bye bye money

Lately I feel like I'm throwing money around me as if it were paper: only in the past 12 hours I've spent over 300 USD on plane tickets within India (I am pretty content with the 20-hour train experience I've had so far, and I don't need another one, thank you very much), and I've bought 2 kashmir/pashmina shawls for something close to a years pay for the average Indian. (but more comparable to a coffee and a sandwhich at the Espresso House in Sweden).

Without having asked for it, I was toured around Jodhpurs old chaotic and crazy alleyways by this dashing young muslim gentleman, who owned a shop selling Indian spices. Naturally, I told him very early on about my husband (we've been married for two years now, and oh - he's a police man by the way), just so that he wouldn't think that I wasn't a respectable woman. (hmmm..)


I was shown some cool old temples, the ancient perfume market (where I bought some lovely smelling neroli oil (for 3 USD) and then I was taken to the Maharani Art Exporters, an 8-story building full of fabrics of all shapes and kind. This little heaven of textiles both sells and makes textiles for the likes of Armani, Kenzo, Donna Karen etc etc, and they claim to have over 10 000 different items. I was even shown a picture of Richard Gere buying 108 pieces of a Kenzo bedspread. Now, this might have all been a part of an elaborate scam to lure tourists spend 50 USD on something worth only a tenth of the price, but I really don't care anymore: the same items would have fetched an arm and a leg back home. And did I buy any spices from my benevolent guide? Hell no! The way I see it, he got a free English lesson, a sneaky look up my skirt when I was going upstairs, and I even gave him a free veterinary lecture on the signs of Rabies in animals. So technically, he should have paid me 100 USD.