Peace at last.

After the trade show, we flew to Ahmedabad in Gujarat, then drove down towards Khambhat — the Crystal City of India.

Regular readers may remember our previous accommodation near Khambhat: a fairly basic highway motel, complete with bedbugs, cockroaches and mysterious red stains on the walls. The sort of place where you sleep fully dressed and try not to investigate anything.

This time, one of our gemstone guys recommended staying in Anand, about 40 minutes away, at the “H” hotel. I checked the reviews. They were bad. Very bad.

But our man insisted, and thankfully he was right. Big clean rooms, friendly staff — actually delightful. Beware fake negative reviews; it's big thing in India.  We congratulated ourselves on having found somewhere comfortable to get some much-needed sleep.

There was just one small problem.

We had arrived in the middle of Navratri, Gujarat’s great festival of music and dancing. Now, when I say dancing, I don’t mean a few people having a gentle shuffle before bedtime.

The whole town seemed dressed for a wedding. Beautiful outfits, whole families out together, huge groups gathering for Garba dancing in the streets and special party grounds. Several of these grounds were conveniently located close to our hotel.

Very close.

At about 10pm, the music really got going. Imagine a rave with the volume control removed, accompanied by lasers and regular fireworks. Massive crowds.

ALL. NIGHT. LONG.

And remember, Gujarat is a dry state. These people were doing this on milkshakes and mango juice. Whatever they’re putting in the mango juice, it deserves further investigation.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday… every night of our stay, the town was going for it. Meanwhile, we had meetings with gemstone suppliers who had apparently been at the same parties, yet somehow arrived bright-eyed, sharp and ready for business.

We were struggling to remember which pocket contained our glasses.

Still, plenty of exciting gemstone work got done between the yawns. There’s something about Khambhat — the knowledge, the skills, the possibilities — that keeps pulling us back. Just next time, I’m checking the festival calendar before the hotel reviews.

Then came our little adventure buying a drink.

Mr Chatterjee wanted to buy some whisky. Near the hotel was a licensed liquor shop serving visitors with the necessary permits. So Toni and I went along with him, thinking we might pick up a beer while we were there.

First, however, we needed a personal alcohol permit. Three gentlemen sat behind a desk, undertaking the administration with the sort of measured pace that suggests nobody has ever successfully hurried them.

We had our photographs taken. We signed papers — I counted twelve places. Then, at the appropriate moment, we had to sit in front of a video camera and move our heads from side to side. Somewhere, presumably, somebody was checking that I really was David and genuinely intended to drink a beer. Nothing seemed to be progressing.

We chatted with the other customers, several carrying American passports — mostly Indians working in tech, home for the festivities. Every now and then, the gentleman on the left would open a storeroom door, revealing tantalising pallets of beer, disappear inside and eventually return with a stuffed brown paper bag.

It all felt wonderfully clandestine for something involving quite so much official paperwork.

Eventually, my enthusiasm for that beer began to fade. “OK, guys,” I said, rather loudly. “Let’s go. I'm seriously losing interest in that beer. I’m really not waiting any longer.”

At this point, gentleman number three suddenly came to life. I suspect he’d been dancing all night.

“Yes, Mr David! Don’t go!”

A few words were exchanged, gentleman number one scuttled into the storeroom, and the whisky and beer appeared.

By then, I had signed enough declarations to make it absolutely clear that this was for personal consumption, in my hotel room. I paid, and we escaped.

Toni said his mortgage application involved less paperwork.

After Khambhat, we drove back to Ahmedabad airport and said goodbye to Toni. That was quite emotional. After weeks of travelling, working, developing products and surviving the occasional questionable hotel together, it feels strange when the team starts splitting up. He flew to Mumbai and onwards to Spain. We took a flight south to Kochi to visit coconut mat factories.

And now we’re here in Alleppey, beside the backwaters.

Peace at last. Water, greenery, a chance to catch our breath… and hopefully a night when the only thing going round in circles is the ceiling fan.

I’ll give you a full report from this lovely corner of India next week.

Meanwhile, back home, Halloween is almost upon us and Christmas is waiting in the wings. I hope your shops are busy, your preparations are going well, and you find a few useful things among this week’s offers and new arrivals below. And has it happens there is lots of Indian stock arriving right now.. including Star Lamps.. check them out below. 

Take care,

David