put me to work

I was wandering around the market in Mysore the other day & noticed that they had a lot of oil and incense shops, unlike many of the other markets I've been to. It turns out that Mysore is famous for it's incense making and Sandalwood trade. I had a great time one day hanging out in the market where I learned how to me incense with one of the proprietors, Noor. I happened upon his booth just as he was churning out a batch of Sandalwood incense. So I came around back and sat down with him. We drank Chai- and he showed me how to mix up the sandalwood paste with a gum resin...then add water and kneed it into a dough which is then rolled onto bamboo sticks. We took the batch up to the roof for about 2 hours for it to dry. While waiting he started into his oil sales bit, and I have to say it worked on me. He sells pure oils: lotus, gardenia, lavender, amber...And they are all SUPER strong. A few drops put right on your skin lasts for about 36 hours...Even after a shower. (and a proper shower at that...Not one of those crummy bucket showers that Indians take). For the few weeks I've been here I have been continually bombarded by people are trying to sell me stuff. Because I'm white, the phrase I hear most in English is, "hello friend...Hello sir...Would u like to come take a look." I've never counted but it has to be at least 100 times in any given day. So, needless to say I've become a little tired of the sales pitches.

What sold me on Noors oils were his customer books. He had maybe 30 books filled with customer names and testimonials. They were broken down by country: Egnland, USA, Canada, Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany, Japan....(and on) going back quite a few years too! What was especially interesting were the warning messages of other shops outside the market, who sell oils at 3x the price that aren't as good. And in fact, there were 2 shops in particular that were named many times as being shady. There were notes telling others to, "Be weary of the lady in the tattered red Sari who speaks VERY good English." She takes tourists out of the market into 'handy-craft shops' (as they're known) where the price is Rs 300 per bottle of oil. The deal is she is on the take from the shops, so she gets Rs 150 for each bottle sold and the shop pockets the other half. The notes claim that the oil from these shops is watered down and not as good...and obviously Noor backs this claim up. He told me the only place to buy oils is in the market...Normally I wouldn't believe him, but his customer books sealed the deal. I ended up buying about 10 bottles at which point he threw in about 200 sticks of incense (including the batch I helped him make) and a box to store the oils I too.

And sure enough as I was leaving the market looking for a place to eat I ran into the lady in the red sari. When I told her I already bought oils in the market -from Noor specifically- she cursed and spat and said nasty things about him and his oils...Just as Noor had said about her...

and the battle goes on--score one (hopefully) for the good guys