A short story:Destination Digging — Avtar S. Sangha

A short story
Destination Digging 
-Avtar S. Sangha-

One of my acquaintances, Vikas, is a videographer by profession. While working on a project in a foreign country, he hires some assistants who accompany him. These assistants have their whole-time job somewhere else but they make extra money by shooting the videos with him and by editing them. Last month Vikas had his video shooting at Pune in India for a destination wedding and three assistants went with him. One was from Greek background, another was from Lebanese background and the third one was from Sri Lankan background. All of them had their stay for five days in a five star hotel of Pune. They planned to prolong their stay in India for another ten days somewhere else.

After reaching Pune the Greek boy named Alex and the Lebanese boy named Antony, set out for shopping in a busy market of the city. They called a cab when they were still in the hotel. They directed the taxi driver to drive them to a good marketplace. The driver took them to a shop. The boys made some shopping and came back in the same taxi. When they entered their suite in the hotel, a hotel employee was receiving some instructions from Vikas. In the presence of this employee Vikas started discussing the items which they had purchased from the market.

“Antony, what did you buy? How do you feel about the prices of the commodities in India?” Vikas asked him.

“Vikas, everything is cheaper here. I got this detergent in ten dollars and this perfume in twenty dollars. They say the perfumes of India are really of very high quality.”

“Sir, these items are very cheap in Indian currency – detergent costs only Rs 150 and perfume Rs 500”, the employee took no time to give his view.

“Then, why did the shopkeeper charge too much money?” Vikas asked the employee.

“Sir, the shopkeepers scrutinize the customers in no time. They are very smart. If the customer is a foreigner, they charge double triple price from him. The shopkeepers know very well that the foreign customer will assess the price in dollar or in pound. An item costing Rs 500 is equal to only $8 or 9 of Australia. $ 8 or 9 seem very meagre to the foreigner but Rs 500 is a good amount for the native people.”

“It means the foreigners can be easily fleeced in countries like India?”

“When someone makes the payment willingly, then it is not fleecing. The lavish spending by the foreigners means lofty profit to the Indian shopkeepers. Many foreign tourists make too much shopping from here. Do you know this profit is also divided between two parties?”

“What do you mean?”

“The taxi driver who drives a customer to a particular shop also gets his own share from the deal. The taxi and auto drivers have deep knowledge about the psyche of the customers who are staying in these five or seven star hotels. The shopkeepers have such a high level gimmickry that they easily charge double triple price from those foreign tourists. They give ten or fifteen percent of this money to the auto or cab drivers. Reciprocally the deals deal works wonders. The foreign tourists do visit the big cities like Pune, Mumbai and New Delhi. The deal does not make much difference to them but the Indians do earn lofty amount of money from such deals. These foreign tourists are driven to such shops which keep very smart customer servants at the counter.

These customer hookers speak English very fluently. They deal with the tourists very smartly. This customer service has magical effect on these tourists,” after this much commentary on the tourists vis-a-vis local business stance the employee left the room and went his way.

After his leaving the place the three boys continued interacting about the local scenario.

“The guy was correct. He disclosed all secrets of local shopping and transportation very clearly,” Antony expressed surprise while inviting the response of his partners.

“Brothers, I am reminded of one of my customers in Sydney. His name was David. I was a taxi driver at that time,” said Alex in contemplative mood.

“What wonder had your David worked? ” retorted Vikas by using a rough Punjabi adage but the way he pronounced it made the other two laugh at it loudly and farcically.

“What is peculiar and typical about your customer”, Sri Lankan Ashwick expressed quick desire to know more about David.

“David used to tell me that he was going to Bangkok every year for holidaying. He had his girl friend there.”

“What a wonder! the white Aussie guy made friendship too far in a country that is away from his own country i.e. Australia,” Vikas was curious to know the details of this case.

“Developing friendship with ladies in a country like Thailand is too much advantageous. The Australian dollar, when converted into Thai currency, multiplies so abundantly that one does not feel shortage of money even after spending it lavishly. David used to state that his one month’s income in Australia becomes so much money in Thailand that one can live like kings there for a month. Things seem very cheap. Food seems very cheap. Transportation seems very cheap. Cinema seems very cheap.”

“It means the tourists are very happy in countries like India and Thailand as their currency makes them spend it extravagantly here.”

“Bro, you are correct. Everybody knows why we are eager to immigrate to the developed countries. Good currency, of course!”

“Should we then travel by Thai Airline while going back? It does not matter if the booking is bit expensive. You are well aware we do not have much time at our disposal for advance booking. We will break the journey on the way for staying in Bangkok for a couple of days. We will do shopping there. Everything will be sumptuously acquired by paying small amount in Aussie currency: accommodation cheaper, transport cheaper, massaging cheaper, sight-seeing cheaper, duty free liquor cheaper, all things easily within our reach.”

“Friends, I feel like visiting Mumbai, I wish to pay a surprise visit to my maternal uncle there. I have come to India for the first time. I will come back after two days,” Vikas sought permission from his mates.

“No problem, bro. Go and do meet your relatives.”

The following day Vikas left for Mumbai. His maternal uncle was stunned to see him. The family spent the evening with him. All were overjoyed. The following day his uncle drove him to some worth seeing places. Vikas felt exhilarated to see Gateway of India overlooking the Arabian Sea. This basalt arch was built to commemorate the 1911 royal visit of King George V and Queen Mary. Then he was driven to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, an outstanding example of Victorian Gothic architecture. The Elephanta Caves, dating back to 5th and 6th century, left an indelible impression on the mind of Vikas. After visiting all these places, he came back to the hotel.

Then the three cronies made up their mind to have their way back travelling booked through Thai Airline.
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*’ਲਿਖਾਰੀ’ ਵਿਚ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ਿਤ ਹੋਣ ਵਾਲੀਆਂ ਸਾਰੀਆਂ ਹੀ ਰਚਨਾਵਾਂ ਵਿਚ ਪ੍ਰਗਟਾਏ ਵਿਚਾਰਾਂ ਨਾਲ ‘ਲਿਖਾਰੀ’ ਦਾ ਸਹਿਮਤ ਹੋਣਾ ਜ਼ਰੂਰੀ ਨਹੀਂ। ਹਰ ਲਿਖਤ ਵਿਚ ਪ੍ਰਗਟਾਏ ਵਿਚਾਰਾਂ ਦਾ ਜ਼ਿੰਮੇਵਾਰ ਕੇਵਲ ‘ਰਚਨਾ’ ਦਾ ਕਰਤਾ ਹੋਵੇਗਾ।
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