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UTF8 Encoding and decoding in python

I have a UTF8 String piped from Java to python.

The end result is 

'\xe0\xb8\x9a\xe0\xb8\x99'

Hence for example 

a = '\xe0\xb8\x9a\xe0\xb8\x99'
a.decode('utf-8')

gives me the result

u'\u0e1a\u0e19'

however, what i am curious is since the bytes is piped in as UTF-8, why would be 

'\xe0\xb8\x9a\xe0\xb8\x99'

instead of u'\u0e1a\u0e19'.

If i were to encode (u'\u0e1a\u0e19') i would get back '\xe0\xb8\x9a\xe0\xb8\x99'.

So what is the inherent difference between these two and how i do actually understand when to use decode and encode.

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    ..and even "two hundred twenty-four" is a decimal representation of the binary representation 11100000, which is just a binary representation of some electrons being pushed through some doped silicon, which is just a standard model representation of our somewhat-tenuous understanding of subatomic particles, which something something string theory. Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 1:30
  • @Malvolio So when do i use decode and encode? Say i was to write this string to a file. Do i have to encode u'\u0e1a\u0e19 as UTF8 or would writing \xe0\xb8\x9a\xe0\xb8\x99 to a file show me the corresponding UTF8 character บน in the file Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 1:30
  • @aceminer I expanded my answer significantly to answer your question. Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 1:38

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