David's AW News: India Rage Bate / Whiskey Drama

Greetings from Vadodara, in Gujarat

Gujarat is a dry state - alcohol consumption is banned even carrying alcohol is against the law. And both Toni and I have expensive whiskey we bought as presents for friends. Hope we don't get in trouble.. it was a little stressful at the airport..  but so far no problem. Yes I never heard of Vadodara either.  And it's a surprising place. I'll tell you why later.

So this week we have been crazy busy, in the Delhi fair - It happens twice a year, this is the Spring fair where many of our suppliers can be found.

Last week I was telling you about our last days in Kathmandu, and my thoughts on Gifting Opportunities.. There's lots!  If you missed it you can catch up here.

Well… Delhi doesn’t do things quietly.

It's been a whirlwind few days at the trade show — reconnecting with suppliers, shaking hands, doing deals, devising products and trying (unsuccessfully) to be in five places at once. Wow they did a great job this year.. musical entertainment, free quality lunchtime food, clean toilets even. Like India generally, this tradeshow is getting better and better.

The big news?

We finalised a distribution deal with one of India’s major incense brands for the UK and Europe. Also opened up two maybe three new artisan suppliers. I'm quite pleased actually.

We also did our usual trick of meeting suppliers in a hotel room. This way we see products that have not been exposed to the whole world. Finding original designs.

After the trade show we took a car to central Delhi staying close to Connaught Place, convenient for the shops, bars and cafes.. but also not far from Old Delhi and Parahaganj .. where we met up with some of our oldest suppliers.

Our main Singing Bowl supplier Kamran who runs his artisan export business from the depths of Chawri Bazar a stone's throw from the Jama Masjid - one of the oldest and largest mosques in Delhi. Our guy Bondhan from Java, Indonesia was super excited to see it. After we finished work Kamran gave us a VIP guided tour.

After Chawri Bazar, the next morning we visited another hectic and iconic trading area.. the legendary Paharganj main bazar. We have a few suppliers there.. It's a favourite with a certain type of YouTubers who come to mock the scammers (and there are some) and great for content.  It is a high-energy, crowded, and often noisy area.  A true, raw, and busy, hectic, Delhi experience.

David's Rant! (sorry)

The thing is while it's suddenly fashionable to make those rage bate videos.. upsets Indians (who hate their country being shown badly) delights smug (I dare say possibly racist) westerners.. and therefore gets views and comments boosting the algorithm..  But you know I have been coming to India for twenty odd years.. A lot has changed for the better. Even Paharganj is cleaner, safer, the mud and potholes are gone and people these days are polite not pushy.  Delhi sproosted itself up in 2023 for the G20 meeting.. and carried on getting cleaner and greener. Heck the other day even the sky was blue. Our hotel was full of delegates. India AI Impact Summit 2026.. happening now.. and lots of bigwigs here.. 20 heads of state and of course Narendra Modi, Emmanuel Macron, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. It's a big thing here. The whole city is abuzz with it.

So of course you can make shocking content in India but they are unfair in the bigger India.. which brings me to..

Trip to Vadodara

In Delhi the traffic is epic, because that huge conference is going on.  But despite the traffic, yesterday afternoon we escaped the city, made it to the airport and took the short flight with Indigo air down to Vadodara. I don't know what I was expecting.. but not this.

The airport is not huge, so we walked into the terminal, the luggage already on the belt.. and the luggage hall opened out with no fuss directly to the taxi pickup area.  Calm, peaceful, no hassle at all, Uber and choice of other taxi systems. In no time we had a cab (no scamming) friendly driver to our hotel. And wow, clean, tidy city. And big, two million people, flash shopping arcades. And so far all the people we have met are polite and friendly.  If you came to Vadodara to make rage-bate content you'd be disappointed. 

We just checked into our hotel, tomorrow morning we will travel by car to Khambhat, a famous gemstone artisan area on the coast.. I'll tell you about that next week. This should be super interesting!!

As we checked a gentleman appeared at the lobby asking if we'd like him to secure us a government licence to consume alcohol.. As foreigners we qualify. How strange.. we declined a few days alcohol free, and embracing local norms will be good.

India continues to unfold — intense, inspiring, exhausting, brilliant.

Grateful for the friendships, the artisans, the graft behind the scenes — and for all of you who make this journey possible.

Next update from Khambat… assuming we don’t get whiskey busted and accidentally feature in an Indian drama.

Thanks for being on the journey.

David