Roobaiku rendu..illa rendu oru rooba

The title is a famous comedy line from the tamil movie "karagatakaaran". It depicts the passion in our people to get involved in bargaining before purchasing any stuff which you want , or may be you want or don't want at all (IMHO, most of the times, the purchase you make after a satisfying bargain is something you never want in the first place ;-) ). I've had immense fun watching some good people I know do skillful bargaining and sometimes enjoy doing it myself. The common targets for such bargaining would be the vegetable and fruit vendors. It is kinda amusing to watch one's slang change from decent talk to an argumentative "Madras tamil" as one gets involved into the act of bargaining. For eg., "Inna nee ivlo vela solre?" as compared to "en ivalavu velai adhigama solre?" and did I forget mentioning about T Nagar or Pondy Bazaar or Usman Road or Ranganathan Street? I've witnessed some classic acts of bargaining in these places along with my aunts and it doesn't matter if it is GRT Gold jewellery or Kumaran Silks or Kalanjiyam cut piece, the fight is on. She goes on with punch statements like "naan ethana kadai paarthureken?" or "regular customers-kitta ipdi velai solreengaley?" or she will suddenly hijack the business from the shop keeper by stunning him with a "idhavida cheap-a naan unaku vaangi tharen". Wow!!hats off to her confidence :). So, if the lady doesn't strike a deal in that shop, then it is a bad shop with no quality. Quality is judged by how good her bargaining skills worked out in that place :). And yes not to forget the non-stop-nonsense "auto men" in Chennai ( all the good auto men, quite a few of them though, please forgive me!)..If the Indian airlines were to fly their Boeing between Triplicane and Chennai Central, I'd rather take it than argue on a hot sunny day with an auto wallah for getting a reasonable deal. I used to buy lots of Saridon whenever I commute to work by an auto and also got enrolled with a good cardiologist for a regular checkup thanks to the driving skills of our auto man. Coming back to our topic on bargaining, enjoy these clippings...