Each residency, there has been a main theme/memory that I take back with me, whether it be a specific event or an overall behavior. In London, our first culture dash showed that even though England and the U.S. aren’t too far apart culture-wise, wandering around different countries armed with video cameras and asking probing questions is not a welcomed behavior! Once I arrived in Dubai, I was a bit more judicious in my filming and observing in general, because you could feel the tension in the air between Western culture and Islamic societal norms (even if they were somewhat relaxed in Dubai). So London had an event, Dubai was a feeling, India has to be…a behavior.
I’m am absolutely dumbfounded by the stark cultural contrast between Indian’s who are extremely deferential (mainly, hotel staff and other service providers), Indian’s who are extremely aggressive (the sellers from the bazaar come to mind, and unfortunately, beggars), educated Indians (the business people and all of my classmates), and the Indian’s who are absolutely vocal about telling you your business! Some of these, of course, overlap :)
“Where did you buy this rug? Where? What store? You…(snicker)…I hope you didn’t buy this where I thought you did…”
With this bit of heckling, I figured my learning about Delhi was complete. Jig, Pat, and I returned back to the hotel around 6:00 p.m., to drop off our purchases and get cleaned up for dinner. But as I passed through the metal detectors, I realize that this gentleman was determined to follow us around the hotel, telling Pat how big of a mistake he had made.
“Look, you come up to my shop here in the hotel, not to buy, and we’ll talk about the history of handmade rugs. Just come up and take a look, you’ll enjoy. You come here, just up ahead.”
Next thing we knew, Pat and I are sitting in ANOTHER rug shop, with another “friendly” Indian pulling out all his wares to show us.
3′x5′, 4′x6′, 6′x10′….what size are you interested in? 100% silk carpets, right? I’ve got silk, I’ve got wool, blends, colors, everything right here.
Pat and I just looked at each other, stifling our laughter, just wondering who exactly he was talking too. Pat had his purchase in hand; I already owed Jig several thousand rupees because I didn’t bring my wallet to the prior shopping trip (especially my credit cards). I was hungry, but we were in the hotel, so no need to be rude lest we run into this guy again somewhere else. Besides, residencies are pretty easy, who needs a nap?
The rug salesman proceeded to use a needle to take a single knot out of an all silk rug, then light it on fire. When burnt, silk threads smell like ‘chicken feathers burning’, which I had to take the salesman’s word for as I’ve never burnt chicken feathers. Next, the same test was performed, except this time with a rayon carpet. The smell of rayon burning smells like chemicals burning, very distinct, and with this juxtaposition it was clear that this was an excellent way to test carpet composition!
Now that we knew how to determine what rugs were made from, the salesman moved on to knot count. In general, the quality of a rug is determined by the number of knots per square inch. 18×18 is generally the lower end of the spectrum, and is well suited to flooring rugs due to the thicker thread needed to create the proper rug density. At the other end of the spectrum, 25×25 has a significantly different feel, as the threads are much finer, and thus has a richer feel on the hand. A rug of this quality is for lighter traffic areas, or even wall hanging.
Two lessons down, and I am in fact enjoying myself. At this point, I’ve learned how to determine the composition of a rug, the difference in the number of knots (including, how to count them), and in general seen a lot of impressive (and expensive!) handmade rugs. At this point though, it had been too long since the last heckle, and the salesman was getting antsy:
Salesman: So, how much did you pay for your rug? Silk? What knot count?
Pat: $x. Silk, 25×25.
Salesman (laughing): Really? If that’s true, and you bought that quality, I’ll give you your money back plus $300. Let me open up your rug package and take a look at it. It’s ok, I’ll re-package it for you, no problem.
Awkward. I can’t speak for Pat, but with these words, I was starting to think that there was a hard sell coming. Why would Pat want to sell the rug he spent hours searching for, just to make a little extra money? Money is nice, but not when you want to take home a rug! I was starting to think we would never be getting out of this shop (remember, in the hotel), when the salesman dropped the bomb:
I guarantee that the rug you have is not what you think it is. For the price you paid, it cannot be.
Ugh. The visions of butter chicken and naan dancing in my head quickly evaporated. We’re never getting out of this shop.
Category: 
Recent Comments