Bargaining for an irony

Just what kind of lives do most of us lead these days, wading through the minutiae as we do with hearts of stone? For example, we never h...

Just what kind of lives do most of us lead these days, wading through the minutiae as we do with hearts of stone? For example, we never hesitate to pay through our noses at glitzy stores but make small-time vegetable vendors and other miscellaneous roadside shopkeepers feel as if they have burnt a hole in our pockets!

Observe any housewife from a middle-class or upper middle-class family and nine times out of ten, she will be seen locked in a verbal argument with her sabziwala. It will go something like this. 8220;Tomatoes for Rs 16 a kilo? Who do you think you are fooling? In the main market it is available for Rs 12! And the ones you have got are not even fresh and red. Come on, give it for Rs 12 8212; how dare you cheat a regular customer like me?8221;

The poor sabziwala, nine out of ten times, will smile uncomfortably, and humbly and in a well-mannered tone defend his price. He cannot afford to be arrogant with this memsaab 8212; he certainly would not want to be humiliated further. And so,nine times out of ten, he will lower his price by a couple of rupees, thus minimising his profit. And the housewife will buy with glee, and probably blow her trumpet to her husband about how money-wise she is. And, how skillful she is in the art of bargaining!

The same housewife will then visit one of the plush department stores that sells branded stuff like readymade western casuals, shoes or other accessories for her children 8212; after all, she has to keep up with the Kumars. Here, there will be a dramatic role reversal. Her eyes will first seek out the price tag but never will she wear a frown. After all, what is shelling out a few hundred rupees to acquire a status symbol and to see a beaming smile on her child8217;s face?

Actually, this housewife would love to have these items too at lower rates, but she dare not counter-question, across the counter. Doesn8217;t she have manners? She is supposed to wait patiently for the time when this very department store will announce a 50 per cent discount and then shecan rush and be a part of the herd, to grab as much as she can at that discounted price! Till then, she will happily pay, whatever the price.

What an irony, that most of us have become so accustomed to robbing the poor shopkeepers/vendors of their rightful profit and feeding the rich shopkeepers with their unjustified profit. We never stop to think nor do we carry a trace of guilt. And it is happening everyday, all day long, in all corners of our country.

Organised shops get away with a board on one of their walls or a sentence in their bill receipt, stating: 8220;Goods once sold will not be exchanged or returned.8221; What do most of us do when a poor vegetable or a fruit vendor gives you bad quality goods? Give him good! Ensure that the next day he does not charge you for the same item. And maybe remind him for the next six months how he had cheated on you. How many rupees have you saved in the bargain? Rs 10? Rs 15?

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I reside in the vicinity of the wholesale vegetable and fruit market in Pune. I go formy early morning walk at around 5.45 am and I see hordes of these vendors, carting their handcarts towards the marketyard to replenish them. They come from all parts of the city and walk for several kilometres so that they begin their business in good time. And then, after a hard day8217;s work, they not only eke out a hand-to-mouth existence, but they have to worry about enough money to refill their handcarts the next morning.

We talk tall from our ivory towers, how we sympathise with the poor, but we do nothing to show that we care. Maybe, being reasonable with your sabziwala or sabziwali could be the first step towards such compassion.