Shopping in Pushkar

As we walk down the narrow streets of Pushkar, amongst holy cows, intriguing, yet risky, street kitchens and fellow shoppers and tourists, while the scooters race by, honking loudly and constantly, we look for souvenirs and Christmas-presents for friends and family back home. There are shops selling scarves and saris in all the colours of the rainbow, shops selling notebooks with handmade paper pages and beautifully carved, leather covers, and even kiosk-like shops selling cigarettes, Pepsi and toilet-paper.

The Indian Salesmen

As varied as the available items, are the salesmen selling them. They all have their own technique and procedures for selling, but through all their differences they are all willing to take advantage of the Western tourist, by overpricing their seemingly unique items, that can also be found in the shop next door.

However we have divided the Indian salesmen into three main categories:

1. The Insisting Show-offs

This is by far the largest category; they exist as shop owners, restaurant waiters and spiritual guides by the holy lake of Pushkar. The shop owners will insist on showing you all their different scarves, and if you look at a specific one for just a second too long he will pull out five more with the same pattern in different colours. They will often be very nice and talkative, some will even offer you coffee or the (unofficial) Indian national drink, chai, while they tell you their whole life story and pull out saris for you to "ooh" and "ahh" at.

When you ask them the price of an item, they will tell you to relax and present you with fifteen more bracelets.

If you're on a tight schedule these salesmen can be very stressful, but if you have plenty of time and friends with you with whom you can laugh during the experience, it can also be fun. As long as you remember that the talking is also part of his way of selling you more things, at a higher price.

2. The Unbudgeables

An essential part of shopping in India is bargaining. If you're good at it, you can get the desired item for less than half the price first given by the salesman. But some salesmen are not to bargain with, introducing the Unbudgeables.

You can try all the tricks in the book: "but it's my birthday", "I only have five-hundred rupee-notes", "it's Diwali", "we're going home tomorrow and we only have two hundred rupees left"; they won't budge. It's their way, or no way. Their prices will often be more reasonable than the others, but occasionally the price will simply be too high and you just have to give up and buy your beautiful, traditional Indian bracelet elsewhere.

3. The Calm and Collected

The Calm and Collected are the most desirable salesmen to meet while shopping in India. He will most likely be sitting quietly on a chair somewhere, and only speak to you when you ask him the price of an item or help find a different colour. He won't jump at you with questions of where you're from, how long you've been in India, the second you step inside. He won't throw saris in your arms to look at, when you really just came in to look at a necklace. He will wait patiently and will let you bargain with him when you're ready to pay.

In Pushkar your purchases will not be handed over in plastic bags. but in small and colourful cloth sacks

Final impression

Shopping in India is stressful, tiring and hard, especially if you're not used to bargaining, but it's also exciting, exhilarating and gives you a huge amount of satisfaction if you were able to bargain even a little with an Indian salesman.

After a hard day of shopping, taking a break from the shops at one of the many rooftop restaurants is absolutely essential

Mille, Linea and Katja