India Day 7-ish.

I forgot that yesterday we went to a gem polishing demo, and of course we had to be herded into the gem shop right afterwards. I did not buy a gem.

Lets actually talk about the demos, which I may have already talked about, but oh well, you get to read it all again because my mind is still a bit fuzzy.

The tour companies make it sound like something really, really educational, but in reality we all know its just a way to get people to buy their wares. And the things they sell are incredibly marked up in price, the same items can be purchased in other shops for a fraction of the price, but, like a time-share salesman, or a snake-oil seller, they try to convince you that they have the best price and the only sure fire guarantee of a genuine object. But you know what? I didn't just fall off a turnip truck, nor was I born last night, so I take it all with a grain or ten of salt.

We saw a marble demo, teeny pieces of semi-precious stones and gems that were hand carved into incredibly intricate shapes and then inlaid into the matching carved out place in the marble. The brown that you see here is a henna, and is polished off afterwards so that the marble is pure white. 

Now, we saw them doing this by hand and I have no doubt that the workers have the capability of doing this, but the store room had stacks and stack and stacks of tables like this as well as larger tables and huge tables and huge, huge tables, and statues and little jewellery type boxes and big jewellery type boxes and chess sets and so many other items that it would take a lifetime to examine them all. The small tables were in stacks of 20 and I counted over 400 stacks, meaning at least 6000 items were there, and this was only one room and only tables! You cannot possibly expect anyone to believe that a small group of workers made all these items by hand. You know perfectly well that there are machines somewhere that help manufacture these. 

But, you play the game. The salesman hover and annoy and talk and talk and talk, but that's how they sell and people do get caught up in the excitement of the deal.

Below: one teeny corner of a huge warehouse kind of room.

So we saw the marble inlay demo, a gem cutting demo, a silk rug demo, a carpet weaving demo, a block printing (for textiles) demo, and probably one other that I've forgotten. Oh, it was silver jewellery. 

They dumped out piles and piles of silver on sheets throughout the room. It was sort of like being in Ali Baba's secret cave, all glittery and shiny. And did I mention that they give you free rum to drink? I guess a tipsy customer buys more. Or, a tipsy husband will "allow" his wife to buy more (more on women's rights later...) 

The salesman gave us the spiel about silver, and explained how the pile in the lower right was old silver, from families who had to sell the "family silver" due to economic issues. It was quite beautiful actually, slightly darkened and tarnished, and to me it was much lovelier than the "new" silver, just above it on the sheet, which was so shiny that it looked plastic. (It wasn't though, it was real) 

Anyhow, it was fairly expensive, but, as we were assured, it came with a certificate of authenticity (because no one could possibly ever make a phony one, says the cynic in me) 

But, to make a long story short, every day that we were on the bus, we stopped at a midway restaurant for lunch (not a chain, but the term for a restaurant between two cities) and there was always a shop attached where you could buy all manner of things....silks, teas, jewellery, snacks, plastic cruddy souvenirs, t-shirts, books, you name it, it was there, generally at semi-reasonable prices, and you could barter. I saw tables full of silver jewellery, identical, and I mean identical, to the lovely "family heirlooms" that were at the silver demo. Identical patterns and hallmark stamps, and at maybe 1/4 of the price.  A bracelet that I almost bought for $85 USD was only $22 USD....

But, as I say, it's all part of the game.

Walking on a silk carpet. The cashmere carpets were $46 USD a sq. foot, the camel was $48 and the silk was $139.  Beautiful, but nothing I'd care to own.

Lots of people bought lots of stuff, and what it all boils down to is if you're happy, then it's all good. I like to see sights, I like to touch things and I love to eat the food and "click the photo" and watch the people. My souvenirs are very minimal...my total expenditures were less than $200!