Dig This Number 3 *:

Summer beats on relentlessly (37 degrees C today!) and its hot with a capital H out here in Kolkata…(incidentally my first summer in the city of joy happens to be even hotter ;-)) . Another day in the mundane life of a s/w programmer began. My friend and I start for work cursing the heat. And down the lane is a roadside vendor selling tender coconuts… what a blessing thinks my dehydrated self. We approach him, me trying to guess how much would he charge for 2 of those…He says it costs 8 bucks a coconut. The first sentence exchanged between the two of us is “ Would he give it for 7?”.

We‘ve grown upon fables telling us the importance thriftiness, which are conveniently misconstrued to back our miserliness. What am I possibly gonna get in a bargain of 2 rupees..? I could definitely afford a loss of 2 rupees without whining about it.

Aw c’mon are you blind …. Just take a look at the poor soul… He is roughly in his late 50’s, with trembling hands … I literally held my breath watching him slice open the coconut hoping he doesn’t chop off his fingers in the act… He has a bicycle, which is probably as old as him. This might be the only sale he makes today unless of course he rides his ass off in the scorching sun, dehydrating himself as well….

This is the plight with all of their likes. Most of us find it habitual, to bargain with a rickshaw puller, a vegetable monger or an auto-driver (though I personally believe I can justify bargaining with an auto-driver especially when he is a downright goon…)

What is it with us….? Do we ever stop or even think twice if a 300ml Pepsi is actually worth 10 bucks? Does the thought of bargaining over a bottle of beer cross our minds ever on a Saturday evening…? do we ever ask why we get to spend 110 bucks for us to sit on the first row from the screen in an ac theatre and spend an odd buck or two on treating the sprained neck n enduring sleepless nights thanks to irritated retinas ? But we are delighted in indulging ourselves in bargaining with these people who sweat blood to earn a square meal every second day and are gratified if we do strike the deal even if it’s just a marginal rupee or two…

I’m no altruist but it beats me how much inhumane humans can get…

* Number 2 on the list was another issue, which I’m not done mulling over.. :-)