Maybe it was the 41 hour train ride. Or it could have been the chicken tikka masala we had the night before. Or maybe it was just the fact that we were in INDIA and wanted to soak up as much of it as we could.
Whatever the reason, my team somehow ended up in a tiny, dusty piercing shop on a side street in the heart of the city. We were nervously picking out our nose decoration of choice – deciding between a stud or a hoop…jewel or no jewel…gold or silver. The old man behind the counter showed a tinge of irritation as us girls were taking forever to decide.
Finally, after holding the hands of the girls who got their noses pierced, it was my turn. I sat down in the old, worn chair. The old man began filing down the tip of the stud I had picked out to make it sharp enough to stick through my nose. He then grabbed his bottle of canned air (the stuff you spray into your computer keyboard to clean it out) and sprayed a little to numb? or maybe disinfect? my nose. With his shaky hands, he stuck the stud through my nose. Then, with the same dirty plyers he had used on the previous girls, he pulled the stud a little further in and then bent the filed end down to keep the stud in place.
The old man took a step back to admire his work, did the head bobble thing which means "OK", and waved for the next person.
I pay my 250 rupees (or $5 USD) and pray that we suffer no ill side effects.
