Suit Made in Delhi

My Kind of Shopping

At first, I think you can gather, I didn’t find shopping here to be that enjoyable. The stores I’m used too back at home, where I know exactly where to go to find exactly what I want, were nowhere to be found. The first markets I was taken to was on the day following the pre-Diwali terrorist market bombings, and the experience was more unnerving than exciting. Following that I was dragged to the street markets at Janpath with a couple of girls from my company, where they shopped for inexpensive jewelry, purses, bed sheets, pillowcases, and all other sorts of things I couldn’t really give a damn about.

Finally I found something fun for me as a guy to shop for. The main thing, which I do every weekend, is make trips to the tailor. It didn’t seem that exciting at first, in fact the picture I had of my head was a stuffy establishment old businessmen lined up for an 80-year old tailor to fit them for a tux. I had intended to have something made here, but was planning on putting it off until the end of my trip. After a day of shopping at Janpath, my companions decided to stop by a tailor to “get a shirt copied”. That didn’t sounds so interesting- what’s the point of getting a copy of a shirt you already have? We walked into the Grover’s Tailoring House at Khan Market, a narrow shop with a long counter on the left, and stacks and stacks of cloth on the right and left. Mostly wool and cashmere on the left if I recall, and fabrics for shirts on the right. One of the salesmen brought out two buttoned shirts, one with a label and one without. The shirts were completely different in cloth pattern and texture, the main similarity being in the overall manner in which they were sewn. One of the girls dropped off another store-bought shirt and asked, “Can you make one like this, but make the collar bigger here, and the waist smaller here,” indicating a couple of places on the shirt she wanted changed in the new copy.

I realized this was perfect for me- I’d be able to walk out with not just a copy of what I already had, but something completely new, with a shirt I brought as a foundation for how to make it, but customized to how I want it. I’m a hard guy to fit; tall with long arms and wide shoulders, but a narrow waist (narrow again thanks to my new diet in India, and from food poisoning back in December). Shirts bought from home end up either having sleeves that are too short, or long enough sleeves but are too poofy at the waist. Neither look is what I’m going for! So I brought in some Express Men shirts, with designs I like- the way the collars are shaped, French cuffs, and some with double-buttoned collars and longer cuffs with two buttons that both fasten lengthwise along your wrist instead of one. The way they were made was what I wanted to keep; but I also had them take measurements and make the sleeves a bit longer and the waist a little smaller. I also have them made in different fabrics for work, for going out at night, or for both; they don’t resemble each other, other than in how they’re made. Finally nice shirts that I don’t have to spend all day tucking into my waist because they’re too big around for me! The price- somewhere around $30 - $35 US each. Not cheap by standards in India, but about the same price as I’d pay for an ok-fitting shirt back home, in a plainer material.

I’ve also had a suit made here from 100% merino wool. Everything about it is custom to how I wanted it- I started off looking at some designs from a catalog, and choosing the features I wanted; then from my shoulders to my ankles they measured and made it to fit me. It cost around $350-$400 US, and a suit could be purchased at most department stores back home for that, but not one like this.

There are a couple of other tailors I patronize here as well- the finish isn’t quite as exacting, but for $12 a shirt it’s a steal. Plus the hotel laundry will f’ up your clothes here sometimes- break buttons, or they’ll get worn around the edges- so I’m saving some of my Grover’s-made shirts until I get home to Atlanta. And there’s something I didn’t envision having made that I enjoyed getting- a custom leather jacket with a motocross-style collar. I started with a magazine photo of a jacket I liked, and they took my measurements and made a well-fitting jacket based on the picture. That place is Ravi Leather at Palaka Bhawan, if anyone wants to know. Palaka Bhawan is not nearly 1/10th as attractive of a market as Khan Market, and when someone took me there I asked “what the hell are we doing here?” but in India, like anywhere else (but maybe more so), you pay for the location, and when you venture out from where only the foreigners shop, you can find good prices. I’ll probably go back and have another jacket made. Someone else is getting leather pants made, that’s a little too out there for me… but who knows, I've got a month left to change my mind.

Based on reading this, you’d think I came to Delhi and used it mainly as a launch pad to travel to other places. And I have been quite the jet setter, but my life here after all is mainly in Delhi. What did I name this blog again??? So here’s a novel idea, I’ll take a break from the vacation reporting and talk about what it’s like day to day here.

So where to start… how about the one consistent thing I do each weekend- shopping. That sounds really trite doesn’t it? But there is a lot to shopping in Delhi- I have procured hand-made rugs waiting to sprawl out across my condo’s hardwood floors; silk and cashmere shawls for friends back home; marble boxes and coasters inlaid with semi-precious stones to adorn my living room- and hopefully not gather too much dust. And the best thing of all- custom clothing, from white linen pants for the beach to a merino wool pinstriped suit that would be suitable for pulling off a mob hit at the finest Italian joint in New York.

Let’s start with the kind of shopping you don’t want to do- or at least, you don’t want to do too much of. These are the stores which some of us call the “Gora Stores”. Gora would be the Hindi word for, well, me. Basically the word used to describe foreigners. It isn’t the name for “white” as I had originally thought it to be (so when I asked at a tailor once for a shirt made from “gora cloth”, they might have taken me to be some kind of Silence of the Lambs freak). So I’m not sure exactly what it means, other than that I’m an example of it.

