A tale of Banyan Tree Gowaramma and Credit crisis!

Under a banyan tree ,under a translucent roof sits Gowaramma. She sits there all day. No, she is not Gautama Buddha reincarnation. She might ,in fact, be an antithesis of him. She is boisterous, loud and continuously speaking. A master of at least 5 languages ,she never misses a conversation. We will get back to her in sometime.

First ,the question - how do I know her? .The answer is simple - One of the unwanted side effects of staying in Bellandur has been to conjure a night meal. So this endeavor of night meals ensues that I buy some vegetables.( With reference to previous post I must add that I cannot cook food of ‘other’ kind ). So the first thing I did in my fresher heydays as cook was that I went to Subhiksha to buy up the vegetables. For the uninitiated /uninformed visitors I must add that is a retail chain. The chain has a very efficient supply chain (has no go downs -they replenish goods only when they can, not when they should) which allows it to sell at lower prices than its competitors ( supposedly ). But, the net effect of it’s optimization and cost cutting principles is that you almost never find whatever you are looking for whenever you go. (Maybe Murphy’s law also plays a helping hand).So, after the frustrations( less said about the cashier’s the better) in this only neighborhood retail store ( Other stores were/are a couple of Kms away and as a lazy soul was out of question)I had to venture to more exotic truly Indian options. A couple of years ago when I moved to this place the footpaths were filled by this exotic varieties – the footpath stores. However, with time most of them vanished giving way for bigger shops that refused to have their footpaths be blocked. But, the banyan tree was an exception. Cutting a banyan tree is out of question (thankfully) in this part of the world. So, the footpath stores remained there. Among them was one run by the person I was referring to above. I found the vegetables to be little fresher ( in the opinion of inexperienced cook).Also, prices better than our cheaper neighborhood store. There was however a far more important reason why I probably went there. I was always recognized every time I went there and every time she use to add a little more to whatever I take. For ex: After the weighing machine showed a kg of beans. She used to add a little more and say this is for “you”. “Eat more “. ( She has not seen my FAQ evidently).Although she probably does this to every one chivalry always works . She always used to say I am giving you whatever I might be buying at a special price. She always used to quote the regular price and the special price.(When someone says ‘a special price for you’, would you bargain.?!). I always ended up buying the vegetables under the banyan tree.

This has happened many a times in the last year and half .My attempt to conjure up a night meal always started under the banyan tree. However, this week I found her place to be closed. I had never witnessed anything of that sort but I thought it must one odd day off. But this continued for the next two days. I began to doubt if she had closed down. However much to my glee I found it open yesterday. I went to buy my share of vegetables. I found her to be extremely dull and down in dumps kind. I asked her what happened?. I am pretty sure she had to repeat this story but she still had some enthusiasm left in her to d o so. She had a ‘credit crisis’. She used to buy up vegetables in the morning on credit the money for which she used to return the next day. However, with a bad ‘lending’ market and her inability to return the money her credit facility was hit. (Very ironic how her problem mirrors the one’s in other parts of the world). The second problem she faced is of a fixed lending credit. She gets 5000 rupees of credit. So if the prices of vegetables go up, her purchasing power comes down. The next problem for her is the inherent problem of keeping perishable goods. The unpredictable buying patterns hits her very hard. She has an extremely complex problem everyday morning she has to second guess the buying patterns of her customers. The only information she has is the prices at which she gets the vegetables .Well coming back to the question of her disappearance she said she had to look for another creditor.( I am pretty sure she is heavily in debt). On hearing all this the very existence of her footpath store under the banyan tree seems like a miracle. I know the day will not be far off where she has to close for real. Her secret of survival has been her amazing marketing abilities. She first second guesses the language of the buyer. Speaks in the native language of the buyer. Always suggesting what to buy ( which would be the one which is not selling). She smartly deals with hard bargaining by the customer. She has at least two techniques – she tries the inflation one mostly these days..saying it is incredulous to even suggest a lower prices. Other one is probably by camouflaging prices by giving instant offers she comes up with offers like you buy 2 kg of this and that I will give you at this price. Also, I am pretty sure her weighing scales are skewed and her skillful handling of it helps offset the bargains to selling price. It will be a great loss when retail revolution intensifies to lose such street smart ,natural ,shrewd marketing talent. I know it is the will of free market she has to go.( @bro : if you are reading the blog, I have not forgotten me arguing in favor of free markets passionately last week and i still subscribe to the same views).
But, it will be sad for at least some more time as we would be left with mechanical cashiers and speech impaired helpers in the new age shopping malls.I remember once being asked to tender a exact change. ( which I of course I never had) .I said I did not have and said I can give my card. But I was told that the we don’t accept cards below a ‘x’ amount. I wryly asked “should I produce some coins”, to which without a smile I was told “I don’t know I want exact change”. I also offered to buy up ‘anything’ which would at least ensure that no change was paid back to me. To which I was told the bill has been printed and could not be modified. I of course left the shop without much ado without buying anything. I know such stores will get eliminated by free market. But, currently the retail chains seem to be still have scores of people who are like the ones described above. I know things are not as bad as mentioned always but pretty close. Hopefully an entrepreneur will come along and use the Midas touch of this street smart people like Gowaramma for their retail chains. Until then I will like the rest of the world keep hoping the “credit crisis” goes away.!