The other day I was traveling by Mumbai local, returning to Andheri from Grant Road station. I had gone to see a film for my work. Train was a bit crowded but luckily I found a place to sit. Soon it was going to be very crowded, since it was a Virar train.

Suddenly I heard a voice trying to say something. Initially I felt he was pleading for people to give him place to move in so that he could come in. May be he was going to last station. You know some young guys block the entrance to get the breeze on their face. With a little struggle owner of the voice reached well inside. Then I realized he was a salesman. He was asking for place but not how a co-passenger would ask for. These people are licensed vendors, who carry their ware in large bags. When they find adequate space in the compartment, they display their ware and start doing special vocal tricks, which means introduction to the product. They have to attract people’s attention with a witty sales pitch. They all have made up their own dialogues, which they speak in a very funny and attractive way. They all are a bit of actors. They must make the passengers look at him, then look at the product held in his hands lastly they must find the price of the product surprisingly cheap.

So he started:

“Ladies and gentlemen, please look this side.”
“Friends just a minute, look this side.”
“Thank you. Here are Samsung earphones in the original boxes.”

These days everyone owns a mobile phone and most of them own a smart phone. Out of hundreds of passengers some ten may be in need of changing their earphones. So it is a good chance that in one compartment, four or five people will end up buying one.

“Dear friends can you guess the price of this good looking piece? If you go to a shop, store or a mall you will pay not less than 200 or 250 for this. (Actually he under quoted the price. Price of an earplug in a shop would be around 400 or 450) But our company (he carried on) due to its business deal is selling it for not 200, not 100, but only 50 rupees. You can see it. Hold it in your hand; even check it on your phone. No cost for seeing or checking. Please confirm that it is working and you like it, before you pull out your wallet.”

In an open challenge and trust, he held out 5 boxes to unknown people, out of which 3 people bought the product.

So, I realized his business works on smart talk, a working product and below reasonable price tag.