THE MARKET PLACE

Everywhere in the world people bargain in the market place. But different people have different ways of bargaining. In Arab countries, in sheep or camel markets, there is no verbal communication. The participants hold each other’s hand and press fingers on palms until the agreed price is arrived at and the deal is concluded without a word. In Greece, when asked the price of an object, it is always inflated at the start to allow for the bargaining. This takes the form of a clucking sound which brings the price down somewhat. Then a lifting of the head and another clucking sound till the price comes down to reason.

I spent some time in Bali and they have their way. The first price quoted is always outrageous, like a hundred or two hundred times what is expected. “How much for that basket?” “$120” It’s a joke of course and it’s followed by a roaring belly laugh on the part of the interested purchaser. And the more exaggerated the price the bigger the laugh. To which the seller responds something like “Oh! You know that one! OK. $5”. From that point on the serious bargaining begins: “25 cents” “No! $4” until it sells for anywhere from 75 cents to a dollar. And this bargaining, like a ritual, often goes on even among the Balinese themselves.

Then some westerner comes along who doesn’t know the game. I can see a Bermuda shorts, plaid shirt wearing, camera-totting tourist couple stopping in front of a vendor who is selling some wood carvings. The man picks up a small carved yogi in the lotus position, looks at it and asks: “How much?” And the vendor, with his beetle-nut grin “$120”. But the tourist doesn’t laugh. He doesn’t know the joke. Instead he looks at the carving more closely, shows it to his wife, examines it again, then says: “I’ll give you $70" leaving a bewildered look on the face of the vendor who shakes his head in disbelief.

And the man misunderstands the vendor’s reaction and immediately brings his offer up to $80. Then, taking $80 out of his pocket and pressing it in the vendor’s hand to force the issue, he takes the carved piece and walks off with it. And he’s proud. He pulled it off. Later on, back home, he’ll show it off to his friends and boast about how he bargained this poor Balinese vendor down from $120 to $80 for this beautiful hand-carved yogi.

Meanwhile however, the poor Balinese vendor goes back to his compound confused. He has just sold a piece that he usually sells for from $1 to $2 for 80 times that amount. And it remains with him. And the next time a camera-totting tourist asks him the price of a carved piece he starts out the same way “$120”. But if the man hesitates and doesn’t laugh the vendor now comes out with: “Alright, $80”. And something has changed, something basic to the culture will never be the same.