FREE GIFT ECONOMY
Gift economy is also can be termed as gift culture/gift exchange. It’s a concept in which the valuables/service are not traded or sold but given without any prefixed agreement for immediate or future rewards. This concept establishes an unsettled relation between the market and non-market activities which certainly gain a lot of attention. This creates a “sphere of exchange” in which the concept run like “If you are paying something after consuming something then you are paying for the next consumer and your bill have been paid by somebody else.
The best reference we found to state this concept is
SEVA CAFE-Living is Giving
Can you imagine a restaurant in which there be no price on the menu and where the bills come with a simple foot note:” Your meal was a gift from someone who came before you? Unbelievable right? No this happens in real. Go to the exact address 4th Floor, Shopper’s Plaza, Chimanlal Girdharlal Rd, Opp Municipal Market, Abad, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380009. It’s a crisscross between a big family get together and a regular family restaurant where you will be welcomed like a homely guest with smiles and care. The staffs over there will be serving you the meal like your own friend or family member. There will be a great mild music band bend which will create a humble atmosphere of post lunch chit chat. Then the most obvious moment will come in which the bill will be delivered to you. In the bill you won’t find a paper stacked with numbers but a little handmade decorated chit which says” Pay from your heart”. No question will be done on the amount you are going to pay. It will make feel like “wow”. You will be also welcomed to pitch in with cooking, cleaning, serving, organizing etc.
Another example is viral now a day about an Auto Wala who denied the regular fare that he can claim and asking the passenger to pay how much they want to pay again no question about the amount. Some of the NGOs also started campaigning for fund collection for the welfare of Tamilnadu flood victims by asking the passenger that” Please donate my fare to the flood relief collection fund” which gained a huge positive response and gained a lot of public attention.
These are the ideal concept of Greet gift concept. Where the amount supposed to pay is been paid by someone else earlier and you will be paying for the next anonymous person. Everything is similar to normal day to day functions but the only difference is the service which will be offered to you with an ample of love which turns the environment full of humanity and Love.
Dibyasmith Parida