NRI Blues...

During my recent trip to India, I accompanied my friend on her betrothal saree purchase. We decided to start with Srinivasa Silks and then move to Hayagriva(s) and end with Nalli 100. Ofcourse this was to be followed by a visit to Globus to pick up her fiance's clothing (her fiance is a good friend of mine...), have a quick snack at Sri Krishna Sweets and then go to Jewellery Land viz G R T, Usman Road. I am a fast shopper and I dont spend more than 10 minutes choosing a saree. Infact I picked up all my wedding sarees in a record time of 30 mins. Though my friend is aware of this, she took me along...

Having seen around 100 sarees at Srinivasa Silks, my friend was not able to come to a conclusion so we politely told them that we would come later and went to Hayagrivas getting drenched in the rain enroute (It was pouring cats and dogs in Chennai...Actually the rains this time started the minute I stepped out of Airport...Nallavanga Vandhaa Mazhai Peiyathaane Seiyum :p ;)...Seri...Seri...Idhu over dhaan...)

A saleswoman at Hayagrivas showed us a decent collection of Sarees. When we checked the prices of the sarees which we shortlisted we were shocked to see them overpriced. The saleswoman assured us saying that the price on the tag was the price for NRI and for others (common man) it was half of what was quoted on the tag...I was zapped when she completed her small speech.

Actually the real worth of the saree was half the quoted price or tagged price(analysed and found later after talking to Mambalam Mamis who visit Nalli and Kumaran every month). So we realised that Hayagrivas was actually employing the strategy of increasing the price to 2 fold and displaying it as a tag and when a common man(in this case the female folks who buy...) wants to buy the same, the cashier reduces the price by half and sells it...Its a strategy which works on the psyche level...The customer has the satisfaction that he/she bought it for half of what an NRI would have shelved/shelve and go home happy with the purchase.

My friend's father pointing at me asked the saleswoman that 'She is a NRI. Would you sell her this saree for Rs 12000/= when you are ready to give it to me for Rs 6000/=?'. The lady did not know what to say but just gave me a sheepish smile...

Adappaavigalaa...As Comedian Vivek says 'Ippo dhaan puriyardhu Tamilnadu va kandu yen ulagam bayapadurdhunnu (Now its clear as to why the whole world is scared of Tamilnadu)!

:)