And all the shop keepers were happy

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Well shortly after my return from the Aurangabad area I decided I did not get the Pune experience that I was looking for so Friday I once again made the 3 hour trek (trek is a little extreme, I was comfortably seated in very the back of an suv) to Pune. This time I went with a girl named Claire, her mother Jane, Renee who initiated the trip because she was getting dental work done, and girl/woman named Sarah who just came from Tanzania where she was volunteering at a hospital and working on a project to care for lepers and prevent a disease (I forget what it is called) that is carried by snails in lake Victoria. Instead of last time shopping being something that was merely done to fill time between Baba adventures, this time it was a primary goal. Needless to say the shop keepers were very glad we came. I unfortunately was only attracted to the expensive fabric (Indian expensive so like $25 for nice cloth for a whole Punjabi outfit) in all the places that refused to come down on their prices. None the less I purchased one ready made Punjabi outfit that has a red top with Tibetan prayer script going around it then after a day of though and sleeping on it I went back and bought some fabric that is red and orange with pleats. It is a bit hard to describe, I will just have to take a picture of it once I get a tailor ( all the tailors are addressed as master here ^_^) to make me an outfit out of it. I also got some cotton to make these very cool pants called sami patiyalas that are flat up at the top and big and poofy down at the bottom. One of the girls I went to the Ellora caves with got them from Varanasi and every female at the pilgrim retreat has tried to get them made. The tailors around here are having a bit of trouble getting them just right so I think I will take my cotton to them once someone else has gotten all of the kinks worked out. Before going into the little bazaar to shop a man with a bunch of drums was following us around playing (I had seen one of his brethern the first time I was in Pune) and trying to get us to buy one. I have to admit they sounded pretty good but I certainly had my doubts buying them off the street from a hawker. But this one guy followed us slashing prices until we escaped into the bazaar then while we were shopping one the completely opposite side of the bazaar the drum man was there playing and trying to get us to buy one. It was pretty impressive that while outside the bazaar he found us inside on the completely opposite side. But wait there is more. Once we decided we had purchased everything that would not need further consideration we left to get lunch. There was the drum man once again on a completely different side of the bazaar to find us. This is where I christened him the embodiment of determination. Once he came all the way down from rs 600 to rs 100 Claire decided to buy one for her boyfriend. I am positive that is the hardest anyone has ever worked for $3. After that we went to another bazaar called wonderland where we went into a shop that was completely full of fabric. Piles and sticks anywhere you turned. But we had no time to spend there because Claire, Sarah and I had a 4:45 appointment to have our eyebrows threaded then to have a aryuvedic massage. Having your eyebrows threaded is an experience that is kind of unexplainable. The closest thing that I can think of it feeling like is a small sharp rake on your eyebrows but really that isn't what is happening at all but I could definitely get use to paying 50 cents to not have to pluck my eyebrows. Then came the massage. I will spare yall the details but it was INCREDIBLE! It was kind of funny because the place was located on the top of a roof and just had a tin and thatch roof over it (not in a slummy sort of way but in a trendy way) so when ever the relaxing music they were playing went out you could here the very vocal traffic of Pune. That night we went to an absolutely packed restaurant called soul that had a live band playing American music. It wasn't the music we were looking for but I must admit it was the most delicious food I have had in India so far and it has all be fabulous. Mutton hindali or handli something like that. The next day to make up for the lack of bartering from the day before I wreaked havoc on the street vendors getting some beautiful tapestrys down from rs 1500 to rs 550 and a mask from rs 490 to rs 350. It was really sweet because Claire's mom had me get Claire a tapestry for whatever price I was going to get mine at so she herded everyone away so that I could barter without a big group around. Then as I was coming back with the tapestries Claire kept wanting to know if I got the one she wanted and I had to do my best to hide it and just show her mine. I think she is going to be thrilled Christmas morning. It was funny because one man who we bought silk scarfs from for rs 100 a piece was absolutly fuming complaining that there was now no profit zero profit but when we said that he would not sell them to us had their been no profit he just wobbled his head sideways and said ok fine. That was one of the two big phrases we got in Pune, "ok fine" and " no problem I make for you." We also we able to get piles of cloths from one shop that had great stuff for great prices. Simply repeating "but look at all I am getting, cant you just come down a little more." He actually threw in scarves for free. Back in Meherabad

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Comments

[Nate]

I'm impressed!
It sounds like you are quite the haggler! That's pretty exciting!

[Che]

Yak cheese?!

[katy Flinn]

haha
ok fine.