“As you are my very first customer of the day, I am going to give you a special price.”

“Depending on the city that we’re in, salesmen use different pitches to hawk their wares. And they’re quite persistent. They’ll relentlessly shout, “HALLO! HALLO!” Even an accidental glance in their direction would trigger their spiel: “Take a look! Looking is free! No need to buy anything!”

In Jodphur: “We make textiles for DKNY, Missoni, ABC Carpet!”

Carpet salesmen scratch their product with scissors and say: “See, they cannot be ripped! You can stomp on them, crumple them up, they’re indestructible!”

Clothing salesmen: “We have pashmina shawls!” We reply we have some already. “Ah, but not as good as ours! We have SPECIAL shawls.”

—Journal Entry From My Trip to India in 2004