This is India. If you don't enjoy crowds, cows and smelly things, then it probably is not the country for you. I love it! For many people paying devotion at holy sites is a typical weekend activity. The Ganges and other natural features get a lot of attention.
But since I don't have a ticket to Mother Country India I set off, like the wandering pilgrim, looking for my holy grail. A really great Garage Sale. Location is very important for us stateside pilgrims. When I was visiting my mother in the Ground Zero of WASP culture we would hit two or three sales a day. That is prime yard sale territory. It didn't matter that she is moving and needs absolutely nothing. Or that I was jetting back to Chicago with one suitcase. The thrill of the hunt made our fingers tingle as we approached the sale site. She bought a couple of things that she turned around and sold at her own premium garage sale last week. People who spend over a million dollars for a home have two or three times the amount of stuff that you and I have. They even hire people to set up their sales for them, and if it doesn't sell these same people will take it to the dump (more likely they take it home for their own sale).
You learn to spot the good sales without even getting out of the car. Big wheels, high chairs, boxes of games missing two pieces, bad paperback books, and the worst thing of all - sad clothes strung along the fence, do not portend good things. Move on. Remember the crusaders, the Hindi mystics, the pilgrims to Mecca. They all take the most difficult path, thereby ensuring that the prize at the end will be well fought for.
Today I opened my own garage to some intrepid bargain hunters. I found out one thing - taking the money and putting it in your pocket when someone has just paid you $5 or $10 for something you haven't used or looked at in years - is FANTASTIC.
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