FEBRUARY 27, 2022 – All oriental carpet hawkers attend the same institution of higher learning: the University of Huckster. In the field, this is how they operate . . .
The initial contact occurs beyond the “rug factory.” In Kashmir, this contact was often at a restaurant. A Western-attired, well-spoken guy finds you—ideally in the company of other Westerners—hands out business cards and invites your group to visit his “family’s” rug emporium. You take the bait. Soon thereafter, you enter an establishment elbowing its success into the tired façades of less vibrant, adjacent shops.
You’re greeted by the whole team, who treat you like royalty. The leader conducts a tour of the “factory,” where you learn all about hand-fabrication of the finest carpets in the world—finest, because the thread knots are smallest; smallest because the youngest children tie the knots, and “As can be seen, children have small fingers and are thus able to tie much smaller knots.” You overlook the rationale for child-labor laws, as your guide shows you several examples of what he’s talking about.
After the tour, you’re led into a “show room” filled with many high stacks of rugs. Chai and biscuits are served with elegance commensurate with the carpets you’re about to be shown.
Next arrive a crew who stack two dozen rugs upside down onto the spacious showroom floor, while you down another biscuit off the silver platter. Now enter the “rug thrower” and the “face watcher,” while the leader-turned-chief-negotiator stands a few steps behind them.
The “rug thrower” is expert at pulling a large carpet off the stack, giving it a good twirl in the sunlight streaming in from a large skylight and landing it face up squarely in front of your seat. The “face watcher” takes mental notes of your reactions and stores that information for later reference in huddles with the chief-negotiator.
The foregoing rug-toss is repeated until all the rugs, like a deck of cards face up, have been dealt.
The game is on. Sometimes the same deck is dealt again, but now it’s a card trick, and just as a prestidigitator shepherds a volunteer’s selection unwittingly to a pre-selected card, the “rug thrower” and the “face watcher” do likewise with the rugs.
If you’re not yet “playing,” ample additional “decks” can be stacked and dealt.
The rugs are stunning in quality and appearance and soon overpower your poker face. A fine carpet, you imagine, will transform your abode into a mansion. You raise an eyebrow, utter a “Hmmm!” or even a “Wow!”
Now the dealer has the upper hand. You won’t escape without buying and paying too much—or, in desperation, climbing out of your clothes to escape the hucksters’ clutches.
Me? I fell for a beautiful silk rug and bargained hard from a starting price of $3,000 (equivalent) down to $1,200. My limit was $1,000. I parted ways with the carpet and its hucksters.
Months later, I’d travel Russia from end-to-end and back at a cost of about . . . $1,200. That would be my magic carpet ride.
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© 2022 by Eric Nilsson
