Q1.
Have you observed any such practices in your community or neighbourhood? Describe the practice as a drawing or in a short paragraph.
Answer
What the question is about. The DON'T MISS OUT box on page 265 gives the model: in south India, sellers of haldi and kumkum give a small quantity of each, free, “as a mark of auspiciousness and good wishes to the buyer”. It is not a discount and it is not advertising — it is a courtesy that turns a transaction into a relationship.
What a good answer must contain: (i) who does it — which kind of seller; (ii) what exactly is given or done; (iii) when — every time, or on a festival, or only for the first sale of the day; (iv) why people say it is done; (v) one line on what it shows about markets.
Practices you may well find near you:
- Jhonga / jhungi / dastūri — the vegetable or grain seller adds a handful extra after weighing, at no charge.
- Bohni or bouni — the first sale of the day is treated as auspicious; the seller may accept a lower price and touch the money to his forehead or to the goods.
- A free sprig of coriander and green chillies with every vegetable purchase; free curry leaves; a free lemon.
- Saunf and mishri (fennel and sugar crystals) offered after a meal at a restaurant or dhaba.
- A kalash, coconut or sweet given by the jeweller or cloth merchant at Dhanteras, Pongal, Bihu or Onam.
- The monthly credit book at the grocer's — goods taken all month and paid for at the end, on trust alone, which the chapter itself mentions.
- A free thread and button tucked into the pocket by the tailor; free water at the shop on a hot day.
Sample answer: “At the flower stall outside our temple, Lakshmi amma has sold jasmine for as long as I can remember. Whatever we buy, she pulls two extra strands off the garland and tucks them into the bag ‘for the child'. On the first day of the month she will not take money from her first customer without touching the coins to her eyes. She says the extra strands are not a loss — the family that gets them comes back next week. Amma has bought flowers from her for eighteen years, and Lakshmi amma still asks after my grandmother by name. It shows that a market is not only about the price; it is also a place where people know one another.”
Why it happens: a seller who gives a little extra buys something that money cannot: trust and a returning customer. That is why the chapter says the market “also has non-economic significance in many people's lives”.