A Day in Jaipur

I'd had enough touring of palaces, temples, forts, and mausoleums. So we started the day with a little shopping. Subhash took us to a Thali Rajastan Emporium that had three+ floors of shopping wonders. We were greeted by a "salesman" who stuck with us for all the floors. While he didn't make any power sales pitches, he was more than willing to show us everything in the emporium and each time I was interested, I had to say, "How much?" There were some amazing things to buy, but mostly I was thinking of some fabric to make a quilt. 

The fabrics of silk and wool were the same price as cotton back home and the patterns were beautiful. Jim got interested in one particular fabric and the "guide" said, "Make shirt for you. Have in 2 hours!" When it became obvious that Jim really did want a shirt, I asked how much to make. "Nothing to make. We have tailors right here on the forth floor" I had visions of a sweat shop populated by little girls and old women who made 5 cents an hour. It's work, right? I'm not so sure.

Jim ordered the shirt and the next step was, "You want tea? Masala tea?" We love Masala tea and they don't serve it in the morning in India -- but this day, indeed by Jove yes! Not only did we get tea but the whole staff got tea while the guide showed us all kinds of beautiful things. Eventually we got to the versatile bedspread/table cloth section. The bedspread side is a lovely pattern of Indian silks and the table cloth side is a cotton print reminiscent of Provencal tablecloths but with elephants and camels in the design. How could I resist? I wouldn't even have to make the quilt and it saved me the task of choosing fabrics that go together and deciding how much of each I needed. 

Then there was the pashmina section -- how can one resist such beautiful fabrics -- soft and colorful and perfect! We left with all those things and a little painted elephant and a camel made of camel skin (poor camel). Shopping was complete. 

I am so surprised about the camels in India -- I just never expected to see them here. Most of them are pulling carts but occasionally we saw them all decked out along the side of the road, waiting for some unsuspecting tourist to take a ride. I can't imagine that is any more comfortable than elephant riding. Some of the camels have fancy designs shaved into their coats. Some are so skinny you wonder how they can pull the carts ladened with everything imaginable, from veggies to bricks! I never got a picture of a real working camel -- the car was always going too fast and the camel was often too close. Here's a posed camel at the elephant safari site.