The sweatshop

The heat is starting to kick up so one could say anywhere you go in Pune is a sweat shop. Like New York, most offices and homes are kept cool-close-to-freezing with AC blasting, but outside the humidity alone is cause for change.

We’re looking at vendors to make clothes (specifically t-shirts and jackets) for an upcoming event. Now, I love to shop and have quite a bit of experience in this realm, but this kind of shopping is an experience…to say the least. Typically when I’m thinking of buying a shirt or jacket for myself I think Neimans or Nordstroms (no, I don’t have a “thing” for this particular letter in the alphabet – just for the over-priced beautiful clothes).

For this vendor scoping/shopping excursion, Balaji, Rajan and I made our way across town to a garment factory (one that I’m told is quite small compared to most). Walking in, the entry was quite small – maybe the size of Andrew’s on Polk (gotta tie SF in where I can J ). The walls were lines with t-shirts of all colors and sizes neatly packed in plastic and not so neatly thrown on to shelves. We brought a sample shirt to show the quality and look we’re going for and the vendor felt the cotton. After some back and forth about the texture and quality, the vendor cut a chunk off the shirt to test it (I’ve never heard of a cotton testing machine – ya learn something new every day!) More back and forth and discussion of next steps, and we were invited for a tour. Going through the only other door in the shop (besides the front) we found ourselves in a huge open white room filled with men and women busily working away. There was a line of people cutting cotton, another of people sewing the front of shirts to the back, and so on. The great thing is everyone looked happy and healthy talking to their partners in sewing.

Now I have a whole new perspective on shopping!

The end of the factory story is the vendor is now going to have cotton picked and have cloth made to match the sample we left. Then, he’ll look at quality control options and pricing, then shirt design, then logos. So many steps!

The temple
On our way back to the office, mixed in with donkeys and stalls, we came upon a huge beautiful temple. Well, OK, not beautiful at first site – the outside looked ornate but run down and a bit dirty. Our driver pulled over and motioned for us to go check it out. Walking up to the temple we took our shoes off and then made our way up marble steps. Truly, the temple was a thing of beauty. The walls were sterling silver and the decorations pure gold. There were metal poles guiding folks to the front to pay respects and people were lined up to the back wall.

Walking through the guides two men sitting in front of the Ganesh statue started pounding a table and ushering people to keep going and hurry up. Then, they waved to us and ushered us up to the front. When we got to the front of the line in front of Ganesh, I followed Balaji in paying respects. Then, the two men said something in Hindi and presented me with a coconut wrapped in orange cloth accompanied by a rose tied with grass and two yellow cookies. I thanked them and went to hand it back not really knowing what I was supposed to do (not exactly the kind of thing you learn in business school) and they waved me on. Ok, it sounds cheesy after the story above, but I am blessed. Literally (I think/hope anyhow) and figuratively for just getting to experience this.