I was travelling by bus in a small town in West Bengal in India. The bus was supposed to start in another 30 min and people were taking their seats. A hawker selling a local sweet enters through the back door of the bus and tries selling them at 5 indian rupee a piece. A few people show interest but no one buys. By then another hawker enters through the front door and starts selling the same thing at the same price.
Suddenly he notices the first seller and his face hardens. “You have no business to be here. This was supposed to be my bus”, he shouts. A verbal duel ensues between the two.
“I’ll show you”shouts one of them. “3 pieces of sweet for rupees 5” he shouts. “Even if i lose money, i will teach you a lesson”. He starts selling at the new bargain price. The other vendor is taken aback for a moment but after a few minutes shouts abuses to his competitor and says “5 pieces for 5 rupees. I will destroy you for good”.
The passengers start laughing and a few pull out their wallets. The war of words continues and one seller tops at 10 pieces for 5 rupees. The other hurl abuses and leaves the bus. The sweets are sold out in a minute.
As i was feeling lucky buying 10 sweets at a bargain price, the person sitting next to me commented ‘‘They do it daily, so we regulars don’t buy. 20 pieces of the sweets are worth 1 rupee”
Scam of the decade.
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