THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:At a time when snoopy surveillance cameras dot even petty shops, here’s a place where you can shop like a trusted guest.Titled “Sathyam Store’, a shop selling miscellaneous items opened by the Sathya Sai Orphanage Trust at Sasthamangalam here does not have a salesman or cash counter.
The shop sells pottery, kitchen utensils and curios, bamboo crafts, books, key chains and many more. Most of the items are made by the inmates of the orphanage on the Sai Gramam campus of the Sathya Sai Trust at Thonnakkal.
State Police Chief Loknath Behera inaugurated the shop on Sunday. “This will be a pointer to the truthfulness in the society. A no salesman shop put up by an orphanage - I think this would be the first of its kind in the country,” he said.
All displays in the shop have a price sticker and a customer is expected to drop the amount in a box kept under the portrait of Sai Baba. A poster in the shop says: “Whatever you pick from here is for the sake children of our orphanage”
Trust’s executive director K N Anandakumar said the shop displays aren’t physical objects but emotional gifts by the orphanage inmates to some good hearts who mind to care them. The orphanage on the Thonnakkal campus is home to 150 inmates, including 60 children.
“All the earthenware are made at our pottery unit in the Thonnakkal campus. They are made in the traditional method by the inmates,” he said. Interested childrne in the orphanage are given training in the unit.
The bamboo artifacts were made under the supervision of experts from Wayanad. Publications put up for sale include those published by the Prasanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi, and the Sathya Sai Trust.
The shop, situated in the Sathya Sai Trust building at Sasthamangalam, will function from 10 am to 6 pm on all working days.
School for special kids
The Sathya Sai trust also opened a school for autistic kids at its Thonnakkal campus on the day. It will cater to children in the nearby panchayats.
The 21-year-old trust has 63 projects at the Thonnakkal campus that range from crafts units to educational institutions. The Sai Vidya Mandir school gives free education to 350 students.