₹30/-

 

Almost like a wall-of-fame, bearing the remnants of the ₹30/- store. A couple weeks after the buzz of recording top sales, the outside of our apartment wall, bore this… the number 30 written in bright yellow… a wooden elephant artefact, and a shopping bag…purely coincidental!

This is a fancier version of a flea-market, for the products are all first-hand, brand-new. Prices that cannot be called cheap, for it could mean a compromise in quality. These are absolutely good-quality products, almost like the street-side version of a $1 dollar store. Priced as low as ₹30/-, you can pick any product from these street-side vendors, for just ₹30/- The products range from kitchen utility items for home, to other miscellaneous tools necessary for home needs like cleaning, gardening, bathroom needs, and what not! A loudspeaker preset with a recorded voice would go buzzing with the message – ₹30/- for anything you pick! At first, it gave me an impression that it’s a clearance sale towards the closing of the Kalpathi Ratholsavam**, and felt really bad for the amount of energy the street-hawkers had to expend, to sell their wares! I could hear the voice all the way inside my home, from our apartment gate! They were smart after-all, they had upgraded a notch above with their own kind of artificial intelligence – a loudspeaker with a pre-recorded voice! Of course, needless to say, they had UPI payment methods too, smart-technology, right in the middle of a heritage village – Kalpathi, in the district of Palakkad, Kerala.

Come Ratholsavam**, in Kalpathi, the streets are dotted with hawkers like these. I was particularly amazed at the ease of availability of products at such a low-cost, that aren’t really a clearance sale, but intended to be priced low, yet high on utility value. It had to be low-price, higher utility after all, else my Appa wouldn’t really want to indulge in buying a whole lot! The number of times he used to actually coach me on the actual prices of products that I bought online, just didn’t dawn on me, until I saw for myself that even Appa started engaging in buying a whole lot, something outside of the share-market! That was proof that he was right after all, if only we learnt to wait for the right opportunity, and cut-down on the impulsive buying behaviour, there’s a plethora of things you can lay your hands on, choose from a wider variety, and get the physical buying-experience, window-shopping included!

As Kalpathi gets ready for the next Ratholsavam, Appa, you’re not around, and it hurts badly. The mark you’ve left in the price assessment though, is indelible! Spend only on what’s required, learning to wait without getting impulsive, in case you want to do excess buying, wait for a time for the market to get bearish!

Reference on Kalpathi Ratholsavam:

** Kalpathi Ratholsavam (Kalpathi Chariot Festival) is an annual Hindu Temple festival in the Kalpathi of Palakkad in Kerala state, south India. The festival is at the Sri Visalakshi Sametha Sri Viswanatha Swamy temple where the deities are Lord Siva (Lord Viswanatha) and his consort Visalakshi, another name for Parvati.

The annual ten-day chariot festival conducted here during the month of November is one of the most remarkable festivals of Kerala. Vedic recitals and cultural programmes are held in the temple during the first four days of the festival. This is believed to be over 700 years old. On the last three days, thousands of devotees gather together to draw decorated temple chariots through the streets.