The beautifully hand-made garments and products from different regions of India are glorious and enticing treasures. But their gatekeepers – the market merchants-   and the bargaining involved are not for the faint-hearted. You must prepare to enter into the bargaining arena if you want to win the goods, and in India bargaining is a sport second only to cricket.

“Come to shop 64. Shop 64” the young man repeats as our group heads up to explore Fatehpur Sikri.  I know the drill by now – look ahead and don’t make eye contact. However, the need to not be rude overtakes me, and I make the mistake of answering, “maybe later.” Encouraged, the man continues walking alongside the group, with yet more merchant men, and finally accepts the promise of ‘later’ by saying “see you later alligator.” Nearly one hour later after the visit, the bus carrying us returns and the same group of merchants and young man wait staring intently, reminding me of the promise to visit shop 64. For all the hard work he put in, I decided to stop by, hounded by sellers from all markets on my way there. “No thank you, I respond, “No thank you, no thank you, no thank you.”

Not finding the Indian pants that I was seeking, I continued searching through different stores to be bombarded by questions and approaches, “Do you speak English?” “Where are you from?” “How much you want for this?” “Madam please, we need money!”

Drowning in stimulation and the endless colors and patterns before the eyes, one feels no space to think or reflect. In the midst of this, the merchant beckons me further deeper into the store to look at other trinkets that I have no interest in.  Miraculously finding the perfect scarf just in time, I pick it up.

– Madam, 1000 rupees for that shawl!”

–  Absolutely not” I answer shocked, “I bought a similar scarf for much less. So I’ll do max 500 and even that’s too much.”

– “900,” he persists.

– “No, 550,” I countered.

I feel the pressure, as my colleagues approach to warn me of the time. As I try to furiously make up my mind, a previous seller approaches all the way from Shop 64 with a pair of pants that I had barely glanced at earlier, “How much you want for this?” The scarf seller clearly is perplexed at the audacity of his competitor to walk over. After some more skilled (or so I like to think) bargaining, I manage to get the price down to 650 rupees from 1000 rupees, feeling somewhat victorious. The money earned to the merchant goes a long way for him.

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The struggle for life is stark in India. People attempt to earn a sustainable livelihood through whatever means possible to meet their basic needs. There is desperation for money – whoever owns a shop is lucky –although earnings are never enough. Sometimes people will set up shop outside their shanty hut, and even these are considered more fortunate than most. Some are farmers and have farmlands on the sides of highways.

Yet others sell Lays chips, and soft drinks. It dawns on me – how amazing it is that private multinationals have managed to penetrate some of the most remote villages, while public intervention there is nearly absent. In this sense, the private companies help the locals to maintain some livelihood. It makes one think hard about the role of the private and public markets for job creation and delivery of services and goods.