Supply and demand

Propelled by a subtle query from a friend, an old saying comes to mind – “good things no cheap and cheap things no good” (my friend Sujit used to quote his belated dad)

However a similar saying was quoted by a visiting Korean before his trip to India and he was describing his first experience in one of the rivers near Mumbai – “beautiful from far, but far from beautiful”

Using this as the basis for my argument, for a ‘civilised’ Korean city to the poverty stricken area near Mumbai, it is really hard to see the beauty of something totally foreign. Which would also be similar the other way round when one of the spotlights for the 2002 world cup in Seoul was the fact that these ‘barbarians’ actually eat dog meat!

But sometimes, although there seems to be obvious reasons why something, or someone may not appeal to another person, given time perception can change. Another example would be my initial dislike for the preserved Korean cabbage – Kimchi. However after working for them for a bit more than 3 years, I did manage to pick up a liking for it.

All of this then breaks the belief of the two ‘wise’ sayings above. Still unconvinced? Well think towards the manufacturing giant that is called China. Most people will try and relate that all the cheap stuff that comes out of the country is ‘not good’, but then again if we take a step back and think about it, if it was really of no good, then why are they still in operations?

With the world becoming more globalised, it is only natural that some things that certain cultures look upon as cheap and not up to standard may actually come of everyday use in another culture. That is how the world of supply and demand works. If there is no demand for something, why would people bother making a market for it? The only drawback to this argument is that due to the world demands being so diversified, almost anything sells.

As they say, “one person’s meat may be another person’s poison”.