Today was finally my weekly off! I was nice to sleep in, but I didn’t really. I woke up and went straight to the store to buy some breakfast – pomegranates, what I consider to be the breakfast of champions for me in India. The pomegranates looked especially delicious today, so I stocked up! I really have come a long way from when I first arrived in India: not leaving my room the first day and not being able to walk by myself. Now, I am able to catch a rickshaw to and from work, walk to the store, speak some Hindi, bargain down prices, and pick out fresh fruit ALL ON MY OWN! If you told me this was going to happen the first day I landed, I would have laughed in your face. But I truly am proud of myself for being brave enough to try these new things.
Heer (my roommate, here name sounds like “Here” but add in a rolling “r”) and I went to the market today and picked up a wonderful selection of presents for everyone! We started the day with the sari shopping! It was so wonderful. Mom has been bugging me since I landed in India to purchase a sari – and to be honest I was not only hesitant but also not sold on actually buying one. That alllll changed once I walked into the shop. Saris are so beautiful – silk, cotton, a blend the fabric and colors are just beautiful. The salesman was very smart and started dressing me in a sari once I walked inside – I was sold.
I truly thought I was going to buy a sari that was BRIGHT and filled while beautiful patterns. But in India, fair people are thought to look better in darker colors. I really didn’t believe this myth until I tried on a darker sari, again I was sold. Some basic sari knowledge before I go into detail:
There are three pieces to a sari: the sari, the blouse, and the petticoat. The sari is what you think of when you hear sari – the beautiful silk fabric that wraps around a woman. The blouse is the small belly-shirt that women must wear underneath the wrap in order to insure they will not over expose themselves. Lastly, the petticoat is a solid skirt women wear under the wrap – again ensuring they do not overexpose themselves. Wearing a sari is an art, and I have been learning it! You must pleat the wrap and carefully (yet tightly) wrap the body. Your stomach will always be slightly exposed, but if you know how to wear a sari correctly, any woman would look beautiful.
The sari was eggplant purple with black embroidered beads all throughout. The train was a grey and black combination and kind of a zebra pattern – I looked STUNNING, if I may say so myself. The sari is somewhat dark, but let’s be honest: I am only going to be wearing this sari on special occasions and this sari is definitely special. The hand beaded wrap is just gorgeous.
I had trouble deciding which sari to get because I also fell in love with another brunt orange sari with flowers all over it. That was when I realized I loved the sari because I reminded me of my mother – so why no buy her one! I will be able to teach her how to wear it and she will look so beautiful in the color. The two saris (that are being hand tailored to our size as I type) came to a whooping total of $62 USD, I would say that was a great buy.
Once the saris are finished being tailored I will take many many photos of my wearing them!
Next, Heer and I went off to the bangle market! There we showed them the pattern of my newly purchased saris and they were able to whip up combinations in split seconds to match the saris. Beside those, I purchased SO many bangles! Get ready America, you will now hear those close to me coming from a mile away.
After I finished at the bangle market, Heer and I headed over to grab a quick bite to eat. While we were walking, it was very crowded and I had a little bit of a scare. I was grabbed by a group of men and somewhat assaulted (not badly) but enough to make me feel very VERY uncomfortable. At first I was in such shock I didn’t do anything, but then I screamed. Luckily, Heer was very close and whipped around with others around soon to follow. I was very happily surprised to see the defensiveness of the public to me against the men. The men left, but I was still very affected by what they did to me. It was just a shock back to reality: this morning I was just happy to be so independent and then this happened. I was reminded that I am in INDIA and I am an AMERICAN and every can blatantly tell. Needless to say, after this event I stayed very close to Heer and made sure no men were close.
Heer and I grabbed some Vadapow burgers and continued on our way. I then bought so many beautiful shawls that have been embroidered with beads – they are great. If that isn’t retail therapy, I’m not sure what is.
I am not an expert at waving down a rickshaw. You have to be brave (stand in the street) and wave down multiple before convincing a driver that you are worthy of driving. While standing in the street, you have to look out for other car flying by with no speed limit. Today, while I was waving down a rickshaw I realized something: driving in India is one big game of chicken. There are no rules expect for who will let the others go. The traffic lights are totally disregarded except for once a month when a police officer is standing by. So what drivers do is continue to drive through an intersection until either he or the other driver backs down. This would be scary enough in a car, but while sitting in a rickshaw with no door or seatbelts really is terrifying. The rickshaw drivers know that they can squeeze through, but watching as a car is speeding towards you with no intention of stopping is pretty scary.
I was so proud of all my purchases today, and tomorrow I am off to the art market!! Heer showed me how to do a few Indian dance moves to some pop music, I cannot wait to download these songs when I return!
Shiny had a busy day of meeting her future in-laws. As tradition states in India, Shiny was not allowed inside the in-laws house, so they ate lunch at the neighbors place. Shiny has not and will not meet her future husband until the engagement ceremony, but Shiny did say her future mother-in-law is very nice.
A last tidbit: there are three seasons in Bombay: Summer, Winter, and Monsoon. My friends were shocked that I had not heard of monsoon season and really didn’t know what I was talking about when I mentioned Autumn or Spring!
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