Drying Peppercorns

This was the first sign of local spices we saw after we arrived in India. They are peppercorns drying in the sun by the side of the road. Here they are on a tarp, but we saw thems on all sorts of material, and no one was tending them. I was worried about the exhaust from passing vehicles and the dirt on the road. I sure hope they clean the spices before they sell them to the public! We were sure if we tried to purchase any spices from the local stalls, they'd get confiscated at the airport, so we didn't get any :-(