The art of striking a good bargain

Being a woman, you’ve got to master many an art to become a perfect homemaker. One of the arts in which some women have acquired perfection is the art of bargaining. Not many people have expertise in this art, but whoever does can do enough haggling to even buy the Statue of Liberty!

I’ve seen my grandmother and my mother bargaining. Whether it was the vegetable vendor, the scrap dealer or the daily needs store owner, they would spare none. They would start from half the price that was quoted by the shopkeeper. The argument would go on and on, no matter how much time got consumed in it.

When the deal was finally settled, you could see the sense satisfaction and victory over the lady’s face and strangely the shopkeeper looked equally gleeful. Both parties seemed happy that they had struck a good bargain.

Apart from bargaining, one should know the art of judging a product well before buying it. I’ve seen people picking things, scrutinising them from left to right and from right to left. They select every single piece of vegetable as though they’re picking pearls from the ocean.

How I wish I had inherited, or developed, the art of bargaining and selection as other women my age have. Unfortunately, I’ve been cheated so many times by shopkeepers that I’ve had to repent later.

For instance, once I bought a nail cutter, paid the money and put it in the bag. A few days later, when I needed it, it was not sharp enough to cut the nails. Then there was the hair spray that just refused to ooze out.

Once I bought a handbag that I fancied but when the time came to use it, I found the zips inside the compartments were not working. The next time I bought a bag, I consciously checked the compartments and zips. I was happy for being so wise. But after a few days, when I went for a coffee party and put the bag on the table, it tumbled down. To my horror, I discovered that there were only three knobs instead of four underneath it to make it steady.

Bargaining is not is an easy deal for me because even if I try, I haggle with such a feeble voice that the shopkeeper always takes an upper hand.

So, I have made peace with the matter. Yeh mere bas ki baat nahin (It’s not my cup of tea).

But there’s always a silver lining. Whenever I go to shop, I’m always a welcome customer, to be dealt first and that too with a smile.

Now my philosophy is that one gets five customers like me, who don’t bargain at all, and five customers, who bargain till they are breathless. So the scale is balanced. No one loses, no one gains.

SOME PEOPLE SELECT EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF VEGETABLE AS THOUGH THEY’RE PICKING PEARLS FROM THE OCEAN