While out with the girls yesterday, I was attempting to try on bangles in order dress up my Salwar in the traditional Indian style. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get any of them past the 2nd knuckle of my thumb. My hands are way too big to fit into the standard size Indian bangle. Many of you who’ve seen my hands and feet, know that in these areas at least, I’m small compared to the average North American. I have the hardest time finding shoes in Canada because most womens shoes do not come in such small sizes. I’m often forced to purchase childrens shoes, which often aren’t as well made as the adult ones. In India, finding shoes to fit my feet is a much simpler task.

In a few hours, Bindu and I are meeting to pick up a few more things I will need before I can wear my Salwar and Saree. I need a special slip that ties tight in order to drape my Saree properly, along with material to take to a tailor in order to make the blouse. Because of the festivities, many shops are closing at 2pm and re-opening later in the evening. Bindu and I have approximately 1.5 hours to complete our purchases before heading home. Anything we can’t complete today will be completed on Monday in the early afternoon.

We also stopped off at the Shopper’s Stop in order to pick up the pants for my Salwar. They were a tad bit too long, and I needed approx 3 inches cropped off the bottom in order for them to fit properly. It is common for most womens pants (and even Levi’s jeans) to be 34 inches in length. Most shops offer free pant hemming as part of the purchase.

Pants retrieved, we headed to Fourth block, another commercial sector in the city, to purchase the slip, bangles, earings, and bindi. The slip was easy to find, and we were in and out of the shop in a matter of minutes. Then we headed off to a material shop in order to pick up the silk required for the Saree blouse. As with the slip, finding and matching the blouse material was a quick and painless process.

Material and slip in hand, Bindu and I had to cross the road in order to reach the next shop on her list. Crossing the street in India is an experience that can’t really be described. Cars speed down the lanes with no indication of slowing down. Despite walking attempting to walk along a painted cross walk, no cars, motorcycles or bikes made way for pedestrians. Crossing is taken a vehicle width at a time, continuing on as the way clears in front of you. I know I’m not going to attempt this again anytime soon without a guide to direct me. There are no pedestrian crossing signals in this area but I doubt it would have made any difference had any existed. Motorists here pay little attention to many of the road rules we’re familiar with in Canada.

Picking out the accessories was a different story. The shop we visited had 3 levels. The first floor contains mainly cosmetics and perfumes. On the second floor, there is a large assortment of traditional India costume jewelry. Bangles, bracelets, chunky earings, and necklaces were available in an assortment of styles, colours and sizes. I found a number of bangles which made it past my thumb, and purchase a number of them in shades of blue, brown and red. After selecting the bangles, we trotted off to the back of the room where the earings were on display. Since I normally don’t wear earings more than once or twice a year, I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle the traditional style of earings worn with a Saree. They are very long and heavy, and dangle ½ way to the wearer’s shoulders. They are often ornately decorated with coloured glass, seed beads, and wire. After viewing hundreds of pairs of earings, Bindu and I settled on a few smaller earings that won’t be as difficult or as heavy for me to wear. The styles are also traditional, but are normally worn with casual wear, and not a high Saree. With earings selected, it was time to pick out the bindi. Bindi is a decoration worn by a married woman above her nose and between her eyebrows. The decoration is self sticking, and comes in a variety of styles and colours – large, small, simple or intricate designs. The prices vary from a few Rupees a package (packages normally have a minimum of 5 bindi each), to well over a hundred Rupees. Bindi’s are symbols and are worn by married women, similar to how a gold wedding band would be worn in North America. It announces, with a quick glance, that the woman is no longer single. The third floor of the store contained wall to wall packages of bindi and after some debate, we picked out a few packages containing smaller styles and simple decorations.

It’s time to go back to the hotel. All we have left to do is to take the material to the tailor and have my blouses made. Bindu and I will be meeting on Monday afternoon to drop off the material at the tailors and when the blouses are complete, I will be able to wear a Saree for the first time.

This evening, I met Faisal for dinner and we went to one of his favourite restaurants. Instead of Indian food, we had what he described as continental fare – Quesadillas and Chicken Parmigiana. I’m sure Drew and Gin will appreciate the humour in that. Travelling half way around the world to eat Quesadillas for dinner!

The highlight of dinner wasn’t the food or the restaurant. It was actually the trip in the auto to get to and from the restaurant. Autos (or Auto-rickshaws) are wobbly 3 wheeled motorized vehicles most citizens use to get around in the city. Basically, autos are used as the local taxi service. Their drivers zoom in and out of traffic, often cutting off cars and motorcycles in their haste to get to the passengers destination as soon as possible.

It’s definitely an experience every non native needs to participate in at least once per visit.

I’m off to sleep for the evening. Hope everyone back home had a weekend as fun and eventful as mine.

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