East meets West

I am back in England for a couple of weeks and stocking up with all things non-indian like Molton Brown smellies, Sainsbury's stock cubes, and Soltan sun lotion! As with every visit, I am horrified at the cost of things here, not just because we now live in India, but because we are paid in US dollars which are weaker than ever before vs. a strong pound and an even stronger rupee. The most shocking costs are the ones you see on Indian goods for sale here; people tend to say, 'you must be able to get these at home much cheaper,' but the truth is that most of the Indian goods on sale in the west are produced for export only and are massively better quality than those on sale in India. Not so the lovely big wicker chair I recently saw in The Conran Shop: it's IDENTICAL to the one we bought at Fab India in Bangalore for about £5/$10. How much does Mr. Conran charge? £65!!! I was horrified, until I went to a store called East in Leeds, which sells the lovely Jaipur-based Anokhi line of clothing, under the label 'Anokhi for East.' For background, Anokhi is a chain of well made, good priced, western clothes with an eastern feel; hand-block printed in beautiful fabrics with everything from sarongs to blouses to bedsheets. In fact I was wearing two of their pieces when I popped in East: the sleeveless, white cotton top which cost £5/$10 in Bangalore was priced at a whopping £35, and my light quilted jacket bought in Bangalore for about £18/$36 was a staggering £75! So who is making the money? I doubt that it's Anokhi, or the workers who make these lovely, inexpensive garments; one can only imagine that the fat cats at Conran and East are laughing all the way to the bank and have many more shipments lined up!