THE FIRST OF MANY

Today  was monumental for Aha Bazaar, I’m not saying this lightly because we officially embarked into our journey of serving the wonderful people of the UK with products that are very close to their heart. The first of anything is very special and for us, today was the day, we successfully delivered our first order.  It was a simple three-step process. This might seem like a very ordinary occurrence to many in the e-commerce market, but not so during these unusual days. Imagine being in the midst of a worldwide lockdown and our prospects at Aha Bazaar for getting our first delivery, seemed gloomy and unpredictable like the English weather, I’m not really complaining or am I? For starters it was the team with high morale that kept motivating each other as COVID had put us all in the back seat like it had done to the rest of the world.

It was at a time like this that we received a collective order for coffee powder from a few customers and we don’t mean the commercial drink worldwide, but Namba Chennai Filter-Kaapi. They didn’t realise the impact it had on our team because here we were worrying about life as we willed it and they gave us a chance at hope. Nothing can come between a South Indian and their Filter-Kaapi, not even COVID. When our friends realised that they had defreezed and brewed the last of their Filter-Kaapi from Chennai, everything began going out of focus. What were they going to do? Aha Bazaar was contacted after a lot of wandering and failed attempts at procuring their precious elixir, their order was taken, step one, of the process, initiated.

Step two, of the process was pretty nerve-wracking for all, as the order had been placed and our secret coffee wizard in Chennai had made the perfectly balanced blend that had an aroma that could truly travel half the planet on its own accord, Then, came the dark clouds in the shape of delivery/shipping company. All of them had a standard answer, coffee is not an essential good. These are obviously words that came out of mouths that have never begun their day with a Filter-Kaapi that made itself known even before we came in contact with them. After a struggle that seemed worse than a war of words between us and the delivery companies, there came our silver-lining, or should I say knight in shining armour, as our delivery/shipping order finally got accepted by one company. Aha, that is a practiced sigh of relief in our side of the world, and thereby brings us to the end of step two.

After the tempestuous step two, we had gauged step three would be easier, but it was not to be so. For days on end, we would wake up to the excitement of tracking the order and the disappointment that would follow as it was not to be delivered that day. One of our staff went to lengths to call the delivery, a trip to Vaikuntham and therefore, how it justifiably needed to traverse 7 seas to reach us. Suddenly, the tracker refreshed and there in fine print read that it had reached Dubai and that was the half-way mark in its travel to us. More mornings followed, with earnest hopes of it reaching us that very day! Cut to today (13^th of June 2020) and the package finally reached the doorsteps of our customers, that too on a Saturday and we truly felt the bliss of the lotus feet. Who said only giving birth was difficult? Try taking up a delivery assignment in these times and you might change your mind. Mission unlocked and the first order for Aha Bazaar, done and dusted. Stay safe and at home and prep to place your first orders with us, we are ready and open for business.