day’s livelihood. In this world there is no guarantee of us human beings, as there are so many blast taking place at any random places and you are talking about the guarantee of these pens??? And he went on saying that, “I had come to Mumbai 40 years back with 50,000 in my pocket. But life had decided something more else for me. I was cheated and then I was left with nothing at all. I wished I had invested even in small huts in Nalasopara, that time I could afford them. And by now I would get so much more money that I would have actually put in them. Now I live in mahim in a small hut. I just pray that I should never become a reason for some one’s lose. Because I have gone through that phase.”

Listening to his story the ladies who didn’t want to take those pens actually ended up in buying them. He managed selling more than 20 packets in that small place. No one knew that the story he told us was true or no. But the way he said it, influenced everyone. These people have not learned Pr but they can still manage doing it and sell their products.

I know its not a good example but I just felt writing about this and so have I done it.