Thank you, Sunitha

My first interaction with Sunitha was over the phone, when she called me asking for a stall space at the Sankalp exhibition that I organise with a view to empowering women and encouraging entrepreneurship among them.

There was this hesitant voice on the other side — very timid, apologetic and unsure — and I could barely make out what she was trying to convey. A member of the Kudumbashree unit in Palakkad, she wanted a space at our event to display and sell her plants.

In between a hectic schedule of running around distributing invitations and posters, coordinating with the decorator and printer, answering umpteen calls from participants regarding the event, injecting more enthusiasm into the team and solving a whole lot of other unscheduled challenges, I actually found this particular call a bit unwelcome, especially since the event was scheduled for the following day… barely 18 hours away!

For one, all the stalls had already been let out. Space being a severe constraint, I couldn’t accommodate any more. Secondly, I had already given away a couple of stalls to Kudumbashree groups to display their wares, at no cost, and I felt that my social responsibility towards empowering women from the lower-income strata had been adequately met.

I politely, but firmly, conveyed my inability to accommodate her and let the matter go.

Little did I know about her persuasive skills!

The next day, just before the inauguration of the exhibition, there was this frail young woman in a maroon saree who identified herself as Sunitha, pleading for a small space to keep her plants.

I didn’t have the heart to refuse her, and somehow managed to provide a space outside the hall, along with the food stalls.

I noticed that she had brought in a variety of Gerbera plants, along with packets of seeds, which she arranged with expertise on the table.

Each time I passed her stall, I noticed the smiling and persuasive manner in which she interacted with potential customers. Not surprisingly, the load on the table lessened considerably within the two days of the event, and I could see the happiness in her eyes as she packed up her remaining plants on the closing day of the sale.

But what surprised me was that, before she left, she came up to me with a huge smile, thanked me for providing her with a space and handed me a big bunch of Gerbera plants wrapped in a few sheets of old newspaper.

My attempts to pay for them were futile. All I could do was stand there watching this thin, fair woman walk away, head held high, happy and contented.

It’s been nearly a month since I met Sunitha. As I stepped out into the courtyard this morning, there was this beautiful Gerbera flower standing all proud and tall, blooming away happily for the whole world to admire.

I wonder why I keep seeing Sunitha’s smiling face in this delicate flower…