Thursday, August 5, 2021

77 without any ailment and still working

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Simple living is the key to health

This is the shop from where I buy towels (called 'gamcha' locally) for every day usage, since last 20+ years. Today was a great day, to meet the Sr citizens running the show, as their kid ( my age) was out for some time. They have this shop and the factory for more than 60 years. The person sitting is the owner aged 65 years, and the person standing, is working with them for three generations. He is aged 77, and working with them since his childhood. Not much educated, but a hard worker and loyal person, treated equally as family. He is perfectly healthy, without any ailment. And he can work all day even today, fit and strong. And the key to all these is a simple disciplined life - getting up early at 4'o clock to sleeping by 8 pm, and eating all simple vegetarian food with desi ghee. He does not know what stress is 😀 And he also does not know what a smart phone is, though he understands by using a phone, you can talk to someone. He has never used one though.

I was curious to have few words with him and called him out, as he was watching from inside. He knows everything about the process of sewing these fabrics, from processing the threads, putting colors, sewing etc. They have their own spinning mill, running for decades. Though the incentive in this business has been not much and much bigger factories have closed, these guys have run this family business with success because of maintaining the best quality. They don't compromise in the price and even won't deduct a single rupee. But they have fixed customers, who recognize the quality.

They produce various items, like towels, sarees etc. in various designs, all cotton materials and very comfortable in usage. Whenever, I go, I buy a bunch of them, so that, it can run for a year. They cost around INR 150 - 200 ( 2-3 $), though some very good design work would cost around INR 500 ( 7-8 $). Their fabric quality is what tied me with them for two decades, its very soft to use, after wash. And unlike the big towels, these dry up pretty fast, and are more portable. And look at the colors - they are pretty fascinating as well. Every time I go, I find different colors and designs. Running a proprietary business for decades would not have been easy, had they not maintained this.