Morning journal and courier., 1882-10-10
Shopping in Calcutta.

CurIousIy DimcuIt For Foreigners. From English Reprint of an East Indi an Mirror
 Arttcle.l
 It is not customary with Hindu notions of responsibility to go shopping. The bazaar is the resort of the cGnGiIe. You procure all that you want through your factotum, the house-si But the baptism of European usage has converted the domestic economy of the natives, the wheel of responsibility has turned, and we have begun to make our own purchases For all that, Chinabazaar and Chandney Chowk remain what they were a quarter of 8 century ago, or, if at all changed they are only shade worse. Every one who has been to 8 European shop knows the studious courtesy with which he is treated. It is in very exceptional instances that a young braggart shop assistant, of mixed with rudeness. Otherwise the European shop world has a fixed code of manners and etiquette, from which no tradesman of standing ever cares to depart. Every one, again. who has been to the native bazaar knows the serious discomforts to which he is subjected. AS soon as your carriage has cleared the block which is sure to obstrsct your way on entrance, and you have turned into the lane where the bazaar commences in right earnest, you are invaded by hosts of lanky, bare legged, dirty jacketted, unpros- porous Beings, whose cries rend the atmo-
 
 They surround and run along side of your vehicle, or, if you are on foot, they make ring around you. One would hold photo graph to your eyes, another would thrust bundle of cheroots almost into your mouth, another would press bottle of perfumery close to your nose, and another would light a lucifer match under your chin. They howl, accost insist, gesticulate, pull, push jostle and hustle you into any shop. Thus many quiet harmless people from the Mofussil arc worried out of their wits and made easy vic- l tims.
 On special occasions of unusual press and traffic like the HoH or Durgapujah, down right robberes take place in the streets in broad daylight. Going inside the shop, the real work of haggling and Heeoing com mences Four times the prices are asked of l you, bad and damaged articles are sometimes | attempted to be palmed off upon you, and ! unless you are well experienced and wide awake you are sure to be done out of your l money. Nor is this the worst. Customers | are abused and ill treated. Sometimes open l violence is resorted to. Some classes of shop- l keepers more rude and interruptions l than others, and some bszars have a worse l reputation than others in this respect. Al l most as a rule shoemaksrs and vendors | of shoes, not Ohinamen, but Mohammedans, are the greatest offenders. And the shoe vendors of Chandney Bazaar have a wide spread notoriety. Not to speak of our own | experiences, we have seen halted and trou sered people treated with scant courtesy. After you have once entered the shop yor are considered very much like the shopkeep | e B property. You must accept his prices, you must not bargain, you must not find fault with the articles if you have any fear O
 ill treatment. Some people, we might say
 almost every new purchaser who goes to tho
 bazaar for the first time, feels impatient un
 der these circumstances. He utters an angry
 word or protest against the prices, or want
 to go away. Then comes the tug of war
 He is abused, held by the hand and de
 tained or if he ventures to resist he is as
 saulted, sometimes severely In this rockies
 and lawless course these shoemakers hay
 persisted so long that their community ha
 come to hold such conduct a sort of com
 mercial privilege, well known observance,
 departure from which is likely to be injuri
 ous to trade. They all combine in asking tn
 same prices. They have signs and signal
 how to treat customer. And they alway
 fight together.