The Girl in a Red Gown

‘This is just a loo-break. No time for shopping. Please return to the bus in ten minutes. We got a long way to go, and have a packed itinerary for the day,’ the Tour Manager announced.

How very hospitable, the senior citizens from India marvelled as they stepped out of the toilet, when a smiling girl curtsied and offered them wine-coloured soft-drinks in paper cups neatly lined on a bamboo tray she held. How could they have turned down the gentle nudge from the soft-drink girl to step into the enticing, fragrant room facing the bamboo products shop where they were greeted by the girl in the red gown.

She was fair, slim, and tall; her height accentuated by the long red gown which hid her stilettos. She had a smile that could launch a few if not a thousand ships, and a dulcet voice that could lull the listeners to a trance.

Please be seated, she beamed at the tourists.

May I please have five to seven minutes for a quick demo, she asked the Tour Manager?

Five minutes or less, the no-nonsense Manager from India said.

‘We got many innovative bamboo products, 100 percent Natural, both for ladies and gentlemen. But this one is unisex, highly recommended for joint pains.’ She waved the item.

‘Does anyone suffer from neck ache, back ache, joint pain?’ She need not have asked. She already knew.

‘I need a few volunteers, please.’

When none of the hesitant tourists stepped forward, she picked up the gentleman with a kindly face, and almost holding his little finger led him to the front. How did she figure out that that senior citizen was yet to hang up his boots, and as the CEO of a large, profitable plant put in fourteen hours of work six days a week? Or could see read his net worth from his facial lines?

After fastening the heat-therapy belt on his neck, she picked up another gentleman most likely in pain from cervical spondylosis, and strapped the belt on his neck.

Then, she put on her own person a bath robe, and a hair-drying towel, both in alluring pink. Highly absorbent and much quicker to dry than a Turkish robe or towel, she assured.

She asked the two gentlemen with the heat-therapy belt, ‘Are you feeling hot?’

‘No.’

‘Give it a few more minutes.’

She showed a few more products.

The CEO stood up and said, I got a strange sensation. Please remove this belt.

‘Sir, the belt is doing what it is designed to do. You feel hot, don’t you? In a few minutes, you’ll feel hotter, and still hotter. Guaranteed therapy. No side-effects.’

Hot, Hotter, Hotter. Being Vietnamese, and with modest command over English, was she unaware of the connotations of those words, or did she deliberately tease the men with her innuendo?

Tour Manager barged in. Time to leave, she announced.

Two more minutes, please, the girl in the red gown coaxed.

No, your demo has already overshot by twenty minutes. We’re way behind schedule.

The tourists filed out of the room with much reluctance, it seemed. The only way to the bus in the parking lot passed through the BAMBOO shop which had brisk sales in less than ten minutes.

Just as there’s no free lunch, there’s no free loo-break!

The girl in the red gown had followed the tourists into the shop and seemed pleased with the success rate of her promo. She was the only one dressed in red, her colleagues in drab business suits mandated by the owner.

Why in red? In Vietnam, as In China, red signifies luck, happiness, and auspiciousness; traditionally donned by girls for New Year, important festivals, and family get-togethers. Maybe, this girl had high sale-targets for which she needed all her luck every working-day.

‘You men are so gullible, all it takes is a smile from a pretty face to rob your wallet in broad daylight,’ a lady who had made no purchase addressed the gentlemen who were walking with her to the bus. Chalat musafir moh liya re…  she added. Her spouse soon caught up with her with a stuffed shopping bag in his hands. “Just a few things for you, Darling,’ he said sheepishly.

Another tourist bought a unisex heat-therapy belt for 250,000 VND (INR 1000), and a head-towel for 235,000 VND for spouse. The towel has been used, looks and feels no different from an ordinary cotton towel. A fortnight after return, the heat-therapy belt is not yet unpacked. The packet has a ‘Friendly Tip’: Please contact the manufacturer if you fell discomfort.

Product: Made in Vietnam

Protective Appliance Processing Factory, Add: Shimabara City, Negasaki, Japan.

The reference is presumably to Nagasaki Prefecture!

 Notes

India is the largest producer of bamboo in the world. Clothes and accessories made from bamboo fibre are manufactured in India, and are exported, too.