This dates back to 2016 when I shifted to the steel city of Jamshedpur for my first ever job. We were given a nice place to stay inside a housing colony. Every day, the company bus took us to work in the morning and dropped us back in the evening. There were the local chai-walas serving delicious tea at different corners in the colony. Then there were many tiny shopping complexes as well, where we could purchase necessities for the home. So all was hunky-dory for a south Indian girl picked up from a random college in Kerala and put up with her new-found friends in Tatanagar.
The problem arose when I wanted to buy new clothes! I had started earning and hence was responsible for taking care of myself. A sad fact, there were no malls in Jamshedpur to shop good quality clothes from. There were only a few brand outlets that sold clothes at prices that made no sense to me. So I tried shopping online. 2 out of 3 times, I had to return the order. I can’t express how badly I was in need of new clothes. I was putting on weight and outgrowing my old clothes, thanks to the sedentary lifestyle I had found my comfort in. That was when a ray of light reached me. Jamshedpur was about to get a new mall. And guess what, one of the few shops that were going to open in the initial phase was of Pantaloons!
The day I went to Pantaloon and P&M Mall for the first time was such an event. I could sense the feeling of satisfaction of the people around me who too like me had come for a shopping haul. I picked and picked and kept on trying random clothes until I shopped my heart out. I remember calling my mother to let her know that her daughter had finally bought something to wear on her own!
There has been no time when I came out of a Pantaloons Outlet empty-handed. It's interesting to know that the ABG group touches each of our lives in unique ways and it will continue to do the same.
So now here goes the story of my first Diwali in Jamshedpur. I stayed in a hostel. The staff there consisted of sanitary workers, mess workers, and security guards. All in all, there were around 30 staff workers in our hostel. They made sure we had clean bathrooms to take a shower, clean corridors to stroll on and a safe place to stay. We never realized that these people used to come to work even on Sundays and on holidays that we craved for as employees.
Diwali was round the corner. Many of my inmates went home to celebrate with their families. I felt that even the staff workers needed to celebrate Diwali in the way it should be done. I gathered some of my friends who were remaining in the hostel and expressed my desire to treat the staff workers. My friends liked the idea and we planned to collect money from all inmates after seeking their approval. We bought clothes and winter shawls for the workers and invited them on Diwali for a get-together. On the morning of Diwali, we wrapped the gifts in fancy covers and waited eagerly for the function. Our warden handed over the gifts to our special guests.
The satisfaction that we felt on seeing a smile on each worker's face was priceless. We thanked each of them personally for making our lives in Jamshedpur easier at the cost of their comfort. Since that day, we made sure that the workers could approach us for any sort of help they required.