Packages in India

Yesterday I went shopping in town with Mousumi and Meena, 2 phd students who are in my group of friends (sweet girls). We spent about 4 hours out, during which time I bought books, food, clothes and notebooks for the field. A wonderful trip, and I bonded well with them.

I also purchased my Dad a birthday gift. Since I have limited resources here (and no knowledge of how or where to purchase most things), I wrapped the gift in the materials I had in my room - a plastic bag (to protect it from water) and a paper bag as outer packaging. This would have been adequate for a package in the US, but apparently it was not adequate for "parcels" in India.

When I tried to mail it at the post office today, the clerk sent me outside to a man with a cart full of stationary and notebooks. He wrapped the package in natural-fiber cloth, sewed it shut, then pressed fresh, melted red wax with a seal across the thread. He sewed my paper customs sheets to the cloth, and charged me Rs. 25 (50 cents) for the whole process (a great deal!).

A totally new experience for me - how odd to wrap a package in cloth, thread and wax! Nonetheless, all the packages I saw in the post office were wrapped in the same fashion, and the clerk wouldn't accept mine until it matched.