Sandalwood oil, anybody?
Door: Annemieke
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Annemieke
16 Mei 2007 | India, Mysore
I've been in Mysore now for two days, and it was not hard finding out that this is the place where sandalwood oil is produced. All kinds of people have tried several methods to get me into a shop or a 'factory' in order to show me the production but most of all the products that they would like to sell to me. So prepare for a story about Mysorian sales techniques...
I had only arrived a few hours back and just started exploring the city when a guy of around 18 approached me. He told me that there was a incense festival going on in the old market and that a lot of tourists were going there. Apparently, it would be something interesting! Then, without me even asking why he told me this news, he said that he informed me about this because it would be good for his karma. He then left quicky.
I was puzzled why he had told it to me but the fact that he did not offered to bring me there and that he left quickly (in short: he was NOT pushing me), made me go in the direction he pointed out to me.
Twenty second later another guy, who apparently had heard my first conversation, offered me to show me the way. In the beginning I walked alone but he seemed to be heading the same direction so we soon started talking. Finally we arrived in front of a green building, which he proclaimed was an incense factory. I was kind of confused, I mean, I was heading for the festival, but I just decided to see what would happen. The women of the 'factory' (later I saw that only one woman was making incense so I would not call it a factory myself) were - what a coincidence - just having breakfast. Only one minute later I found myself sitting in a room listening to a sales man talking about oil producion and the therapeutical and natural uses of his products.
The locally made sandalwood oil was of course his favorite, he claimed it to be perfect for blood circulation and tiredness. But he also told me about white jasmine oil, which I could use to attract men. He adviced me to buy jacarande oil for my mother's wrinkles (don't worry mum, I claimed you didn't need it!), black musk oil for a better sex life and white musk oil to stimulate breast growth (?!).
So yes it was an interesting promotion talk in which he sometimes asked to many personal questions. After talking and smelling all these scents (and it's true, they smelled great), he gave me some paper to write down all the oils I wanted to buy. I told him that I needed to think about it, but that I really liked his demonstration and that I definetely wanted to buy something at a later time.
The truth was that I did not know whether I could trust him. I read in my guide book that a lot of oils were not as 'pure' as the sellers claimed them to be; often they were mixed with almond or coconut oil or alcohol. I had asked that to him but he said that he had never done that, that only market sellers did that. He then showed me a document stating that he delivered sandalwood oil to the government (or something).
At the local market (strangely enough nobody had heard of the old market or of the incense festival... haha), the oil sellers told me a different story. They asked 1/3 of the price of the 'factory' man, and claimed that their oils were also 'pure' but that they had lower prices since they did not have to pay heavy commissions (to for example the two (?!) boys who directed me to factory, and of one of them the owner told me was his 'adopted nephew'). At the local market they gave me some incense to burn in my hotel room.
Back in my room I started thinking about these events. I had been from one shop to the other, every owner claiming to sell the 'pure oils', while basically I could not tell who to trust or who not. It is very likely that all of them were not telling the (complete) truth, at least this is what local people on the street told me.
Than the thought suddenly crossed my mind: do I actually WANT to buy sandalwood oil, or any oil? The demonstration was nice as well as to hear about their therapeutical or natural uses. I also smelled great yesterday. But still, my life has been perfectly fine until now without sandalwood oil, and, until yesterday, I basically had never heard of its existence before! It's just the exitement you get sometimes when you are in a place and you find something new, something cheap (relatively speaking, it was not that cheap), and something rare while basically you don't want the stuff when you think about it for some longer.
So yes, the sales men did not succeed convincing ME in Mysore. Tomorrow I will leave to Ooty without any oil, only carrying some bought incense with me...
Annemieke
PS the incense I had to buy for someone else, not for me!
PS2 Next time I will write in Dutch again, it's just that I promised my boyfriend this one would be in English :)
I had only arrived a few hours back and just started exploring the city when a guy of around 18 approached me. He told me that there was a incense festival going on in the old market and that a lot of tourists were going there. Apparently, it would be something interesting! Then, without me even asking why he told me this news, he said that he informed me about this because it would be good for his karma. He then left quicky.
I was puzzled why he had told it to me but the fact that he did not offered to bring me there and that he left quickly (in short: he was NOT pushing me), made me go in the direction he pointed out to me.
Twenty second later another guy, who apparently had heard my first conversation, offered me to show me the way. In the beginning I walked alone but he seemed to be heading the same direction so we soon started talking. Finally we arrived in front of a green building, which he proclaimed was an incense factory. I was kind of confused, I mean, I was heading for the festival, but I just decided to see what would happen. The women of the 'factory' (later I saw that only one woman was making incense so I would not call it a factory myself) were - what a coincidence - just having breakfast. Only one minute later I found myself sitting in a room listening to a sales man talking about oil producion and the therapeutical and natural uses of his products.
The locally made sandalwood oil was of course his favorite, he claimed it to be perfect for blood circulation and tiredness. But he also told me about white jasmine oil, which I could use to attract men. He adviced me to buy jacarande oil for my mother's wrinkles (don't worry mum, I claimed you didn't need it!), black musk oil for a better sex life and white musk oil to stimulate breast growth (?!).
So yes it was an interesting promotion talk in which he sometimes asked to many personal questions. After talking and smelling all these scents (and it's true, they smelled great), he gave me some paper to write down all the oils I wanted to buy. I told him that I needed to think about it, but that I really liked his demonstration and that I definetely wanted to buy something at a later time.
The truth was that I did not know whether I could trust him. I read in my guide book that a lot of oils were not as 'pure' as the sellers claimed them to be; often they were mixed with almond or coconut oil or alcohol. I had asked that to him but he said that he had never done that, that only market sellers did that. He then showed me a document stating that he delivered sandalwood oil to the government (or something).
At the local market (strangely enough nobody had heard of the old market or of the incense festival... haha), the oil sellers told me a different story. They asked 1/3 of the price of the 'factory' man, and claimed that their oils were also 'pure' but that they had lower prices since they did not have to pay heavy commissions (to for example the two (?!) boys who directed me to factory, and of one of them the owner told me was his 'adopted nephew'). At the local market they gave me some incense to burn in my hotel room.
Back in my room I started thinking about these events. I had been from one shop to the other, every owner claiming to sell the 'pure oils', while basically I could not tell who to trust or who not. It is very likely that all of them were not telling the (complete) truth, at least this is what local people on the street told me.
Than the thought suddenly crossed my mind: do I actually WANT to buy sandalwood oil, or any oil? The demonstration was nice as well as to hear about their therapeutical or natural uses. I also smelled great yesterday. But still, my life has been perfectly fine until now without sandalwood oil, and, until yesterday, I basically had never heard of its existence before! It's just the exitement you get sometimes when you are in a place and you find something new, something cheap (relatively speaking, it was not that cheap), and something rare while basically you don't want the stuff when you think about it for some longer.
So yes, the sales men did not succeed convincing ME in Mysore. Tomorrow I will leave to Ooty without any oil, only carrying some bought incense with me...
Annemieke
PS the incense I had to buy for someone else, not for me!
PS2 Next time I will write in Dutch again, it's just that I promised my boyfriend this one would be in English :)
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