So of all places in India, where do you think we found not one but two shops stocked with vintage clothes of all colours and designs? In Pushkar, why not?

Near the town's bust stand, we noticed two small stores that, instead of selling bad clothes that some tourists would buy to feel local and no Indian in his or her right mind would ever even look at, had something more interesting hanging in the front: several old - or vintage, you decide - American dresses. 

We went closer and asked the owner - who also doubles as a hotel manager, fixer, travel agent and much more - to have a look around. Both the shops consisted of one room with walls covered in vintage western women clothes (mostly American), with fashion style ranging from the 1940s to the 1980s. There were mostly frocks, but we also found a few nice skirts and, hard to believe, even a couple of wedding gowns. All for 250 rupees only, with a small bargain margin.

Some of the clothes may be odd but going through the collection is fun, and though sizes and sometimes conditions aren't the best, you'll probably be able to find something cute and wearable, after a couple of adjustment and a few washing cycles. At least, we did. Plus, even just the idea of wearing a vintage western dress bought at Pushkar's bus stand justifies at least one purchase. 

Of course we tried to ask the shopkeeper how he found all those clothes, and how they ended up there, but we got no satisfactory answer. So the most interesting thing about the store, for us, remained imagining the fascinating journey of those frocks  that left from America, or Europe, however many years ago and landed in Pushkar's bus stand in 2010. Oh, they must have seen things.