My Brother-in-Law's Uncle's Dog's Silk Factory is the Best in Varanasi

Varanasi isn't just about death, and its charm extends much further than the banks of the Ganga. It's also famous throughout India for classical music, silk and its beautiful sarees.

Everybody's brother, uncle and dog has a silk factory in Varanasi, and they're more than happy to give you a private tour. In fact, about twenty people supposedly own the same one, the "best in Benaras."

Upon the advice of my guidebook, the man at the foreign tourist bureau at the railway station and my incredibly helpful guesthouse owner, I decided to visit the Mehrotra Silk Factory. Because of the word "factory," I was expectly a large warehouse. I almost walked past it because instead it's a tiny shop on a random gravely side street near the railway station. The shopkeepers were incredibly kind and showed me a large segment of their inventory without pressuring me to buy, although I of course did and more than I had intended to (some people in my life are getting some very cool Christmas presents, by the way). The way to verify the authenticity of silk is to burn it. If it smells like burning hair and disintegrates into ash, then it's real. If it smells like burning plastic or just really bad and melts together, it's synthetic or at best, a blend. Varanasi's signature for silk shawls and sarees is brocade, intricate weaving of gold and silver threads into the fabric.

After I made my purchases and chatted for awhile, the shopkeepers even showed me their collection of sarees, even though I made it very clear that I wasn't going to buy. I think one saree is more than any Western woman needs.