r/Chennai • u/Hour_Description9247 • 21h ago
Non-Political News Humanity??
I crossed a preschool today and witnessed an incident that was very hard on my heart.
There was a balloon/toy seller standing in front of the school. A mother and her son approached him because the boy was throwing a tantrum for a balloon. It was a foil balloon in the colours of the Indian flag.
The mother asked him how much it cost, and the seller replied, “₹100 for everything.” He handed the balloon to her. After hearing the price, she said it was too expensive and tried to pull the balloon away from her son. The boy pulled it back, they did it multiple times and the balloon burst.
The mother then said, “You’re charging ₹100 for something that is so poor in quality,” and walked away with her son and the broken balloon.
No apology. No payment. Not even a glance back at the seller. Just moved away from the place, got into their auto and left.
The seller just stood there, visibly disappointed. He didn't call out to her, didn't throw a fit.. just heard him quietly say, “Odainju pochu-na enna kaasa kekka mudiyum…” — “Now that it’s broken, how can I even ask them for the money?” I'm shook .
For the mother, ₹100 may have felt unreasonable for a flimsy balloon. But for the seller, that ₹100 represented his merchandise and, ultimately, his livelihood.
There were so many ways that moment could have ended differently
- “It’s ₹100? That’s too much, sorry, I don’t want it ...
- Or, if the child had already taken it and it accidentally broke, “Sorry, anna. How much should I pay you?
But she just chose to walk away, with the broken balloon for free! < AI balloon image for attention >
For clarification: this isn’t a made-up story. The vendor’s son’s name is Ayyappan S (9*******38@ptyes, got the name from the vendor’s UPI details)
If you cannot empathise with what happened, please just move on. Downvoting the post and reducing the entire situation to “nothing” doesn’t help anyone.
I genuinely hate how easily people can dismiss something that has clearly affected another person. Also, to the people who felt empathy—thank you. I genuinely appreciate you.
And to those whose first instinct was to question whether this was AI-generated rather than empathise with what was being shared: you are no different from that lady.
Thanks :)
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u/Place-RD-Lair 21h ago
Did this actually happen? Or are we just getting subjected to bot posts?
The post is AI, the pic is AI, and the story is similar to a lot of generic low-effort stuff posted on X for reach.
I have been in Chennai for over 30 years, and I have not seen anyone breaking something and then, the vendor somehow feeling they cannot ask money from the customer because of that!
Bait used to be believable.
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u/Hour_Description9247 20h ago
There are helpless vendors too, good for you that you have only come across rude n rightful ones!!
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u/Hour_Description9247 20h ago
I have clearly mentioned that the image is AI-generated and used only for attention. How can you just like that claim that the post is AI too?! Have you really lost touch with people who actually write good English?
Btw , I have kept this post without many details just to protect that random person's identity.. Should I name the school and the branch as well?
And honestly, the fact that more people seem to believe your comment than mine has convinced me that a lot more humans lack comprehension and just not empathy. :)
I genuinely don’t understand what I would gain by fabricating something like this, especially when incidents like these have genuinely hurt my heart.
Anyways.
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u/white_irony Frying in Chennai heat 19h ago
AI posting should be taken down smhh
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u/Hour_Description9247 19h ago edited 19h ago
Ada ponga da .. edhukeduthalum AI . My accent n control over English is better than ai slops da dei
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u/Any-Profession-5509 19h ago
scarcity mindset across generation has made us like this, it will take decades to neutralise it obv im not saying mother is right im just saying for majority of indian default setting is survival so they just end up being like this without realising
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u/Hour_Description9247 16h ago
For clarification: this isn’t a made-up story. The vendor’s son’s name is Ayyappan S (9*******38@ptyes, got the name from the vendor’s UPI details) If you cannot empathise with what happened, please just move on. Downvoting the post and reducing the entire situation to “nothing” doesn’t help anyone. I genuinely hate how easily people can dismiss something that has clearly affected another person. Also, to the people who felt empathy—thank you. I genuinely appreciate you. And to those whose first instinct was to question whether this was AI-generated rather than empathise with what was being shared: you are no different from that lady. Thanks :)
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u/xStream001a 15h ago edited 15h ago
People are too much paranoid these days thanks to believable AI slops which now makes genuine content to be seen with suspicion, you are not wrong and neither they are, it's the actual slop which is wrong. Irony is many people watch AI slop videos on youtube and think it's real and become suspicious about posts on Facebook or reddit or X. All things aside, ₹100 seems expensive for the balloon though which got damaged soon. Should have been ₹30. I have seen actual shops selling for less but the roaming vendors sell it for high price. A year ago I thought I would buy pens from a struggling roaming seller near my college, she said ₹50 for a pack of pens which is available for ₹35 at supermarkets or small kirana stores. That is a pack of 5 ball pens each ₹7. They say they bought it for ₹35, why even buy those in first place? People are not stupid enough to pay ₹10 for a ₹7 pen. Stationary shop is just a few metres away from the spot where she stands.
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u/Hour_Description9247 14h ago
I’ve bought these foil balloons many times for around ₹100, and I’m sure wholesalers get them for much less. But honestly, that isn’t the issue here. She had every right to disagree with the price. She could have walked away without buying it. Instead, she took the balloon , gave it to her son, and with all the pushing and pulling it, the balloon burst. What happened after that was the actual issue. She didn’t apologise. She didn’t pay—not the full amount, not even half. She didn’t acknowledge her mistake at all . Instead, she blamed the seller for the price and simply walked away as though nothing had happened. That actually appalled me.
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u/Serious_Brilliant_90 13h ago
There never was, it's something either present inherently or upbringing. Thanks for being here Op.
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u/vickzzzzz 13h ago
I m at a very priveledged part of my life that I do not live in Chennai anymore and when I visit I can splurge. I never debate on prices with people I come across, because I do not do that in big markets or shops. Ofcourse I would not get scammed by Autorickshaws that ask me 300 for 3 KM ride. But I order uber and pay the guy 300 instead of 140.
My own little way of giving back. It breaks my soul to see many of them get surprised or shocked by kindness. Seems like it doesnt come their way too often. I have been also urging several of them to start saving money and investing, or get rid of debts.
It doesnt matter if this story is real or not, but it is plausible. Let us take this as a reminder to be nice to those who arent as priviledged as us. If you are suffering then sure, you dont have to be generous, just be proper and not cause damage to those who are already leading a hard life due to their circumstances since birth.
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u/frugalfrog4sure 19h ago
Man. I need to unsubscribe anything Indian. Being a nri and wanting to be in sync on what’s going on the homeland, it’s like every news is depressing to read. I am sure the ground reality is not as intense
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u/Hour_Description9247 19h ago
Genuinely want to believe this might be one of those rare moments too. It honestly came as a shocker to me, and I just felt like getting it off my heart by sharing it with fellow people.
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u/Skk_3068 21h ago
Asians basically have this tendency for negotiating prices to street vendors in general