Bargain

My business trip to Hong Kong was all in hurry. From the 24th floor hotel suite the city preview was wonderful. Fast track citizens moving in colorful cars which were taking swift turns on the risky lanes cut out of green mountains. Took the lift to the 2nd floor for the breakfast. Took a table by the glass wall. That increased the clarity. The only one dish that tastes almost same across the world is "Omelet". Wanted to start the business critical day with all confidence.

Sipping orange juice watched out the slim and trim Hong Kong on the road. Almost all the hoarding that was visible on the other lane had language beyond my capacity.

With Cantonese speaking management support and over enthusiastic Marathi sales woman, the day was finally a good one. Purposeless shopping is a challenging job for me yet my sales friend who is settled in that part of the geography had planned a quick visit to Ladies Market. She portrayed this to be a must visit place. No wonder - we took bus, cab , steamer and finally we were on the edge of a market which was popularly known as Ladies Market.

Wondering why Ladies Market? 90% of the shop owners (at least the sales folk) are women. It has max of 3 parallel lanes and each lanes stretching a few KMs. Nothing outstanding about the commodities. But you stand a chance to pay only 50 HKD for an original tag of 500 HKD.

Unwilling I walked the crowded buyers' lane. Briskly stopped over in one shop or the other. No chance of getting lost even though it may be ones first trip by virtue of the simple geometric layout of the market. The visit became memorable for what followed. My sales friend off course a tough deal seller on corporate board was in a tough fight with a Chinese sales lady for a simple suit. I had no clue of the original $$ as by then the the figures in dialogue had cross passed standard deviation. The Chinese lady was speaking so fast and the only English word in that was "No". My Marathi friend looked like Jhansi Ki Rani fighting for her country all in English.

I was feeling very embarrassed. My puzzled look prompted her to throw some quick ones in Hindi ( The Marathi way) to keep me active in the play. At one point I felt like paying the delta amount and settling the odd. While dealing my compressed state of mind, I missed the final deal value but witnessed the moment. The great Marathi buyer was hugging the satisfied Chinese salesperson. I could have never imagined this to be the last scene of the game. This last gesture broke the seller-buyer equation to epitomise relationship of goodwill.

The men who accompanied had by then bought a purse and a toy for their respective wives and kids. It was next day ( I mean clock had past 12 mid-night) when we stepped out for a cab once more.. The neon city was still awake ..

Gyan #17 - A deal is a great one only when it is Win-Win.