Sales...

So I'm at the beach in Kovalam. It's a great beach, but it's been a long time since I've been anywhere this touristy. Honestly, if I were deaf, I could be in Europe right now...

Anyway. There is one odd thing here, but it will take a bit of explaining to get to it, so bear with.

One of the things all of the "round the world" planning books tell you is that you shouldn't pack things you "might" need, only those things you know you will need. And the catch phrase is "Anything that is appropriate will be available locally."

The next train of thought is the sales ability of Indians. It's quite high. Or rather, they are persistent and clever in the sales pitch:

"Would you like a cold drink, madam?"
"No thanks."
"Perhaps some chai instead?"

So I am quite shocked that I can not find a floppy hat. I'm looking for something with a brim all around to keep the sun off. Nothing. Nada. Maybe a baseball cap, but even then, hard to find.

The hat I bought in Bali was starting to fade, and was actually a touch small. So I sent it home after Thailand. I remembered to pack light, and if I were somewhere where I would need a hat, it would most likely be available...

So I guess the crux of it is that the sales pitch is for things that are common and available in India. It seems that the emphasis is on assimilating visitors to India, instead of making an "outside" solution available. Even though the floppy hats would sell like hot roti's, they just don't have them. It's "sell what we have" (I can buy a whole pineapple if I want), but the innovation isn't there.

There are smart cookies who took a floppy hat with them, so they know about the floppy hats. But no one's made the jump to make floppy hats cheaply and charge a fortune for them...