Shopping? Not Yet

October 14

As we prepared to sell our house we found parting with objects acquired through the years easy. Plus, our children (and our friends’ children) are too old to value the trinkets sold by hawkers. Better objects are tempting, but where to put them when we are figuratively homeless? Telling a rug merchant that we don’t have a home simply didn’t register. (We have a new appreciation for the observation that someone is like a rug merchant – he was very persistent.) So we have been enjoyed demonstrations of handicrafts made, knowing that we will escape the showroom at the end with our money in hand.

In Agra we stopped at Kalakriti, a “factory” that makes marble inlays. Most of the items were said to made by craftsmen working in their home villages, but a demonstration team allowed us to see the work involved. (Allegedly the craftsmen are the descendants of families who worked on the Taj – who is to check?) A design is put on a piece of marble and a craftsman chisels it out. Then tiny pieces of precious metals are laid in the marble.
Slivers of metals are among the pieces, which takes tremendous dexterity. The metals include agate, garnet, and mother-of-pearl. We wondered how the work was organized and the craftsmen paid. Such questions tend to get vague answers so we didn't ask. From a manager’s comment I assume that craftsmen are paid a wage for their on large pieces. Smaller pieces, such as jewel boxes and coasters, are said to be done at a craftsman's leisure . Of course, the assumption that they are creating pieces in their spare time makes an hourly wage impossible to calculate.

In Jaipur our guide took us to handicrafts shop. Our visit started with a block printing demonstration. We were told that the completed print would be ready for us as we left.
We weren’t given it (nor did we ask) they probably lost interest when we didn’t make any purchases. Next we went to see a carpet-making demonstration that started with weaving and knot tying. The carpets are made at home (again families that have done this for generations were said to be the producers) and then taken to the shop where they are readied for sale, which includes cutting off ends of knots, torching the carpet to identify synthetics, and washing the carpet in a chemical solution to bring out the colors. The last stop - a show room and an offer to relax and have a drink were pressed on us. We saw some lovely carpets at a reasonable price. Our claim that we were homeless fell on deaf ears. The final pitch was “business is bad.” In writing this blog I went to the shop’s website. No mention of carpets. Doug’s understanding is that wool carpets come from Kashmir.

Yesterday our driver reminded us that the guides take us to shops where they get a commission – something that we already knew, because it occurs worldwide. He suggested shopping on our own when we get to Jodhpur. We’ll see, but in truth we aren’t likely to buy much.