After a quick lunch in the Leela, we headed off to Cauvery on M.G Road to pick up some souvenirs. Manish met us as we exited the car, but had to return to his car for a moment before entering the store. He trotted across 6 lanes of traffic, ignoring all vehicles on the road. On his return trip to the Cauvery, he started talking on his cell phone while dodging traffic. As you can imagine, we were all flabbergasted. How he managed to cross the road without being killed is beyond me. To be able to hear the other person on his cell amidst all the racket made by the cars on the road is phenomenal. When he arrive at the sidewalk, Manish shrugged off our shock and led us inside the store.

With wallets a few hundred Rupees lighter, we exited the Cauvery and crossed Brigade road. Across from us, the city was launching their new parking meter – the cities first – that will charge 5 Rupees per half hour and maintain a parking record for 10 slots. The meter was imported from France and if successful at decreasing parking issues on Brigade Road, additional ones will be added throughout the city.

As we continued down the street, we passed an advertisement for American Food Festival in Nilgiris. Nilgiris is a grocery store chain in India, and the stores are about the same size as a small MacDonalds restaurant. The store had a few shelves carrying highlighted ‘American’ food products, such as Skippy Peanut Butter, Casa Grande Salsa, French’s Mustard, chocolate sauce, and Heinz Ketchup. It’s strange to think that these products are considered to be American, since I’m used to seeing them in Canada, the US, Mexico, parts of the EU, etc.

The final stop of the shopping trip was in a factory seconds outlet for Designer clothing. Armani, Tommy Hilfiger, The Gap, Timberland, Nike, Calvin Klein, and Ralph Lauren lined the shelves. RL Polo shirts were selling for 250 Rupees each (approx 7.50$ CAD) and RL button down dress shirts were an amazing 425 Rupees each (approx 13$ CAD). Manish worked his negotiating magic and had the prices lowered from 250 to 200 Rupees per golf shirt and from 425 to 350 Rupees for the button down shirts. Since Polo golf shirts cost more than 50$ in Canada, and the button down dress shirts can cost as much as 95$, I grabbed a few for Drew and I. I wouldn’t be surprised if some showed up in people’s Christmas packages this year *hint*

After all this shopping, we’re worried that things won’t fit in our suitcases. Worries about going over the dollar limit for customs haven’t really entered our minds yet. After some quick calculations, we all determine we are still under the exemption limits for the US and Canada.

— break for work —

I’m beginning to wonder if Bill and Linda’s theory about the dogs doesn’t have some truth to it. While I’ve been joking that they’re chasing and barking at me because they know I’m the only one of the group who was forced to take rabies shots prior to traveling and that they instinctively know that I wear a picture of Thanatos (one of our cats, and my favorite) in a locket around my neck each day, even my own dog doesn’t seem to happy with me. When I called Drew today, I could hear Fenris (our dog) growling in the background and Drew saying ‘shush, it’s only Mommy on the phone’.

I will definitely need another carry-on bag or small suitcase. After some serious packing practice, I’ve managed to fit everything I purchased as gifts into my empty bag…but I will need a miracle to get my clothes, shoes and sundries back into my battered suitcase.

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