Goodbye India

last night was a crazy night. everyone enjoyed(maybe not Rachel, feel so bad for her). I asked Tara to make my face funny. I was a little nervous at the beginning. She said she  was too. Anyway, my face turned out to be successful. and I loved it a lot! I wish I could upload my face picture, but maybe when I get back to Binghamton I will. It was a great work! Thank you very much, Tara! I had a lot alcohol last night. but I could still remember I kept saying “someone set me up”, and Prof. Kahai laughed every time when I said that. So, I wasn’t too drunk I guess.

I spent my last day in the hotel room. One reason is because I really have nothing to buy here. the other reason is, I need to pack, pack my clothes, and pack my thoughts.

We spent 10 days here, traveled 3 major cities, visited several companies and tourists places. every places we went to, I have different feelings. I will put several down here.

For sightseeing, Taj Mahal must be the first on travelers’ list. Amazing work done by the people in 16 century people. We have a lot of amazing palace back in China. but Taj Mahal is quite different, not because India has a different culture from China. It is a huge building from outside. and its very tiny paintings inside are also magnificent. the architecture must use lots of talented in constructing this great work, such as the walls around it, it looks curved from far away, but when you touch them, they are all flat.

The other place would be the observatory. The largest sundial in Asia shocked me. in the year of no watch, people could use sun to get the exact time—-2 seconds accuracy!

For all the business visits, I have a same feeling—- every indian enjoys working in his/her company. they are very proud of their jobs. Almost every company focuses on its local business. Although it is a pity that we could be able to visit TATA, the case impressed me a lot. the company not only manufactures the cheapest cars in the world, it also raises another industry in India, opening more job opportunities in India.

And I was very impressed by the security checks in India. Every time, no matter what kind of organization we went to, there were 2 or 3 steps of security checks waiting for us. I know it may be because of the culture, still this might be the most unpleasant experience i had during the whole India trip.

Two parties held in Prof. Gupta’s were completely successful. people like parting because it makes people relaxed and makes friendship stronger. As one of the students said, if you want a group of people get along well, a party is a must. I totally agree and enjoy with all the “classmates” on this trip!

 

bargaining- an art of economics, marketing and psychology

from day 5 to day 7, we got lots of chances to experience Indian local market. We experienced the most interesting part of small business, bargaining.

 

I am not a good bargainer. But I would like to share my point of view when bargaining. I think we should consider three aspects.

 

from economics part, it is easy to understand. you want to buy, they want to sell. once we get deeper in thought, we might find the other concept. there are thousands of business-children along the street, selling almost the same products. there are no differentiation among those products. and they sell at the same prices. we call this the perfect competition. but, because there are more supply than the demand, more bargaining power goes into the buyers side. it is the buyer to set a price for these products. these business-children, no matter they learned from experience or from their parents, they set an unreasonable high price. this gives the buy a huge space to reset the price. because of the information asymmetry, buyers have no clue what the price should be. they could only price the item by personal experience. for example, a small set of chess, the sellers price at 20 dollars at the beginning. if you have no idea about what the cost are, then, you may think 5 dollars should be a great deal. if you know the chess only cost about 50 cents to make, then buying at 1 dollar give the seller a 100% return. So knowing the cost is also very important.

 

as a Chinese, I see the same business in China. I got a chance to know these small souvenirs cost only 10 cent to get the basic materials. the only cost is the labor, which is very low in China and India. So, at average, the cost of the small thing won’t be over 50 cents. things like scarves or clothes, cost no more than 3 dollars. once you are aware of the cost, you know where you can bargain at.

 

the other aspect will be marketing. these business-children they have clear and direct targeted customers. they know what kind of people would like what kind of things and would afford what kind of prices. they know what the customers thinking, such as buying a T-shirt. at the beginning you might bargaining on the price, then they will give a “discount” for getting more than one piece. although the return rate will lower, they get a higher sales.

 

the most important and interesting part will be the psychology part. these businessmen know that kids will be easier to get sympathy and ladies are easier to be moved by these poor kids. so every time, the kids are trying to get to the ladies. they know you have to buy something as souvenirs for yourself or for your friends. they know usually people will bargain on the price. and they know several dollars will be nothing for you. these are the reasons they raise the price to a ridiculous stage. even if sometimes you only pay half of the original price, they earn a huge profit from you. as buyers, we need to remember one thing, there are thousands of people selling the same products, if this one does not offer the price I wish, the next one will. buying things in traveling spots is not the same as finding a job. it is more like employing a person. and I can see these Indian businessmen are cleverer than those in China. In China, once you got off the bus, 5 or 6 men would get around you, selling the same things at the same price. at that time, if I really want those products, I will pull out one dollar, yelling “ I am only paying one dollar, who wants to sell me?” after a short silence, those businessmen  will try to get my one dollar even by adding more stuff for my  purchase. this is a good way to get the buyers advantages. but here in India, travelers were seldom surrounded by group of businessmen. therefor, no competitions from “colleagues”.

 

India Day1-2

the impression of India is always changing, not only because I am getting more indian culture, but also because India has a variety of cultures.

the first impression was “red”. when I got on the plane from Hong Kong to New Delhi, everything was red, Kingfisher’s symbol is red, carpets were red, chairs were red, servers were all in red. I like red. It shows the company is developing very fast.

then I got the impression of “broken”. the service on the plane was not on time. every time I ringed, it took about 10 minutes for the server to come to me. every time they gave me a cup of water, it was leaking water. I changed my ear sets for 3 times because they all didn’t work.

when I got off the plane, we felt “new”. the airport was new, people are new, language is new too. even the way people looking at me are new to me. They seemed to treat me as a very rich foreigner, trying to persuade me to take their taxis. the hotel is new too. some part is still under construction.

the second day, we went to India Gate, American Center and Parliamentary Museum. I got a new feeling “strict”. especially at the museum, we went through security check for 2 times. even in the USA, a place fear of terrorism, they don’t have these strict checks.

In the after noon, we had a chance to go on the street. American friends described it as “loud”, “crowded”,”unregulated”. I would say “familiar”. just like Prof. Kahai said, India now is like China in 1995—- I would say late 90′s. the surrounding reminded me of my childhood. Parents wouldn’t allow us to get on the street on our own because, at that time, we did not have enough traffic light.

Hopefully, 10-days trip could give me more impressive memories of India. I am looking forward to getting familiar with this ancient country.