Chalo Delhi - 4 - The boy who sold flute

En route to Agra from Delhi, you pass Mathura, the birth place of Lord Krishna. As it was not far away from the highway, we decided to go visit the temple. Mathura or what we saw of it is a small town. Due to heightened security, we parked the car far away from the temple and walked toward the temple. The first thing you notice after entering the temple compound is the large number of security personnel and the imposing mosque behind the temple. Without getting into political debate of any kind, I guess history is interpreted in different ways by different people.

The Temple is big and we saw the jail where Lord Krishna’s parent were kept. Like all tourist places, we find a number of vendors selling all kind of stuff, in this case religious stuff like religious books, CDs and idols. Children are always termed as good sellers. Here too, I found a lot of children selling their wares. These children are pretty persistent. While going to the temple, we did not see many children.

After we came back worshiping in the temple, we were surrounded by so many small boys selling so much stuff. Even though we insisted we did not want anything they continued surrounding us and continued selling the stuff. Polite denial to rude gestures did not discourage them. They insisted to sell their goods trying to create the requirements for them. This is what I call consistent marketing and creating a market.

Finally all three of us got into the car and could make an exit from the car park. The boys continued with their sales pitch throughout the time we were there, even when the car was coming out of the parking lot. The emphasis was on helping poor student who worked after school.

A Railway crossing cuts the road between Mathura Lord Krishna temple and the Delhi-Agra highway. Unfortunately for us and fortunately for the children, the crossing was shut for Train traffic. The distance between the temple and the crossing was almost 100 meters and in no time the children were near our car. The sales pitch continued. It was getting too much as they were hounding us more more than 20 minutes now.

The crossing was not opening for traffic and we became desperate. Finally, I brought a flute for Rs. 10. Yes I still did not need the flute and I haven’t seen the flute. I could have given the flute to small children in the neighborhood. The crossing opened in the next few moments and we were stuck with a flute which probably could not be played and which I did not need at all.

I would probably never forget the boy who successfully marketed and sold me a flute I never needed. Who says management is only thought in Management schools. Need and circumstances teaches you management on the streets. I guess that is what we call experience.