A few years ago, I was at a crafts fair in Palace Grounds (#Bangalore), where an aged couple from Andhra were selling their leather wares: lampshades, a few leather puppets, etc. They looked very tired, and confused by the chatter of city dwellers swarming the fair. I selected a beautiful, painted lampshade, which was for Rs 200 or Rs 300 (cant remember exactly). As I was pulling out money for the quoted price, a stylish customer standing next to me showed an interest in the lampshades. Upon knowing the price, she asked aggressively in a shrill voice, how much will you give it for?. The old man repeated his price. She turned to me and asked me by how much I had gotten him to reduce the quoted price. I said to her that I never bargained with craftspeople. She looked at me confused. Recovering quickly, she turned to the old lady and started bargaining hard with her. As I watched, I saw the old man resisting her aggressive tone and then giving in, just to get her out of there (or so it seemed to me). I remembered this incident yesterday when I was at the Dastkar Nature Bazaar, where I saw many well-to-do people bargaining at the stalls. Most of the branded stores in our cities that sell crafts source merchandise from these very craftspeople. When we shop in those stores, without a murmur we agree to pay almost three times more. Then what is it that compels us to bargain for the sake of it, when we are buying directly from the makers of these beautiful handmade products, who really dont ask for too much?
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 06:49:47 +0000
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