Waiting time - 155 mins. Walking time - 45 mins.
Government is doing excellent work. Everything is being managed well and everyone is living strong in these pandemic times. Hopefully I won't be penalized for either telling lies or the rest of the truth that shall follow.
Sahakari Bhandar is the grocery outlet operating under management of Reliance folks. One of the reasons why people throng to these outlets compared to local shops is the often true belief that price gouging will be controlled in these outlets. Your needs of vegetables, staples and household needs would be met from under the one roof thingy. I decided to checkout Sahakari Bhandar today covered in hoodie, safety glasses, mask and my weight lifting gloves reaching the spot around 0805 hrs. Shop wasn't open and there were murmurs that only from today the store timings are changed to 10 am onwards instead of their usual 8AM slot. Great! Time to find a pedestal to sit and do some reading. Staff started coming one by one by 10 am except for cashiers. They were being driven by their office vehicle from distant places. Till they don't arrive, the outlet folks decided to extend waiting time to avoid crowding only at one cashier spot. That made sense and I had no issue with waiting till 1040 hrs considering that I already waited for 2 hrs. I just had to pacify one lady who started throwing tantrum asking her to not disturb me and better go inside to shout at them. Of course, she wouldn't because the fear of being denied entry is higher than the joy of teaching management lessons to their staff.
Went inside around 1045 to get vegetable stock hopefully sufficient to pull us through till 8th April (10 days stock) provided none of the things end up rotting considering the limitation of storage in the refrigerator. That reminds me, I probably should invest in deep freezer or extra refrigerator. I definitely need to read about how to preserve vegetables beyond months using deep freezer.
Coming back to purchase experience in these times. There were people inside who were denouncing people for checking even their mobile phone of the to buy list. Even that is understood. The waiting queue had grown to approx 75 meters with around 100 people waiting. Even I wanted to get this over with to avoid any guilt feeling. So I kinda skipped buying or checking out few things that were in back of my mind and kinda came out missing out on what I had planned for. In absence of any home delivery mechanism by Govt or the store outlets (lets face it, how will you find and motivate people to go to unknown locations with potential covid positive recipients), you will end up venturing out and keep missing things from your list out of panic and anger.
Came out loaded with three bags. Went to bus stop to ask if bus will take me to reclamation. Conductor asked for Staff ID in case I belong to Municipality office or Police staff. I had a relatable office ID and he might have ended up allowing me out of confusion or pity. But putting down bags to pull out wallet felt too cumbersome that time. So with no rickshaws or buses available, I walked back home for the 25 mins walk.
So here's the moral of the whole store:
Waiting time in queue will be at least 1 hr depending upon what time you are reaching.
With no public transport in place, you either take risk of bringing your own vehicle amidst the rumors of petrol pumps not providing fuel to civilians or losing your cycle to theft or miscreants as parking in store compound is no longer allowed. Or just walk back home in which case, you shouldn't try load urself for anything more than 10 kilos.