tidied the shop Bala began to examine the
garments on the rack, nodding as he read the instructions pinned to
them.
"Uncle Rajesh
was a very meticulous man." Bala said. "Every garment has precise
instructions so it'll be quite easy to do the repairs and
alterations. I've no doubt that we can have everything ready for
the customers by next week. Hopefully, in the mean time, more
customers will bring in work. Fatima, my dearest, I'm getting
really excited about the future! But one of the first things I'm
going to do is change the name of the shop. What do you think of
the name DESAI FAMILY TAILORS?"
Fatima
smiled.
"That sounds
wonderful!" she said.
By the Monday
of the following week Bala and Fatima had managed to repair or
alter all the garments left by customers before the death of Rajesh
Dinat and had also taken in work that would keep them busy for the
whole of the next week. On the Friday afternoon the signage company
installed the new sign DESAI FAMILY TAILORS above the front
door.
"We must make
sure that no customer ever leaves the shop dissatisfied with our
work." Bala told Fatima. "From what I've heard uncle Rajesh had a
very good reputation for high quality work and we must maintain
that and even improve on it if possible. Even if we have to work
overtime we must never let a customer down. If we tell them that
can have their garments on a particular day then we must make sure
that the garments are ready on that day."
"Yes." Fatima
said. "We must work out a schedule that tells us exactly when
articles must be ready and a progress ticket for each one."
Fatima arranged
for Salona to go to a nearby Indian kindergarten school, leaving
her there on her way to the shop and collecting her at midday and
taking her to the shop where they ate the midday meal that she had
prepared the previous evening. The small family quickly fell into a
comfortable routine. The money that they collected from their work
was put into a round biscuit tin under the rolls of fabric at the
back of the shop and every Saturday morning Bala would take it to
the bank and deposit it into his savings account.
Although the
business quickly began to bring in a steady income Bala soon
realised that it wasn't sufficient to allow him to save the money
that he knew he would need in later years. One of the biggest
expenses that he would soon be facing was Salona's education. He
was determined that his beloved child would be afforded an
education that would allow her to exploit the talents that she was
already displaying. The problem was that the standard of education
available to "non-white" citizens was extremely low compared to
that offered to white children. "Non-white" children were also
forced to learn their lessons in the hated Afrikaans language,
whereas the main language in business and the academics was
English. The only other option open to Bala was to send Salona to a
private school and the fees asked by these institutions were far
beyond Bala's means.
One of the main
reason's why Bala and Fatima struggled to meet their commitments
was that they were far too generous. The prices that they charged
their customers for the work that they did were far too low for the
effort that they put in but they were too scared that if they
increased their prices they would drive their customers away.
Although the
little house in Pageview had been fully paid for by uncle Rajesh
before he died there were expenses such as municipal rates and
taxes, water and lights' the rental for the shop, Salona's
kindergarten fees and unexpected maintenance costs to the house
which was close to eighty years old. By the time Bala had paid all
these expenses and fed and clothed his family there was almost no
money left to save.
Bala and Fatima
were nevertheless extremely grateful for the opportunity that they
had inherited and they were determined to honour it with their best
efforts. They realised that despite their hard work, they were
still far better off than they had ever
garments on the rack, nodding as he read the instructions pinned to
them.
"Uncle Rajesh
was a very meticulous man." Bala said. "Every garment has precise
instructions so it'll be quite easy to do the repairs and
alterations. I've no doubt that we can have everything ready for
the customers by next week. Hopefully, in the mean time, more
customers will bring in work. Fatima, my dearest, I'm getting
really excited about the future! But one of the first things I'm
going to do is change the name of the shop. What do you think of
the name DESAI FAMILY TAILORS?"
Fatima
smiled.
"That sounds
wonderful!" she said.
By the Monday
of the following week Bala and Fatima had managed to repair or
alter all the garments left by customers before the death of Rajesh
Dinat and had also taken in work that would keep them busy for the
whole of the next week. On the Friday afternoon the signage company
installed the new sign DESAI FAMILY TAILORS above the front
door.
"We must make
sure that no customer ever leaves the shop dissatisfied with our
work." Bala told Fatima. "From what I've heard uncle Rajesh had a
very good reputation for high quality work and we must maintain
that and even improve on it if possible. Even if we have to work
overtime we must never let a customer down. If we tell them that
can have their garments on a particular day then we must make sure
that the garments are ready on that day."
"Yes." Fatima
said. "We must work out a schedule that tells us exactly when
articles must be ready and a progress ticket for each one."
Fatima arranged
for Salona to go to a nearby Indian kindergarten school, leaving
her there on her way to the shop and collecting her at midday and
taking her to the shop where they ate the midday meal that she had
prepared the previous evening. The small family quickly fell into a
comfortable routine. The money that they collected from their work
was put into a round biscuit tin under the rolls of fabric at the
back of the shop and every Saturday morning Bala would take it to
the bank and deposit it into his savings account.
Although the
business quickly began to bring in a steady income Bala soon
realised that it wasn't sufficient to allow him to save the money
that he knew he would need in later years. One of the biggest
expenses that he would soon be facing was Salona's education. He
was determined that his beloved child would be afforded an
education that would allow her to exploit the talents that she was
already displaying. The problem was that the standard of education
available to "non-white" citizens was extremely low compared to
that offered to white children. "Non-white" children were also
forced to learn their lessons in the hated Afrikaans language,
whereas the main language in business and the academics was
English. The only other option open to Bala was to send Salona to a
private school and the fees asked by these institutions were far
beyond Bala's means.
One of the main
reason's why Bala and Fatima struggled to meet their commitments
was that they were far too generous. The prices that they charged
their customers for the work that they did were far too low for the
effort that they put in but they were too scared that if they
increased their prices they would drive their customers away.
Although the
little house in Pageview had been fully paid for by uncle Rajesh
before he died there were expenses such as municipal rates and
taxes, water and lights' the rental for the shop, Salona's
kindergarten fees and unexpected maintenance costs to the house
which was close to eighty years old. By the time Bala had paid all
these expenses and fed and clothed his family there was almost no
money left to save.
Bala and Fatima
were nevertheless extremely grateful for the opportunity that they
had inherited and they were determined to honour it with their best
efforts. They realised that despite their hard work, they were
still far better off than they had ever
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