10.24.09
I woke up this morning and got ready for the day. The next thing I know a man is knocking on my door with a tray of breakfast. What service! I stayed away from the omelet, but there were some slices of toast and cheese and that was delicious. I ended up making a grilled cheese type thing. So good!
Shashank came by to check on me before he went to work and he looked so handsome in his business suit. It was weird because I have never seen him dressed up like that. I am so used to his Casey’s Corner costume. Shashank is the assistant dean of the university.
Anyway, I hung out in the room until about 11, when one of the guys at the hotel came and told me that my ride was here. He escorted me to the elevator and there was Shashank. He took me to the car, which he apparently he had gotten for the day. The car took me to pick up his girlfriend, who I am going to call Hashi because I butcher her real name and that is somewhat close. The ride took about 40 minutes and the drivers had Hashi’s number. We picked her up and she ran to go buy her bus ticket back to Mumbai, where she is working as an architect.
The cab dropped us off and we had a time trying to cross the street. We made it and saree shopping began. The first shop we went into was a small one and he showed us all kinds of sarees. They are all so beautiful and colorful! I had no idea what I wanted. I wanted them all! We set some aside and said we would be back (which would never happen). We went into the next store, that was much bigger and had much more of a selection. They had this beautiful red one with gold bead work and real gold in the fabric, but it was over 10,000 rupees ($1 = ~46 rupees you can do the math). Clearly, I didn’t want to spend that much. I set 2 more aside and left. Hashi had been trying to call Shashank’s friend, who owns a saree shop. She eventually got a hold of him and we headed back to his shop. It is in the tallest building in Bangalore at 24 stories or something like that. We went into this store and it was all manned by women, where as all the others were manned by men. After looking at about 234275987 different kinds of sarees – I FINALLY found one! It is maroon and dark blue and has fabulous bead work and gold thread. The best part it was 3,000 rupees or roughly $80. I figured I should go all out because I am not in India everyday. I also got 2 gold and red bangles to go with it.
When Shashank’s friend got to the store we ended up going out to lunch with him. We all went out to eat at a rather upscale restaurant. At first the served us cantaloupe juice – that was interesting. That is probably not what it was, but that is what it tasted like. Then there were waiters that walked around and put chicken, fish and veggies on our plate. I stayed away from the fish and I tried a bit of the veg dish, but it really wasn’t my thing. The chicken and potato thing was delicious. After that, we got a plate and went up to the buffet. I had a chicken stew and mutton stew type stuff. When we got back to the table we dipped Nann (Indian bread) in it. They were both tasty, but I preferred the chicken one.
After lunch, we went to his other store. He had more bangles then I have ever seen. They seemed to go from the floor to the ceiling in every color of the rainbow. We ended up not buying anything so we said goodbye and went on our way. We ended up on Commerce Street, which is a market place in Bangalore. I bought entirely way too much stuff. When we were done shopping, we went to the mall to go see a bollywood film at the multiplex. The security to go to the mall and movies is ridiculous. You park underneath in a parking garage, but they swipe you car for bombs and you are not allowed to take cameras into the theater because of the whole copyright thing. Unfortunately, there were no playing at the time we were there. So instead, we grabbed some drinks and a doughnut and sat in the food court and chatted. We had a great conversation about the environment, her career, arranged marriages, life in India, life in the US and so on. I hope we can keep in touch!
We eventually left the food court and I grabbed some candy at a little stand for the dependent children on the ship for trick or treating. We dropped Hashsi off and we had to say goodbye since she is leaving for Mumbai tomorrow.
I made it back to the hotel and chilled out. Shashank and I are going to Mysore tomorrow so I need a good night’s sleep.