India: How Udaipur store is encouraging people to give

Imagine a market place where you could just walk in and walk out with whatever you want, without paying for anything. Anything you could lay your hands on - from a sleek-looking jacket, a pair of jeans or a music player - could be yours for free. Sounds like a fairytale?

But, Sukoon is anything but that!

In our increasingly materialistic world, imagining such a space seems a bit farfetched, but a gentleman in Udaipur has made this Utopia possible.

In this non-commercial space, located in Udaipur’s Fatehpura area, people can just walk in and walk out with anything they want - no questions asked, no answers given, no money exchanged, a transaction of pure tranquility.

Welcome to Sukoon, a place where the only currency that works is love. Sukoon in Urdu/Hindi means tranquility or peace of mind and tranquility is the bottomline of the business in this surreal institution.

Built on the values of ‘gift culture,’ Sukoon was founded by a former journalist and entrepreneur Sampat Bapna in 2014. Since then, the centre has brought smiles on thousands of faces, including children, women and the elderly, mostly from the less privileged community. However, there is no restriction on who can benefit from Sukoon.

Dignity

Through this initiative, Bapna not only aims to develop the culture of giving in his community, but more importantly, he wants to restore dignity to the act of giving and helping people.

“I don’t like the word donation or charity. We neither give donation, nor accept it. In receiving donation directly, there is a degree of embarrassment for the beneficiary. This is why we promote the culture of giving with dignity. Here, we play the role of an interface between the giver and receiver,” said Sampat Bapna, who has been running Sukoon for nine years.

At Sukoon, the benefactor and the beneficiary never meet. Sukoon encourages the Good Samaritans of Udaipur to leave their unused or less used goods at its store, which are then displayed on the shelves of Sukoon, just like a normal store.

The beneficiaries are free to walk in anytime during the working hours, pick any item of their choice and walk out. The products range from electronics, appliances, apparel, accessories, shoes, furniture, household items and many more.

“Overconsumption is one of the biggest problems the world is facing today. In most cases, we buy not because of our need, but just because we feel the compulsion of buying what is in fashion. In many cases, we hardly use many of the products we buy. Every household will have dozens of unused products lying around, there will be many items that would be in excess. So, we appeal to people to come and drop these products in our store, where people in need will come and pick them,” added Bapna, who enjoys the role of facilitating the culture of giving.

Bridge

The only condition Sukoon puts on its givers is that the product they give should be in good working condition.

“We urge people to give only those things that they themselves would love to receive. Our idea is to restore dignity to the act of giving and that purpose will not be achieved by giving broken or tattered items,” remarked Bapna, who is slowly changing people’s mindset around the act of giving.

Acting as a bridge between the haves and the have-nots, Sukoon ensures the act of giving and receiving becomes a joyful experience.

“Giving is a gift that very few of us develop in sufficient quantities. It is a gift realised only by those who feel joy in seeing smiles on the faces of the deprived and less privileged. It is a gift only when we feel happy by seeing others happy,” remarked Bapna.

According to Bapna, real happiness is not confining the goodness to ourselves but seeing it resonate in the society. He believes that the real prosperity is not prospering in isolation, but ensuring that the all elements in the society prosper with us and “it doesn’t take much to do this.”

However, Bapna’s real achievement is not the establishment of Sukoon, but his ability to inspire giving. A prime example of this is the property where Sukoon has operated from rent-free for nine years.

Going a step further now, Bapna has inspired his entire extended family to participate in this culture of giving, pooling their resources to buy a property in Udaipur to set up Sukoon in a bigger, more prominent space.

“Our dream is to turn Sukoon into India’s biggest mall of giving. We want to build it on the standards of modern malls, where anyone from any background would come and have their heart’s content. We are working on this and hopefully, we will achieve this soon,” added Bapna, revealing his dream project.

Through his initiative, Bapna aims to offer solutions at multiple fronts. From tackling consumerism and greed to reducing waste and generating empathy, Sukoon aims to re-establish balance in the society through the simple act of giving. Its success so far proves that the act of giving has the power to change the world for better.