“I thought she was unmarried because she laughs a lot”!
This was wisdom from our day guide in Cairo. We were a small group out sightseeing on our last day in Egypt. The guide took great pains to explain to me that I could marry and stay back in his beautiful country, given their favorable laws. To support his case, he also tried to impress me by talking about how he was pursuing a PhD. After quite a bit of this throughout the day, a colleague decided to inform the guide that I was married and had two children, leading to his comment.
Of all the countries I have traveled to on work, the romantic disposition of the Egyptian male beat others hollow. I got a total of 3 marriage proposals over a five-day visit! At the same time, I met one of the Group’s smartest production heads and the only lady I have seen in that role in the lead-acid battery industry. There is no intended social commentary here, as the sample size was too small, but the stark contrast was not to be forgotten.
Egypt is one country where it was difficult to balance work and leisure. It is the only country in my work visits where I had planned sightseeing. It helped that some programs like the sound and light show at the Giza pyramids and the Nile River cruise were end of day activities. It is also true that like the Sri Lankans in Egypt, the locals took a lot of pride in showcasing their sights and lifestyle.
Shopping was a glorious ritual. Firstly, there were many touristy souvenirs to take back home, and you couldn’t rush through the purchase. The shopkeeper would refuse to engage early on any discussions on price, opting to first display all his wares. This would be followed by generous praise for my smile. Finally, a lot of haggling and one would necessarily walk away with some delicate glass item wrapped carefully for its long journey back.
In fact, this cultural disposition for bargaining is something I learnt the hard way some months after this visit. One of the prospective customers and a rich investor at that, returned our visit. While business meetings were all in Kolkata, he had asked to arrange a visit to the Infosys campus. After this, we went to a high-end saree store in Bangalore, where he liked many pieces. He explained how these would make unique dresses for the ladies of the house. Confident that his large selection would entitle him to some discount he was very disappointed to be read out the store policy. By then we were getting late for our flight and quickly had to close the purchase and leave. Our customer was irate and did not speak to me till we got on to the flight. Luckily, the in-flight magazine was carrying a centerspread advertisement on the same store with much mention about its unique sarees (none having duplicates) and celebrity clientele. Our guest chose to concede the point and with a grin said that bargaining is a sport, and a little concession would have made him much happier with his purchase.
Most of my international work travel happened when the children were very young and I was focused on pushing for more distributor meetings and returning home quickly. It was well before the Instagram era and with sketchy memories and lost photographs these few social moments remain. The buyer I spoke about was a Moroccan businessman settled in Egypt. I treasure the book on Moroccan cooking that he gifted to us. Most of all, I treasure the lessons learnt in relationship building, high voltage emotion-led negotiations and the subtle art of business being sealed over a hearty meal!
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