HAGGLING IN HINDI  

            Firstly, it is important to learn where and when haggling is worthwhile. Generally, in restaurants or provision shops you don’t need to haggle since people will not try to rip you off. Instead, order your meal in Hindi (speaking as fast and confidently as possible) and it will assumed that since you seem to know the language then you probably know the correct price. It is also true that the future you head off the beaten track, the less likely you are to be cheated. In reality you will be everything will only put you in a bad frame of mind and won’t save you any significant sum of money at all. 

          When souvenir shopping it probably best to ask in a disinterested tone of voice how much an article costs, then, when the price is quoted, offer about half that amount while turning to walk out of the shop. If you are called back at the last moment you have judged the real price correctly and can buy it. You will probably be able to tell whether you are being abused too – in which case you can snap out (kyaa bola?) what did you say? If you are not called back, then you have judged the price too low and must start again. The difficulty will often be that you’ll have no idea what the right price is. To remedy this you could try hanging around the shop and listening to how much Indians are being charged. 

          In certain situations (such as hiring a rickshaw) it is vital to establish the correct price beforehand. On the next page are some useful bargaining terms, which should always be said in a friendly, joking tone of voice. Add bhaaii to any phrase, to make it sound friendlier.  

•        Kyaa? – What? (In a disbelieving tone when quoted the first price). You could say instead: arey bhaaii!  oi mate!

•         Baap re baap! – Oh god  / why is it so much?

•         Itna mahanga kyon? – Why so expensive? Note that the “ h” in mahanga is almost silent.

•         Ham biis rupeya nahiin de sakte – we can’t pay 20 rupees.

•         Yeh to bahut mahanga hay – that’s really expensive.

•         Das rupeya thiik hay? – Is ten rupees ok? if quoted a higher price.

•         Sehii kiimat kyaa hay? – What is the really price?

         Kiimat thora kam karnaa – make the price little less.

•         Tum crorepati ban baitha? – You have become a millionaire?

          Possibly the best overall strategy, which can be used all over India when quoted a price or told there are no reservations or tickets available is simply to stand there smiling.