If you’d like to visit a Gora Store, you don’t even have to ask. All you have to do is jump in one of the black and green cabs, and you may end up there whether you want to go or not. Everyone should go at least once, but don’t go crazy when you get there. As cool and unique and Indian as the things they sell appear- if you buy them and pay their prices, to your eventual chagrin you’ll find the same items at market after market, at three stores in a row on Janpath road, for a fraction of the price (once you haggle and haggle, or just do what I do, bring a friend who’s from here). So if you haven’t figured it out yet- Gora Stores are tourist shops. In them you’ll find racks upon racks of shawls (anything above $5 they call “pashmina”, the definition of which seems to be up to interpretation). If you think the ultra-fine wool known as pashmina in the US, which can cost hundreds of dollars for a shawl, is the same thing as a $30 shawl in one of these stores- then they’ll positively love you in these stores. You’ll also find handicrafts, such as carved marble elephants (I’ve seen 100 marble elephants in India for every real one), handmade rugs, basically everything you’ve wanted to bring back home from India- at quadruple the price because you don’t know any better. Converting rupees to dollars, and dollars to rupees- that’s the easy part. Knowing the value of items here versus what they’re worth back home- that’s not so easy.

So how do you find one of these wonderful places? It’s easy enough- just step into a cab from your hotel and look clueless. Or, if the driver asks you questions about when you arrived in India or how you are enjoying your stay, give him any answer at all. They’ll be more than happy to drive you to a shop of their choosing, for a cut of what you buy, or even just a kickback for bringing you into the store regardless of whether you get anything or not.

Luckily I was educated on this right after I got there. My first weekend here, when I was confused, isolated, and just wanted to go home, a coworker whom I met by chance at the hotel was kind enough to take me on a round of pre-Diwali shopping. He hailed one of the cabs at the hotel, and since they usually refuse to use their meter, he negotiated a price to go to a couple of markets- I.N.A. Market and Khan Market, if I remember correctly. Two minutes into the car ride the cab driver says he knows a “very good gift shop” and says “very good prices”, two phrases I’ve heard from many a cab driver. So Chris, my coworker, adamantly says “no”, that we only want to go to these two places which we are paying him to take us. When he takes a left off an interstate overpass, I assume it’s part of our intended route, until Chris starts saying “No, do NOT take us here!” We pull by a gift shop (with big concrete elephants out front, carpets hanging in the windows, the whole works) and the driver pulls in. Such a new concept- a taxi driver refusing to use his meter, and taking me where I don’t want to go- but one which I had to get used to here pretty damn fast since I’m responsible for my own transportation here on nights and weekends. “Very good price” the driver insisted, “just go in for five minutes”. Chris told him we weren’t getting out of the car, and after a couple of awkward minutes the driver begrudgingly drove us away. “This is the 10th time one of these drivers has taken me to this store,” he told me, “their prices are outrageous.”

If you’re shopping here and have any doubt as to whether or not you’re in a Gora Store, here are two questions you can ask yourself. The first- are all the shoppers foreigners accompanied by cab drivers? Then yes, you’re in a Gora Store, and no, they aren’t really negotiating on your behalf. Two- do the sales people have big calculators they punch the price in, then do some kind of subtraction to give you the price available to YOU as a discount? Then you’re definitely in a Gora Store. “Ooh, the calculator said 14,500 rupees, now it magically says 11,250!” You’ll kick yourself when you find out it’s worth 4,500.

Enough about the Gora Stores- shop at your own risk, and don’t say I didn’t warn you! If you find something you want at a price you’re happy with, then just get it- as long as you’re someone who won’t regret it later if you find it for cheaper. It depends on you.

So is all shopping here frustrating, and are all people here out to get your money? Not at all! But that’s how I felt at first, and that’s one reason I had it hard here in the beginning- feeling that I was nothing more to people here than a walking $ sign. I realized that the reason I was frustrated and had a negative opinion, was because that’s who my initial primary contact was with- cab drivers and shopkeepers. It’s as unfair to base an opinion of the people of this country based on that group, as it would be to base an opinion on Americans on people with W stickers on their cars. I wanted to share the worst of it first, because that’s the first thing you notice.
Once you know where to find it, it’s not all bad- the custom clothing I have made every week; stuff for my home. I’ll share what I do in an average Saturday of shopping in my next update. I promise it won’t be a month from now!

Back to writing

I guess it’s obvious by now- I’m a little late in updating this blog. To be fair, I have been busy- busy working, busy traveling, and busy living life like I never have before. I had intended to write more about Kashmir, but not having had the time to do that to my satisfaction, kept waiting until the right time. But I’ve decided it’s more important to me that I keep going with this then get hung up telling each story in perfect detail. After all, I’m here on behalf of a corporation, not as a writer, so what does it matter if I have a few hackneyed phrases scattered about?

Time for my last update on Kashmir. It’s hard to capture all the little things you see and feel that define a place. All the moments I had there which come to mind, that together constitute a trip that doesn’t feel possible to only have been three days long. To hurry them down onto a piece of paper (or should I say a computer screen) would be a disservice to them. Those memories I’d rather keep in my mind how they were, than read them one day and think “Oh, was that all there was to it?” There are too many things I want to remember how they are… locking eyes through my car window with passersby who were as curious about me as I was about them; laughing with two young women in traditional headscarves as we shared a cab in the icy mountains, as our driver attempted to dislodge us from a snowdrift.

So if you want to know more about my experiences in Kashmir, you’ll just have to ask me. Besides what will I have to talk about when I get home, if it’s already laid out on here?