The Girl with a Red Handbag

You are on cloud nine when you find something worthwhile to spend on. But how do you feel when you discover that it was all a lie. You buy a Pashmina-silk for Rs.2, 500/- and then back home you see a tag reading 40% Pashmina- silk and the rest cotton! And yet you find it difficult to resist the temptation to shop, especially when it is the Surajkund Mela.

Surajkund Mela built on the dry Surajkund Lake gave an opportunity to the shopaholics to identify their tastes this year. Handcrafts goods handspun to the core made people ask for more.  A red Silk bag hanging in a corner attracted Nisha, a student, so much so that despite having just the minimum amount of money to go back home she decided to buy the red silken ‘jhola’. She walked fast and furious towards the store before anyone else laid hands on it.

Once at the stall, the busy shopkeeper presented to her the range of silken bags in different colors, some orange and yellow others purple and pink, some green while the rest red. If that wasn’t enough she had the option of various styles in silk handicraft, be it sling or simple shoulder beaded bags. The price of the bag being Rs. 250/-, everything seemed to work for Nisha. But there is always more than meets the eye.

Nisha could have possibly bought the bag had she not been a little investigative and curious. On a close inspection she realized that the bag had a weak lining; a little weight added, it would tear apart and any such bag with beads would have her witness an embarrassing ‘beadstorm’. “She was at my stall for almost 45 minutes. She made me take out all the pieces I had in that range but nothing appealed her”, said Anil, the handicrafts stall owner from Gujarat.

It was only a matter of few more stalls before she finalized a similar bag. It was red in color, silken material and cost Rs.250/-. But what changed for her was the shop owner, who convinced her to buy his product.

This is the same bag she left behind only to buy it later .Whether it were the marketing skills of the latter craftsman or it was the red silk’s sensuous feel to which she succumbed, is debatable. Ask her what made her do it and she giggles and says “I wanted that red bag desperately. Moreover look at this bag it is so bright. It matches my personality. I liked it in the first go but was apprehensive due to shortage of cash and weak material. Though, in the end I couldn’t resist.”

Nisha is just one example of the many shopaholics who thronged the fair. If she hunted a perfect red silken bag others looked for shell jewelry or plain chiffon, but not all were as lucky as Nisha. The fair provided variety in abundance but never forget a shopaholic doesn’t go by variety, he/she is simply driven by that strong desire to buy that one ultimate piece which makes them feel complete. Any amount of flaws then would fail to discourage the shopaholic from buying something. Nisha personifies the same spirit and though no one will recall her name at the fair, all handbag stall owners whom she visited will remember the girl with a red handbag who searched high and low, far and wide to buy her red silk bag.

Higgling & Haggling-The New Way to Art

The week-long Art Summit recently took place in Delhi, which saw people from all walks of life participating. Not only were there art patrons but also novices. But it was not these neophytes who created stir, rather it was the constant higgling and haggling at the art fair which stunned some and amused others.

Adam Smith in ‘Wealth of Nation’ has said that ‘market higgling and haggling predates the written history and  is the foundation of Capitalist economy’. Ever since, people have engaged in it and the situation today, in times of neo capitalism is no different, the 4^th edition of art summit being one such example.

 With the on-going change in the social dynamics of the society and the aspiration to compete has helped the art sector grow. But this has its own drawbacks- many people in that crowd lack knowledge and understanding of an art work. Sangeeta Murthy, artist, said “you might find people asking for a 50 percent discount, which is absurd. To support their argument they talk about the colors, the canvas etc. used, at times insulting the artist. They think by bargaining they’ll get it, but that’s not the case all the time.”

Sangeeta Murthy in her Art Studio. She draws inspiration from her family.

She added “most of them are people either with surplus money or new money, but at times they don’t know anything about art. However, there is one positive change. Earlier people invested in big names now people invest in Art. I believe this change has come because of the recession, because buying a big name/ brand would have been expensive and thus people shifted their focus to more affordable pieces.”

In today’s scenario almost every member of a family is working, taking a ‘class’ leap, then, why bargaining? To this she remarked that recession is to be blamed. She said bargaining happened even before, but it was little. Financial insecurity and neck-to-neck competition has forced people to indulge in higgling and haggling at a large scale.

Many artists and art galleries, whether willingly or not, have given in to the discount demands of the buyers. Some patrons others novice, some with the new money while others backed by inheritance, have continued the ancient old tradition to higgle and haggle. In this pursuit, people are driven by the sheer beauty of the art piece which would enhance and glorify their status in society. Though, at times bargaining is a difficult ordeal yet humans have mastered this art over the centuries. Be it for the house or office people bargain, bargain and finally buy. Art knowledge has taken a back seat as art pieces have now become a status symbol, even if it requires higgling-haggling.