“Hya chodhde garmi vaisakyo; 5 tk ta ho ni”, my brother miffed at me while I was trying hard to set it 115 and not give up at 120. I couldn't resist my brother. Yes, it was more important to rush back to hotel room with AC on than to bargain over this 5tk on this freakish summer day in Bangladesh. That’s close to 5 rupee Nepali. Its not that I don't feel any heat; I just can’t let go money that easy. I remember my father saying ' every penny you save bargaining is the money you actually earn to yourself'. Finally, the merchant won this silly 5tk fight. But he ain't getting any AC.
People have this two contrary approach of looking at this 5 tk tussle between me and this heat absorbent merchant. Yes, of course! Everything starts from -ve pole. Even electricity flows from -ve to +ve pole. Since we are a bunch of hypocrites, we want to mask things positive and think negative. Thats the reason may be we follow this conventional flow of electricity from +ve to -ve(9th grade science book). But regarding my combat with this merchant; its really easy to sideways with me being piggish and fighting for no good amount of money, in short greedy.
Nonetheless ; some very few people might think that I have a leg to stand on. That I wasn't being greedy or bargain [ from old french bargaigne, from bargaignier to trade of germanic origin ] holds absolutely different meaning than greed [ German gratac]. That explains bargaining is not a shameful act or its meaning is nowhere close to being greedy. Its one boring job; looking for meanings in dictionary. I have mentioned the source of these two words that should buy you some time and help you not make a monkey out of you.
Sometimes the shop owners are way too prudent or let’s call cunning. What they do is they recruit this pretty sales girls. Guys just can’t resist to their pretty smile and can't dodge this trick being played on them. Poor lads! And with girls its even effortless. It’s like whipping off a candy from a baby's grip. And the sales boys doesn't even have to look handsome. A lot of girls are living their life under a lemon impression that bargaining is inversely proportional to their beauty and get up or class. “OMG ; her na tyo kt, I mean kasto k, like huncha ni 'dai plz k plz k re' beggar type k”. Its not an assumption its a posteriori.
What about me?? I am a very day to day regular sort of guy and not very out of league type of guy. So I fall for the same thing, girl's smile. Like they say “ hasi to fasi”, actually its vice versa at stores while shopping and turns out something like “hasungi tab to fasega”. But I avoid buying anything form the shops with pretty sales girls. Yes you can call me a hypocrite. Who ain't?? I call that me being feminist, softy with girls and harsh with guys. Just kidding!!
And last time; I went to this vegetable market. Never before I realized the price of tomato hitting as high as 80 tk per kg. I mean what's wrong with the people in Spain; 'the tomatino festival' in the Valencian town of Bunol. Where do tomatoes grow?? on trees??
And I figured it out myself ! The inflation rate in Spain is just about 3.1 percent in July 2011. The historical high of 5.3 and record low of -1.40. That explains the tomatoes being real and yes they can buy. However inflation rate hits 10.2 percent at the same time of the year in Bangladesh. And that explains just why I had to bargain for 10 minutes and lower the price to 70 tk per kg and buy half a kg.
I have recently developed this new bonding between me and tomatoes. Not because one of the movies I really enjoyed watching 'zindagi namilgei doobara' had frame full of tomatoes in it. But I have started cooking myself. Finally after all these years of my brothers and sisters and friends getting wear off saying me the same thing over and again ' learn yourself to cook'. Like they say 'better late than never'.
And Nepal experiencing this inflation just as high as 14.5 percent. They say it has dropped down to 8.sth these days. But who believes this bullshit looking at the menu they hand you at the market. I can just make an assumption how pathetic lives are in polluted Kathmandu valley. Its been 3 years already I haven't bought a thing from this blood sucking place. Sometimes when you have to go to meet some relatives in hospital and you go look out for this Anar(pomegranate;contains high amount of iron). They tell you the price of a handful of grenades. They don't only spell alike they also look alike. Thats the shopkeeper saying figuratively 'yes welcome to the hell ,not dead yet?? buy this .'
Its Teej hitting the market already. I don't know why I hate women putting on such heavy gold ornaments. May be its my mother who never bothered buying any designer jewelry for she never believed gold can really enhance a woman's beauty left a massive impression on me. Or ! May be we are too poor to buy my mother any ornaments. But all my aunts wear sophisticated ornaments. And anyways! What it is with girls and golds?? you know gold price per tola(11.66gm) has just embarked a record price of 53 thousand 4 hundred rupee on Tuesday(23.08.11) and still women are crazy about gold. And I read this today, while the price was just 50 rs per tola in 2003 BS ,gold was still fantasy to the middle class Nepalese and today its even worse , they cant even fantasize. How crazy is that?????
And Dashin is approaching very nigh too. You can only dream of goods. I mean starting with the price of a new piece of cloth to the live goats they sell. They will , with no frantic look in their face say prices as high as branded Armani suits and live horses.
For those of us, who travel in all black SUV s or Corolla or Prado or Hartford (horse height )VR bikes. This might just look as pessimistic of me as any student showing his student id card to get few bucks discount. There is more to it, the micro khalasi suspects his id to be fake and the student in desperation to prove his card real calls the college authority to rest assure that disrespectful khalasi. This elates an unschooled smile on every passengers for he was getting to extreme measures to fight his right.And they were getting this whole idea of this guy arguing 'being insane for few bucks'.
However , for rest of Nepal; you want to learn what an inflation is?? here is one standard definition “Inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services over a period of time for which each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services”. But this will be no different than me saying ' USA is a very developed country, tall buildings , central park, Hollywood , las Vegas, beautiful girls, lot of beers' until one finally discovers for oneself, its no fun listening. So if you really want to know what an inflation is, you do the whole shopping for your family this Dashin. That way your mother gets to rest too. Oh!! don't forget to bargain “it’s your right not crime”.
thank u daithank u dai
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