Why I don’t shop at PALIKA BAZAAR

Palika entrance

Palika Bazaar, situated at Connaught Place, New Delhi, is one of the finest place where one can find various kinds of commodities right from safety pin to electronic gadgets; from caps to footwear; wallet to trolley bags; pirated CD/DVD’s to Xbox and PlayStations; at a very cheap rate. But only a buyer hostile and experienced enough at bargaining can purchase all the items on the list and yet manage to sustain the warmth of his/her pocket.

Last year, my friend Alok and I went Palika to purchase a belt for me. Here is a snippet from the tête-à-tête we had with the belt vendor.

“What’s the cost of that one, bro?” asked Alok pointing towards the brown belt kept on the middle of the lowermost shelf.

“Only Rs. 600. It’s made of pure leather, see! nothing happened” replied the vendor, crumpling and stretching the belt very casually to it’s limit.

“What! 600 for such a petty belt? Insane!” retorted I.

“Let’s leave” insisted Alok. And then we began moving away, assuming that he would initiate a negotiation.

“450? That’s the last bargain” declared the vendor.

“No, Rs 50. If you are willing to give it for 50 then give or, excuse us” demanded Alok.

“Haha! Is there a “C” written on my head? What kind of bid is this, brother! Also the wholesale rate is much higher than this” he retaliated derisively. “See brother, we keep the finest of the finest items you would ever come across the whole Palika, so there’s no option for a deduction”

Inside view of Palika

After a pause of 3-4 seconds, the vendor on sensing that we ain’t gonna agree on a deal to that amount, he perhaps thought better to cut some price.

“Okay 300! only for you, as you are insisting so much, and that’s final”

“60?“commanded Alok.

“Hehehe What Sir! Are you kidding me?  You aren’t even trying to agree on an agreement. At least come to an agreeable price, Sir. Come on now, say your last deal”

“60 ONLY, that’s our final price, you want to give or not?” said Alok boldly. And then we again pretended to leave.

“100. Is that okay?” requested the vendor.

“70”

“Okay 80. Neither yours nor mine. Come on, take it” he said hastily packing the belt in a poly bag, and handing it over to us.

So, by this a hectic deal came to an end and, phew! I was glad that we made it. It wasn’t possible for me to buy that belt at such a cheap price. I would’ve ended up making a deal of 300 or so, but it was Alok that I was able to buy the so called “600 belt” at only 80 bucks.

©innorishabh