The Rs 2,500 Samosa

Hal

Think you've been ripped off in India?
Here's a story about a couple who paid Rs 10,000 for 4 samosas

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7733137.stm

machadinha

...

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capt_mahajan

Read that earlier today.

Except that the Indian newspaper version was that 'a passing policeman intervened' or something like that.

New thread on indiamike "How much should a samosa cost?"

anar

why buy samosas when you can make your own?

Anglo_Indian

Ok - I read this in the newspaper too.. however the guys who paid 10,000 bucks for 4 samosas - have to be incredibly stupid in the first place. They should have thrown 10 bucks and walked away.. what can the samosa guy do?? Call the police??? LOL... what kind of dumb people can pay 10 grand just like that?? Did the think they were in Luxembourg having caviar filled patties in a world class restaurant??

bengla

the whole thing says more about the people in question than the samosa-wallah
(i'm trying not to generalize it to the country they're from)

tsk1979

Gives a new meaning to my "Country of thieves" thread.
And bravo, its the fault of those who got cheated, nice motley crew we have here

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felonious_monk

And headlines from around the world on the incident ...

"Dutch fertility crisis averted using expensive Indian pharmaceuticals"
"Prime Minister to discuss samosa hyperinflation at G20 summit"
"Techy samosawallahs now quoting prices in binary"
"Kinky Dutch couples get off on being humiliatingly scammed"
"Indian state of Bihar to use dung, urine as tourist repellent"

Nick-H

It says that the samosa seller was, if not still is, a swindling crook.

It says that the buyers were confused by a foreign currency in a foreign land.

It should have been obvious that four samosas should come cheaper than a night in a good hotel

WAIT

... perhaps their travel agent charged them Rs100,000 per night for the hotel?

Anyway, I'd rather number the slightly daft among my friends than the viciously dishonest.

Full marks to the cop in the story!

sannna

Coming back from a recent visit to the North with friends who were in India for the first time and seeing how confused they were with the rate of the rupee the story makes a bit more sense to me. One of them wanted to give a boy 1000 Rs for an English pound he wanted to exchange, but the boy was kind enough to point out his mistake with the zeroes...

However, the story on the BBC had some stuff on the vendor telling the couple about the aphrodiasic qualities of the samosa and the special herbs used... which indicates that they from the outset understood that the rate was a bit on the high side...

But.. I wonder how a Bihari samosa vendor is able to explain to a non-Hindi speaking foreign couple (that I assume, otherwise they would have thrown ten Rs in his face and walk away)that the samosa had aphrodiasic qualities...

Kudos to the Bihari police.. Apperently this was even too much of a scam in their book.

Nick-H

It said special herbs in my newspaper report --- didn't mention aphrodisiac!

But broken English was, apparently, how he explained this. If he was working in a tourist area then it wouldn't surprise me if he could manage half a dozen other 'broken' non-Indian languages.

Don't suppose they gave anything to the policeman. I this instance, I'd say that he deserved it!

Reemus

Despite being a native, I was ripped in a similar fashion in Paharganj, Delhi.

Our group of friends had reached Delhi in the morning and after checking into a 'cheap' hotel, in Paharganj we went out for breakfast. We ordered for some stuffed Parathas and double checked the price with a waiter, in an attempt to avoid getting ripped.
When our breakfast arrived, we were more than happy to gobble down the tasty Parathas with the wondeful curries they had come with.

And my oh my, when the bill came we were in for a shock. The price of the Parathas was only some 20 rupees, but the curries we thought were complimentary was priced at more than 100 rupees per serving. They told us to check the menu, and the price was indeed 100 rupees. We then started arguing that we had never ordered anything other than the Paratha, they responded, saying that we should have returned the dishes we did not order, and now that we had eaten, we should better pay up. After a few minutes of arguments the posture of the entire eatry staff became aggressive, deciding on not to get into a fight we all paid the amount with a long face and retired to the hotel room.

It is the circumstances that decide when you fight and when you give up. Rupees 100 extra though significant at that time for us was not big enough to get into a fight for. Had they ripped us for more, we also probably would have approached the police.

I don’t blame the Dutch couple. They did the right thing by paying up in those circumstances and then reporting the matter to police, who surprisingly helped in their case.


Our story does not end there. In the evening when were checking out, to our horror the hotel bill was twice as much as we had anticipated. We did not even have that much money among us all. We were on a student budget going home. After some arguing with he guy at the front desk, we were all in rebellious mood. One of our friends just snapped, dropped his bags, took off his T-shirt and challenged the guy to step and fight it out. We all took the cue and backed him up. Seeing all of us in fight mode, the hotel guy decided not to mess with us anymore and promptly reduced the bill amount to the appropriate value.

As the saying goes you win some you loose some.

LilBoy BigTown

All I can say is, "Mother of all rip off's"

This is taking scams to a whole new level, never seen or heard before.

I absolutely love samosa's and there's hardly a week when i go without them. Here in Sydney, its about $2 a piece.

If I ever manage to start a business, I would like to hire the hawker guy who performed this amazing feat. Loved his sales pitch.

Hail the great man

felonious_monk

Aphrodisiac was mentioned in all the reports I have read. It definitely makes the story funnier in my schoolboy imagination.
Cop was just doing his job and not really putting himself in any danger so I wouldn't think a baksheesh is due.

livinhimalayas

In a state where the ex CM can digest hundrends of thousands rupees worth of cattle fodder without a burp, is it surprising to find samosas costing 2500.00???? At least it is something humans can eat