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I am no good at bargaining.
It is due to mental laziness, fear, lack of GK (General Knowledge) and CS (Common Sense).
I am most happy in a shop that displays the board:
"No Bargaining" (బేరం లేదు)
But I have watched folks who are not only great at bargaining but loved it to distraction. They derive immense pleasure in the vey act. It was an act of war for them.
There is this friend of mine KS, retired Assistant Engineer, who bargains with even our neighborhood supermarket-counter-girls; and wins handsomely ....
My father was a great bargainer with the vegetable-vending village belles spreading their wares on the streets. So aggressive was he that I was scared there would be blows exchanged. I was content to be his porter-spectator.
When I reached Vizagh I was forced to do some shopping in the sprawling Poorna Market.
I was fooled in the beginning before I was told that a dozen (bananas) means fifteen, hundred (mangoes) means hundred and five, hundred jasmines means hundred and fifteen...
And on top of it there would be "gratis" (phav, కొసరు) doled out on asking...you have to ASK as Feynman said in quite a different context :)
And I learned that you should either go early to be the first buyer as soon as the shop opens (బోణీ) when you get a good bargain without asking since the shopkeeper would have just finished her prayers and seeks your brahminical blessings; or go late when she is about shut shop up looking to shed her unsold vegies and decrease her headload.
In the Gole Bazaar of Kharagpur, all the shopkeepers were Marwaris, Gujeratis, or Pujabis. I quickly learned there is no way of winning them by my wits. But they were happy to get a non-bargaining customer like me and showered goodies unasked.
When I reached Hyderabad it was a totally different world, specially near the Old City.
I was forewarned that there is heavy bargaining in Hyderabad.
One morning when I was new in our Khairtabad rented home, I saw a thela-gadi (pushcart) loaded with what I thought were Kashmiri Carpets stacked one upon the other. And I asked the price of a carpet I fancied would be good for our drawing room floor.
And the vendor quoted Rs 120. And I thought I would start haggling from Rs 50 for fun.
And he promptly gave it away most happily for that Rs 50:
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Hyderabadi Bargains
And then 70, I scowl;
50, he beckon;
30, deal's done;
And yet I feel a fool!
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$44
However, the best bargain I ever had in my life happened to be also in Hyderabad.
My son and I were in the market for an apartment that we could afford (in an upcoming gated community) in early 2009.
And our finances were scanty (as usual).
One fine morning I found an obscure advertisement by the Janapriya Engineers Syndicate (renowned for affordable homes) opening up their first Gated Community on the outskirts off Bombay Highway in a locality we never heard of: Madinaguda.
And one late night we all traveled there in our Matchbox-Maruti only to find a hillock and rocks amidst which was a Marketing Office with a cute Model Apartment that we loved; and nothing else in the wilderness.
After hard bargaining by my son for an hour with the Sales Manager the price was reduced from 33 lakhs to 32 lakhs.
It was supposed to be on home-loan-basis per one of their "approved" bankers, with all sort of tripartite agreements of which I have no clue.
We paid the booking price of 50,000 on the spot and 6.5 lakhs advance within a month.
We were promised that our apartment would be ready for occupation within two years.
And then there was this Housing Bubble Burst & Crash.
And the world went into Recession.
We were visiting our 'home' once every three months, only to find our familiar hillock and fond rocks...our Vendor went broke.
Everyone laughed at us saying our 7 lakhs have gone down the drain.
And then the Vendor came up with a "scheme" (60% down payment, rest in instalments) bringing down the effective price to 28 lakhs.
I asked my son to find out discreetly how much the price would be if we paid the entire amount at one go (100%).
And, believe me or not, the price was slashed to 23.5 lakhs...with the virgin hillock and solid rocks intact.
And then I decided to sell the tiny apartment I had at Nellore.
And my kind sambandhi sold it for me for a whopping 16.5 lakhs!
That seemed to me providential (16.5 + 7 = 23.5).
And we decided to pay the whole dough on the spot at one go...the entire 23.5 lakhs.
My eldest B-i-L (IAS) was stunned on getting to know of our stupidity and said that I was the biggest dolt on earth...the Housing Society would never come up and our Vendor would either scram or do what is called "Diwala Dakhla" (Bankruptcy Declaration).
But, lo and behold, we got our gleaming new sunny breezy windswept 3-bedroom 3-bathroom corner-flat on the 6th floor of a 10-storied "house on the hill" within the promised two years...concrete walls and glassy floors.
...in a Gated Community with 1200 occupied flats and a 1000 more on the way now.
All around us there are brand new housing estates, medical shops, hospitals, supermarkets,...all flourishing and booming...
And we have 24-hour Manjeera water, 24-hour KCR power, and 24-hour KTR-roads.
The market value of our mansion is now is rumored to be 70 cool lakhs :)
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