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Breathe in, breathe out. Yes. Relax.

Ok. Comments on my previous post depressed me. There, I’ve said it. Now I’m recovering. I shall address your concerns point-wise. 🙂

1. First, desi, I can occasionally be sarcastic, too, you know (ooo, imagine that!). A big craft store is as much progress for India, as Macdonalds, Imax, Archies, Starbucks, Domino’s, Valentine’s Day….and the rest of it. If we can be invaded by Hollywood (dubbed into Telugu, no less) and Marks & Spencer selling underwear starting at Rs 450, why can’t we share some of the crafty goodness as well?

2. I can produce busloads of aunts (and grandmothers) with the creativity to produce miracles without patterns and directions as well. Sadly (for me) I totally missed the bus when the creativity gene was being handed out and I’m afraid I couldn’t create to save my life. I can only follow directions (I’m *very* good at that), so patterns are a godsend for me.

3. I rely heavily on our local craft stores, as well, and sometimes wish I did enough crafts to take full advantage of all they have available. See #2 above to know why I don’t. Deneen, of course women in India do crafts. Our smallest towns will often have mom-and-pop stores (bangle stores, they are called) which sell everything to tickle your fancy, from said bangles and cosmetics, to thread for sewing and crochet, crochet hooks, knitting needles, painting kits and satin ribbon, crepe paper and bindis and rubber bands and lining cloth…you get the idea, all in one small 10″ by 8″ space or less. These are our staple.

4. I am weird (no, really!) and I like browsing in stores, without having to consult salespersons until forced to. No hovering over me, please. Given #2 above, I go into crafty stores without any clear idea of what it is exactly I want and feel shy of asking for a nebulous “thing” (what have you got to tickle my senses today?). So a store that allows me to browse through crafty stuff sounds wonderful. (The same thing applies to me and books, by the way).

4. I agree wool isn’t required in most of the country, but the same thing could be said of concrete building materials, for example, which are totally unsuitable for our climate but have almost completely replaced our traditional construction material, or the synthetic materials that make up so many of our “readymade” (and therefore affordable) clothes. Why couldn’t we have natural yarns available, like cotton?

5. It’s a bit like you aren’t happy with the education system in India and you go abroad to study and work (there’s no future in India, sweetheart/the US has *dignity of labour*, and that’s why I can work in Macdonalds to support myself there, but would die before doing anything similar at home, dahling). I guess it’s a side effect of the global spread of information and seeing what’s available has made me greedy(ier).

6. This isn’t to offend anyone, just my views. Debate is welcome. The longer the comments, the happier I’ll be, since it means someone is reading me and thinking about what I say.

Phew, it’s hot on this here soapbox 😉

Footnote 1. I was depressed because I was reminded of my lack of creativity in comparison with what (busloads of) Indian women generally have.

Footnote 2. Creativity to me means the ability to conceive and execute something wholly out from one’s mind, not the ability to follow directions blindly (or otherwise). Ergo, I am not creative (and the polls are closed on that one, lovey, move on).

Let me now catch my breath and hear what you’ve got to say.

India apparently has a hobby and craft store! It's in Mumbai, called Hobby Ideas and is a venture of Pidilite Industries. I found this out by accident today when I spied a tube of fabric glue in a shop while looking for buttons. Now two of my bags which were languishing while I dithered over hand sewing are sporting linings (drying as we speak). Look ma, no needle and thread!

The tailor refused to sew them in and I was much distressed and girdling my loins to start the task, when I went in to buy buttons and just before I handed in my cash, I spotted the tube of glue. Whoda thunk it? So obviously I grabbed it and tossed over the extra Rs 15 (small price to pay for the pleasure of no-sew – no, not Mary-Sue). Came home and sat down with scissors, bags, cloth, iron and got down to work). Remind me not to keep more than two bags in line for lining. In other words, line as you go, sweetums, or liningless forever you shall remain.

Anyway, as I was saying, with my google fixation, once the gluing was finished, I tripped over to the net and looked up the manufacturer (whose products I use regularly, but hadn't thought to google before). And lo and behold, I find the said store has been in existence since last year. When can I go to Bombay, please?

The craft store has all sorts of things for candle making, glass etching, clay moulding (even has Fimo!) and a spool knitting kit. But that last product is as far as it goes, nothing else remotely related to crochet or knitting was advertised (except this book). Ah well, it's something to even have a craft store in the country. We might still progress. 

This whole thing is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Remember my rant about an Indian company selling wooden needles and hooks who wouldn't even grace me with a proper reply? Well, I'd written back to complain about (a) their rudeness (b) their illiteracy on June 5. After due consideration (of 17 days!!) I've got them to comment on my blog here, which more or less said the same as in this mail (which they sent me 3 copies of, kindly):

Hello MrsFife,

As per the comment on word express .com supplied on 5^th June 06.

Regarding DHL India Exports Our reason for writing in such a way is that last year an Indian had cheated on us and tried to spoil our business. A man from Delhi contacted us and asked for the details of our company product and samples, which we gave him. He took all the information from us and started contacting our buyers with the samples that we provided him at a cheaper rate.

And he also started spoiling our buyers market even. This is the reason why we don’t respond to Indian e-mail. And you also did the same thing to spoil our business you wrote a comment about us.

Best Regards

I am beyond grrrr now. It depressed me last night and still depresses me now. Constructive suggestions welcome (including and not limited to bloodshed).