Day 4- Bargain Shopping
Day 4- Bargain Shopping
So the area I am staying in is called Pondy Bazaar, and what a Bazaar indeed! Forget about all the
boutiques, this is the place for bargain shopping! Stalls upon stalls of endless goods, mostly jewels, clothing, handbags, and shoes. Get ready girls bangles galore; Christmas presents for all! Not too much for men though unless you are interested in a wallet or a belt. On top of all the stalls, there are tons of store fronts as well where you can certainly find good quality cheap items but they all have signs posted saying no bargaining, so to the streets I went. I LOVE IT, all the wheeling and dealing. The famous last words “Good price for you Madame, good price!” It is amazing to watch them work. They have it down to a science, they have the goods packaged up and ready for you before you even agree on the item. Then they always try to throw in a second matching item to raise the price. Then my favorite is they like to tell you they do not have any change, so I like to tell them OK bye-bye and somehow change appears! It is without a doubt tremendously chaotic and quite tiresome but I enjoy haggling so much. I know they are charging me double and when I slash the price, they respond, “but Madame high quality, high quality product” when clearly it is not. But by their standards I guess it is high quality.
One must at all times keep a watchful eye because amongst all the hustling are the vultures, the poor whom make it their job to beg. They are the classic gypsy women with the hungry baby on their hips, dirty, and devoid of feelings. My heart cries for them and I do not get upset for their begging me, this is unfortunately all they know, this is their survival. My survival is having the courage to ignore them even when they are tugging on my arms and clothing. Why? Because if I give anything to one I will be trampled by all the beggars and they will swallow me whole! In India one certainly learns quickly the lesson: survival of the fittest!
. A secondary reason for this is I want to have my body in better health to help to grow the boys! We really want to start our family when I return to the States, it is time.
The time came to part ways and I was starving. The young girl suggested a restaurant to take me to. Of course I knew full well I would be paying for lunch but I welcomed the company. The woman turned out to be 30 years old and she claimed to have just finished her university schooling as a doctor but I was skeptical. Anyway, we had a nice lunch and I tried the – tea for the first time. I liked it because it was very thick milky tea and it almost tasted like hot chocolate. Also, it is lots of fun to drink because you keep pouring it from one cup to another, reason being the tea is scalding hot, look out McDonald’s this tea/coffee is hotter and no one is suing over here, they love it!! I said it before in Taiwan and I will say it again, hot tea always surprises me at how calming it can be on a hot summer day! After lunch she took me to Spencer Place a semi-upscale shopping plaza. Ashirifi was very interested to see what I was going to purchase and to her dismay I just window shopped. I think she was secretly hoping for a small gift. I hate department stores, too overpriced in any country and I cannot haggle the price, no fun!
On the taxi ride home the auto driver had to make a quick stop to “pick up a shirt” and he agreed to discount the cost of the fare. While he was taking care of his business he so nicely dropped us at a store where we could wait. Obviously they were all in cahoots. I was not upset with the con, I fully understand this is their livelihood. I was mildly upset that I was expected to purchase something. I graciously browsed around and asked loads of questions but no money was coming out of my wallet. The store was three floors of jewels, silks, statues, paintings, and they even gave us a refreshing orange soda in a glass bottle! The only item I was fascinated by was the meditation bowl. The man explained all the five metals that made up the bowl representing the 5 elements. It was a large bowl with a Buddha engraved inside. The sound that came from this bowl was mesmerizing to me. As it was singing, I touched it and felt the vibrations run right through me. The man also explained how it was used in healing. A person lies down flat and the bowl is placed on the back of the neck. As it vibrates, it sends healing waves through you. He knew I was hooked until he told me the price of $13,000Rupees. All-in -all a fair price. I probably could have walked out with it for $10,000 but this is money I just do not have; another time, another place perhaps. It was a pleasant day and I was in bed early, tired from the heat and chaos of the city.
