The haggling

Yesterday evening we frequented the absolutely wonderful Barbecue Nation restaurant, which is I believe the only place where you can eat excessive amounts of meat in this highly vegetarian city. (The school mess serves meat only three dinners a week; one of those days the meat is usually eggs...) I'm a fairly enthusiastic carnivore back home, but since I arrived here there has been very little of the kind obviously.Today my stomach has been suffering from somewhat of an unexpected protein shock, which will under no circumstances prevent me from reliving the experience in the future. Luckily, today was spent mostly by the poolside at the Gateway Hotel and their Sunday brunch. It was an incredibly peaceful experience, which I hope will be repeated sometime in the immediate future.

Both these happenings indeed provided me with an immense amount of pleasure and joy. There is, though, in these and all similar instances a part to it that can quickly turn into a true fly in the ointment moment. Ahmedabad really wasn't made for walking, so wherever you go an auto rickshaw will normally take you there. Quite often the driver will try to rip you off if you're a Westerner. It's perfectly understandable, since 20 rupees are indeed less to me than they are to him. Still, pride makes one want to avoid it and then the matter of 20, or even 10, rupees too much can matter a great deal.

The rickshaw system works like this: Either you decide on a price beforehand or you go by the meter. The meter is a small round machine that spits out numbers nobody really seems to comprehend, but the driver usually has a laminated sheet of paper that transcribes these highly confusing numbers into spans of 5 rupees, giving a rough indication of the proper amount to pay. The asked for sum can often drop 10 rupees the moment you request to see this sheet, so it's a good thing it's there. Sometimes it's claimed the sheet doesn't exist, an occurrence which is usually correlated with a suspiciously high tariff of the day. When the address is a place where I've been before, meaning I know roughly the amount the driver is trying to overcharge me, I sometimes give him 10 rupees less than what would in fact be the proper price and then make a run for it, simply to make a point. I can be a bit moody, so sometimes I don't care enough to risk my life and go for the debating option instead, even though it can often be a less than joyful and sometimes truly annoying experience.

What surprises me, though, is that the haggling skills sometimes really don't even meet even the lowest rickshaw driver standards. Consider the following example, which is based on a true story:

Driver: To where you want to go?

Me: IIM.

Driver: IIM, ok. 40 rupees.

Me: No, by meter.

Driver: By meter it's 35 rupees.

Me: So why should I pay 40?

Driver: Stunned silence, upon which I turn to another man, who is happy to accommodate me. The price in the end? 30 rupees.

And there was humming and singing.