Purchasing

After a leisurely breakfast at our hotel, we drove a short distance to go shopping in Jewtown… which sounds like some sort of obscure slur, but it’s just the traditional home of Cochin’s Jewish population and now its historic tourist precinct.

It’s also the site of The Boss’ favourite antique emporium. If you want giraffe-sized brass oil lamps, a 500 year old palanquin, ornately carved ceiling panels and a hundred different yellow clay idols, it’s your one stop shop!

Meanwhile, in groundbreaking theology news, I discovered proof that the ancient Indians worshipped Ned Flanders. Hey, they could do worse.

While Mr Fixit flitted about with his phone, sending pictures of half-ton stone statues and ten metre long hardwood tabletops to The Boss for his consideration, I bought an antique brass oil lamp (giraffe-foetus sized) and an antique brass pan. I haggled a bit with the owners, then got an extra 10% off when Mr Fixit swept through the room, shot them a price 1000 rupees less than they were insisting as their absolute best price, then swept out again, all without pausing his phone conversation with The Boss.

Later, at a shop down the street, I found some beautiful brass Singing Bowls that chime like angels moaning, got the price down by 5000 rupees, then was advised by the shopkeeper that if I wanted to use my credit card, we’d have to go to his friend’s shop since he didn’t have a machine. We walked to a gem shop two doors down, then made our way into a windowless back room, where my shopkeeper and his colleague chattered in Tamil as they reset an old Eftpos handset. I was a little nervous about using my card in this context, but I really liked the bowls, and just resigned myself to staying alert and closely monitoring my card activity… then Mr Fixit hustled in, established the scenario in a few seconds of terse Hindi, and slapped down The Boss’ credit card instead. Any minor risk of credit card theft dissipates when you have The Boss’ resources to deal with it.

After an exhausting few hours of shopping we were allowed to return to the hotel. My sisters swam in the pool while I presented Delaware and Maryland with a vehicle that I’d picked up from the harbourside stalls yesterday. The minifigs that come to Italy with me get Fiats and Vespas, but as we’re in India we get a different local icon.