Thangka Shopping

My cousin, Iona, has asked me to shop for a Tibetan thangka for her before I return to Canada. (A thangka is a traditional Buddhist painting used in religious ceremonies and to decorate monasteries. There are some modern variations, but there are half a dozen or so traditional themes.) She gave me a short list of specifications which my mind immediately moulded into a rock-solid visual image of the painting that I will take home. The obvious problem is that I will never find an exact match for the image in my head.

This morning I went on my second foray into the thangka shops of Kathmandu. This exercise has led me to a few observations. First, it’s really hard to buy art to someone else’s specifications. It’s one thing if it’s a gift when the recipient really has no grounds for complaint. It’s quite another when you’re spending someone else’s money. Lest anyone misunderstand, I’d like to emphasize that I’m actually really enjoying the challenge and am determined to find the perfect thangka. It has also reminded me (not that I’d really forgotten) exactly why it is that I want to leave this country. The following is a fabricated scenario that pretty much captures the gist of the conversations I had today...

Salesguy: Yes please?
Heidi: I’m looking for a small Wheel of Life, about this big (shows size with her hands)
S: Please sit (throws cushion on floor for me)
H: I’m looking for colours like these (points to thangka on wall in appropriate colours)
S: Mandala?
H: No, Wheel of Life
S: How about a mandala?
H: No, I need a Wheel of Life
S: This one is very lovely (he unrolls one in garish primary colours)
H: No, that’s too bright. I’d like some dark red in it.
S: This one is very beautiful (unrolls one in light blue and peach colours)
H: No, I’d like darker colours and no blue
S: This is very good quality. (Unrolls one, slowly and carefully as if it’s a Dead Sea Scroll, in various shades of blue)
H: (Pointing to blue) I don’t want any blue. No blue
S: (Unrolls one in black with gold accents)
H: That’s too dark. I’d like colours like this (points again to the one on the wall in appropriate colours)
S: (Brings back the first one I saw in garish primary colours)
H: That’s too bright
S: How about this one? (Unrolls one primarily in blue)
H: I don’t want blue
S: (Unrolls one twice the size of what I need, but the colours aren’t bad)
H: No that’s too big
S: I think this is a perfect size
H: No, it’s too big
S: It’s a good size. I have packaging so you can get it home
H: No, it’s too big. It won’t fit on the wall
S: I’ll give you a very good price
H: No, it’s too big
S: How about a mandala?

You get the idea. I’d like to chalk it up to language issues, but they all spoke pretty good English. It’s just more of the old banging your head against a wall. Unfortunately it is impossible to avoid these encounters. The small shops have their walls covered with samples of their thangkas, but the bulk of them are rolled up in boxes behind the sales counter. The only way to see them all is to sit there and have them displayed for you. As might be expected, they are stored in absolutely no logical order whatsoever, so you have to wait while they sift through hundreds of canvasses to find the ones that may match your requirements.

The good news is that it’s giving me something to do when the power is off. I guess I’ll be heading back out there tomorrow...