Varanasi Feb 10

I learned how to march today, a huge improvement from yesterday. The trick was to stop thinking and just listen. Easy right? Just turn your head off for a bit and react to the beat of the drum and react to the instructions of the leader. There is a simplicity to it that troubles me a little. Marching fosters conformity and stifles independent thought. It does create discipline so as long as the kids know once they are done marching they are free to think, question and act differently then it can be a good activity. I learned how to march anyways.
Lunch/brunch and finally we are on our way, 2 hours after we had originally planned. We head off to Hamid's warehouse and my first impressions are of a run down building whereas in reality it is quite nice just outwardly dirty from the pollution of the city,. The building is almost entirely empty however, less a few handfuls of samples. I am unsure as to why he has taken me here. Angus could look at these himself and really there is hardly a thing worth looking at. This seems more like a chance for Hamid to check in at his empty warehouse. Oh, there is also a dog here that I can see far too many ribs of.
From Hamid's warehouse we went to one of the surrounding villages to finally look at carpets, 10 days into my trip and I am finally starting my job, not bad. The first and last places we went to appeared so unassuring from the outside--nothing more then holes in the wall at best. Once I venutre into the buildings it becomes evident that these are large opperations with thousands of carpet. Typically of the same handful of patterns. I had kind of assumed every place would have a wide selection of styles and colours. Even at carpets international which employs over 1000 people they have a set of styles and colours that come in all sorts of sizes. It makes sense then why Angus wants me to go around to as many places as possible--for our store variety is crucial. On top of seeing the final product I was able to see first hand most of the steps in production from dying the wools in boiling water to the finishing and all the stages in between; the amount of work that goes into making one carpet is enormous.
The day is filled with nervous first steps into the carpet buying world unsure exactly what to buy, who to listen to or which words to say. I stumble through the day without actually selecting a single carpet. I took pictures and notes which I sent back to Canada in hopes of a better idea of what to do tomorrow.