I just came back from the market. I'll skip the prelude, and go directly to the story. Today I was part of an interesting process. The process of pineapple procurement! I went to the person sitting outside the meat market, just to the left of the secondary entrance. Khilgaon Taltala market is divided in to 4 sub sections. The one I ventured is the famous "kacha bajar". Inside, the major portion of shops sell vegetables, and the smallest section remains populated by onion/turmeric/garlic vendors. There are about 6-8 meat shops, with one dedicated Mutton vendor. There are 10-12 fish shops, too. These shops are all arranged like any typical Dhaka "Kacha Bajar".
Anyways, the guy sitting beside the meat market entrance had an indifferent look. As if it doesn't really matter whether all his fruits get sold or not. His approach was interesting. I inquired about the price of Pineapples, and he said "Koyta niben?". Hehe...this is not a new approach, though. He kept the provision of charging high for single purchases, and a bit lower for multiple purchases. I have seen that before.
I could press on for knowing a single unit's price, but I know these pressures don't work too well. People often get annoyed, and ask unrealistic prices in such pestering occurences. This is another interesting fact. Bangladeshi shop keepers (especially those in Kacha Bajar) maintain a high level of self respect. They just don't do "anything" and "everything" for making a sell. On the contrary, the people at cosmetic shops act really pathetic. As if the apa passing by is the last potential customer on this earth! By the way, a small joke that we often share at office--what's a potential customer? He is a customer "jeye ekhono pote nai". :-D
So I said I'll get two, and he showed me a "tied together" pair of upper middle class...err...smaller than large, but bigger than medium sized pineapples, and asked for 30 taka. But before ending the sentence, he said "okay you can have them for 25". I had a reference. My dad bought 4 pineapples from that same person, a few days ago, and I brought in that incident. "Dad said I should ignore all other vendors, and get the pineapples only from you. The pineapples you sold a few days ago was really, really good". And hence the carrot policy worked well. Sigh, even a fruit vendor realizes the importance of repeat purchase, but many big, hyped up businesses don't realize that. I went to New Yorker once, but never went there again--cause the "well done" steak nearly broke my teeth.
I also said that dad bought them for 10 taka each. But he gave me a hesitating look. The hesitation was genuine. he said "I sell the smaller ones at Taka 10". I could be wrong in judging people, but it did appear to me that if he sold them for 20, he'll be in some sort of trouble (apart from making a "lesser" profit).
Anyways, the guy sitting beside the meat market entrance had an indifferent look. As if it doesn't really matter whether all his fruits get sold or not. His approach was interesting. I inquired about the price of Pineapples, and he said "Koyta niben?". Hehe...this is not a new approach, though. He kept the provision of charging high for single purchases, and a bit lower for multiple purchases. I have seen that before.
I could press on for knowing a single unit's price, but I know these pressures don't work too well. People often get annoyed, and ask unrealistic prices in such pestering occurences. This is another interesting fact. Bangladeshi shop keepers (especially those in Kacha Bajar) maintain a high level of self respect. They just don't do "anything" and "everything" for making a sell. On the contrary, the people at cosmetic shops act really pathetic. As if the apa passing by is the last potential customer on this earth! By the way, a small joke that we often share at office--what's a potential customer? He is a customer "jeye ekhono pote nai". :-D
So I said I'll get two, and he showed me a "tied together" pair of upper middle class...err...smaller than large, but bigger than medium sized pineapples, and asked for 30 taka. But before ending the sentence, he said "okay you can have them for 25". I had a reference. My dad bought 4 pineapples from that same person, a few days ago, and I brought in that incident. "Dad said I should ignore all other vendors, and get the pineapples only from you. The pineapples you sold a few days ago was really, really good". And hence the carrot policy worked well. Sigh, even a fruit vendor realizes the importance of repeat purchase, but many big, hyped up businesses don't realize that. I went to New Yorker once, but never went there again--cause the "well done" steak nearly broke my teeth.
I also said that dad bought them for 10 taka each. But he gave me a hesitating look. The hesitation was genuine. he said "I sell the smaller ones at Taka 10". I could be wrong in judging people, but it did appear to me that if he sold them for 20, he'll be in some sort of trouble (apart from making a "lesser" profit).
I said "Anarosh ta chile den". So he started peeling off the pineapple. I thought he'd first remove the tree like green portion, and then peel the rest. However, he trimmed the green portion, and gave it a handle like shape. He then held the trimmed pineapple strongly, and started peeling off the thorny portions. He managed to give the fruit a nice, tantalizing look within a few minutes.
By the way, I also bought a pair of chicken, weighing 3100 grams. They cost me 200 Taka, approximately Tk 65/kg.
25 minutes of my life has just been described :-)
Hehehehe..That was a very nice entry..but anrosh-r chobi-ta dekhlei hashi pacche..
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