Mohit Kumar,
2004-07, Brindavan

I was working in stores and would like to share some of the lighter moments that the ‘stores boys’ had with Ruchir sir. Recounting the memories as I remember them.

We always said those days that sir was a different person inside stores and outside. Once, Ruchir sir had bought t-shirts for stores and one of the other students informed him that they were girls t-shirts. Ruchir sir asked how he knew and the boy showed the curve near the waist. Ruchir Sir was nonplussed and said he did not know that. The boy said, “How will you know sir, you have always been here (within the Sai educational system)”. “Naughty Anush” was the reply.

In the stores we had a refrigerator from a company with all their edible/perishable products inside. A problem arose in the fridge but the company technicians were delaying the repair. One evening, Ruchir sir called them and informed, ”We have left the fridge outside our stores for anyone to pick up. You could be the first one to pick up or others will do the needful.” The technicians promptly arrived the next day! The fridge was always inside the stores… and they immediately fixed it!

On another occasion sir narrated an incident about a tax officer who had arrived to check the books of stores. Of course no one can beat Sir with accounts and rules. But this lady arrived and was randomly looking to create an issue. As a guest she was treated with respect, all her queries answered and offered good snacks and refreshments. And Ruchir sir was clear this hospitality was only because she was a guest and not to be misconstrued. Perhaps she misunderstood. At the end of the inspection she asked for more… That is when he lost his patience and asked her to leave which she promptly did. Listening to the story I asked him, how we maintained and paid sales tax (at that time it was not GST) since we had not much record of our sales. It was difficult to keep record of sale as different volunteers were billing every day. That’s when he told me that to make things completely clear, although it puts a small loss to stores, he paid the sales tax on every product that was purchased by stores from the wholesaler. i.e. once the product entered stores, he paid sale tax irrespective of whether it was sold or not. Truly a man of integrity!

There are many memories with him but I will stop here to say it has left a vacuum in my heart to have lost him. Sairam!