Bargaining with a master in Cairo

Everything as you know by now was invented in India A stunning range of human achievements from plastic surgery space travel drones linguistics and maybe even BBQ sauce was first invented here No one dares dispute thisOne thing seems to be missing thoughmdashthe uniquely Indian science and skill of bargaining There isnrsquot a shopkeeper or vendor who does not expect trouble when an Indian shopper ambles towards them Few vendors survive such an encounterI assumed without reason that as a native Indian bargaining ran in my genes and would emerge when the occasion demanded It never crossed my mind that any other country might be better at bargaining than we wereThen one day I found myself in Cairo Egypt a country that has been ripping people off longer than we haveThe trap was laid by a young man calling himself Sabir whom I met by the Nile He claimed to be a student of Egyptology researching papyrus at the family institute nearby Of course I immediately wanted to go thereI was welcomed by Hasan Sabirrsquos brother dressed in a traditional white djellaba with headgear The socalled lsquoinstitutersquo I noticed instantly was just a typical tourist shopldquoAny friend of Abdulrsquos is a friend of minerdquo Hasan said warmly Was the boy an Abdul or a SabirI started off with some blunt honesty ldquoLookrdquo I said ldquoI have absolutely no intention whatsoever at all of buying any kind of thing in the least from this shop or any other shoprdquo I paused for breath ldquoGot itrdquoHasanrsquos hand flew to his mouth offended ldquoBuyrdquo he said ldquoWe are students of papyrus not salesmenrdquoHasan emptied several shelves of papyrus paintings onto the glass counter some of them nearly ten feet acrossldquoTell me which ones catch your eye and Irsquoll tell you the stories behind themrdquoI chose four that looked interesting not realising I had entered Phase 2 of the entrapment Hasan now knew which paintings I might finally buyldquoYou have a connoisseurrsquos eye for true beautyrdquo Hasan complimented meldquoThisrdquo said Hasan ldquois the jackalheaded God Anubis who weighs dead Egyptiansrsquo hearts against truth while the baboongod Thoth records the results Those who fail are eaten up by a beast called the Devourer of SoulsrdquoldquoIt costs a mere US70rdquo he addedldquoLetrsquos stop these gamesrdquo I said crisply ldquoIrsquove told you alreadymdashno buying anything In my pocket are 60 Egyptian pounds The rest is in US dollar travellerrsquos cheques at the Windsor HotelrdquoldquoWe take travellerrsquos cheques toordquo said HasanldquoNot buyingrdquo I emphasised ldquoNotrdquoldquoThis second painting you have likedrdquo he continued as though Irsquod said nothing ldquois from the tomb of Rameses VI It shows the sky Goddess Nut who swallows the sun each evening She gives birth to it again each morning That would be this brown disc Also US70rdquoHasan was playing a subtle and refined game of bargaining that Egyptians have perfected over millennia The only rule is that there are no rules If your bargaining shows the mark of a master you will be applauded as you depart However impatience and rudeness will reveal your low breeding and you will be dismissed as a khagawah a foolish rich personUnaware that my bluntness was being misread as a strategy I now said ldquoWe have had a death in our family recently My father passed away Buying art in this year would dishonour the departed soulrdquoHasan shook his head in admiration not believing a word Irsquod saidldquoMy uncle too passed awayrdquo he said mournfully ldquoHe was almost like a father As you know death is a very costly affair in Egypt Now I have to make at least one small pyramid for him And now another uncle is complaining of a pain in his chestrdquoA heavy manufactured silence hung between usldquoWhat a coincidencerdquo he said gently ldquoYour dear father My beloved uncle Both gone forever That is why I make this final offer to youmdashfour extraordinary paintings for only 60 Egyptian pounds which you have here with you and an additional 150 dollars which we can collect from your hotelrdquoMeanwhile I seemed to have undergone a transformation Thinking ahead to my eventual destination Chicago I was wondering what would be so bad about buying a few paintings as giftsldquoVery wellrdquo I said ldquoPerhaps I might blow 20 Egyptian pounds and 50 US dollars I say mayberdquoSuddenly we were firing numbers at each other inching towards a sale price ldquoMy last offer is 50 Egyptian pounds and 50 US dollarsrdquo he said ldquoFor three paintings Only because Mustapha likes you so muchrdquoAbdul or Sabir or Mustapha all pretence of studenthood abandoned grinned openly at meAs I left arms loaded with papyrus paintings I had never planned to buy Hasan gave me a brotherly bear hugldquoYou are a very good negotiatorrdquo he said ldquoAlmost like one of us Almost One cannot expect too much from a country that has never built pyramidsrdquoYou can reach C Y Gopinath at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper