Locomotoring

Bandhej style of fabric

Here is what happened. I was in Jaipur last spring, visiting family. And a trip to Jaipur is not complete without a customary trip to the shops of Johari Bazaar, jeweler’s market. I wanted to buy some chunaris, colorful cotton/silk drapes worn like shawls or scarves. Jaipuri chunaris, particularly the tie and dye, Bandhej (or bandhani) style are fabulous.

So, I was in this small shop, lit with fluorescent light. I had already picked up half a dozen chunaris to share with friends and family. In our excitement we had managed to give away the fact that we were out of towners. This is when our enthusiastic salesman got particularly creative. I am paraphrasing but this is what he said – “Sis, just check out our sarees. You are hardly going to see these in Delhi. I am not going to ask you to buy them. Just see how gorgeous they can be”.

Salesman trying on a saree

He had been a good salesman so far, attentive, enthusiastic but not pushy. So we acquiesced. He not only brought them out, opened them up for us to admire, he even donned a few, much to our merriment, with an exaggerated swagger of an experienced performer.

Guess, what. I ended up buying a pair of sarees too! But honestly, it was well worth the show he had put up for us. You won’t see this spectacular salesmanship at multi-storied air conditioned shopping complexes of Delhi and Bangalore.