Day two.

It took ages to get started today due to my love of chai /
sweet indian tea.
Sitting outside in the morning sun sipping tea on the
street and eating a couple of pappadoms, well, one tea stall led to another. And by the time I was finished it was
lunch time. I heartily tucked into some delicious South Indian masala Dosa, two
infact. A dosa looks like a piece of A4 paper rolled into a large open tube,
the tube which is a spiced battered paste is stuffed with fried vegetables,
there is a side dip of sambar and peppered coconut chutney. I love them, I
think being greedy I could probably eat 5 or 6.

I have struck a deal with a man who sells bags. It looks
likely that we will stock them. I have put in a small first order of 200 units.
These are the bags mentioned yesterday and there is a photo
you can see. The length and width are about 40cm the opening depth is roughly
32 cm. These are the most durable bags I have come across and have used them
myself for some years. With bright iconic prints of tea adverts and animals,
sounds a little strange; they are, but a little quirkiness and a dash of cool
originality mixed with solid durability and you’ve got a winning combination.
I shall retail these at The Spirit of Summer show in May.

Wholesale price is estimated to be £6-8. They are being made
now. I am to pick them up in 10 days or so, fingers crossed.

This deal took half the day. The rest of the day I wandered
around markets, to see if anything
caught my eye. I happened to stumble across a beautiful little street in the
heart of this chaotic city. It was pretty narrow, no cars just a few bikes. The
street had a natural shade due to the bending leafy trees on each side. The houses were all shack
like bungalows all attached running up either side of the road. The lovely
thing was everybody in the family seemed to be outside kids were playing with
their bikes and kites, younger children
were playing with their baby sisters and brothers, more kids were playing
cricket and drawing with chalk on the street, groups of women were chatting away
and a few of the old men had brought out their beds and were dozing off.
Everyone enjoying this little oasis of a
road. All the doors, when there were some, were open. A very sociable
street indeed.

The evening was spent eating fruit salads, drinking tea and
talking to inquisitive strangers.

I’m off now. Tomorrow will certainly be a busier day.

Good night from India,
Dominic. The Sari Express Company. www.thesariexpresscompany.co.uk