Daadu Tales : Price Wise

08-12-10 Daadu had had his fill with the grandkids and wanted to return home to Chandigarh.  He was returning home with a heavy heart as one of his mission’s during the stay remained unaccomplished.  He had not been able to teach our 3 month old pup ‘Mac’ how to say  “NO”.  (The breeder had advocated the beagle as a quick learning intelligent breed, but  it was disappointing that Mac had not learnt to say “no”  inspite of Daadu repeating it 100 times a day.)  Being a very price conscious person (unlike his son/my husband), he insisted we book his ticket Delhi to Chandigarh in a NON-A.C. train.  We booked it in the A.C. chair car train. (A.C. = air-conditioned) The ticket was kept away from his sight till as long as possible.  On the day of travel, as soon as he received his ticket, he checked the price and mumbled...... “Unnecessarily you have paid 5 times the amount I paid to come from Chandigarh to Delhi ”.  “Lets leave”, I said.  Has the autorickshaw come ? “No, the taxi is here”, I said. “Why taxi?  Autorickshaw will be one forth the price.” “Yes, but I called for a taxi because after you board the train, I will need the car to take me around for some work ” I lied.  “Joothi”, he said.  We got into the car.  On the way, the price of his ticket was still nagging him. “My ticket from Chandigarh to Delhi was only Rs. 90. And now my return ticket is for  Rs. 575”. At the station, an alert coolie came running towards our car.  “How much for these 2 small attachée (suitcase)?” Daadu fired the question to the coolie.  The Coolie took time to calculate (the cost of Daadu’s suit & boot) and then said......   Rs. 150.  “You will have to put the luggage in the train at his seat” I said. “The train still has 30 mins to arrive, so it’ll be extra for the wait........Rs. 250 for the bags to be put into the train”  the coolie summed up. “Why don’t you charge Rs.500 to avoid the hassel of returning the change” Daadu told the coolie.  Unable to decide whether  to laugh or to leave, the coolie stood still. We moved on to another coolie. After much haggling between Daadu and a few other coolies, finally the deal was sealed in Rs. 50. The deal was sealed in Rs. 50 , but  the price of his ticket was still troubling him.  He boarded the train, got comfortable in his seat, and once again repented the cost of his ticket, “Being winters,  the weather is cool and there was no need to travel AC class. Other than price there’s no difference in class of travel”.  “The difference is that you will get a better crowd of passengers, you will get bottled water and food, as well as news paper to help you pass the time and above all.... cleaner toilets” I reasoned with him.  “You cant expect much in Rs.90”, I said. “ But ‘I’ expect a lot in Rs. 90” he said shaking his head.   We both had a loud laugh before the train left.  After 18 years, I may have cracked the formula to handle father and son.....mathematically. For Daadu..... I have to down size the price by 5 times,  For his son, I have to multiply it by 5 times. Henceforth I shall remember to be price wise,  To calculate the price for father and son, it’s a formula of (-5) X 5. Sometimes I may need to reduce, or sometimes I made need to hike, But the price must match each of their psyche.  ********************