India 2012 ~ Day 9

Happy Halloween!   There will be no costumes or trick or treating here… Halloween is very much a western holiday.  Here, it’s just plain old October 31.  No big deal.

This morning Shali and I are off in search of a traditional Indian outfit for me to wear to the wedding.  I’m so excited!  Whatever we find, I’m sure it will be simple since I’m definitely not made of money these days but hopefully we’ll find something that will work.  In the states I always struggle to find things that I like that fit well so we shall see.   It was raining pretty steadily but we headed to Commercial Street anyway.

First shop we went into was DCM.  It’s a favorite of Shali’s so we started there.  Shopping in India is a completely different experience.  The entire shop would have fit into a space smaller than my living room but there was merchandise from ceiling to floor and so many colors!  Shop owners/employees are “Johnny on the spot” if you will.  Willing to help you find anything and make you feel like you’re the only person there.  Not really a pressure to buy anything specific or to spend a lot of money, more a feeling of wanting to help you find the thing you will be happiest with.  I’d say I prefer shopping here to shopping in the US.  You never have to look very far to find someone to help you and they always know the answer to your question—if they don’t there’s someone else within arm’s length that does.  And generally speaking they’re all so nice!  

We walked in and Shali told them basically what we were looking for and they pulled out a beautiful peacock green top with bling all over the front.  In the US it would have been considered a dress, it was sleeveless and probably came down to my mid-calf.  I was kind of disappointed when I put it on and there wasn’t enough room for my boobs…  lol  stupid boobs anyway.  The next one I tried on was more to check for size I think, but it was just as gorgeous.  A deep royal purple with green trim and stitching all over it.  The size was perfect, but the bride will be in purple so we started looking for another color.  The next one I tried on was a burn orange color on the top half with kind of a progression to more of a brown at the bottom.  The front piece was completely embroidered with roses and fun designs.  The change in color from top to bottom was actually embroidery; I had thought it was dye work.  The neckline was a light tan color which matched the silk pant.  The orange roses were also embroidered into the pants.  So pretty and fit like a glove top to bottom.  And that’s all she wrote.  We found the perfect outfit at the first shop and we were in and out in less than 30 minutes.  I was AMAZED.  That never happens when I go shopping in the states.  Clearly I need to shop with Shali more often.  LOL 

From DCM we started down the street. Need accessories and shoes… nothing fancy, just earrings and some bangles.  We found earrings in the next shop we stopped in.  Not much of a shop, really.  I don’t even think you could call it a closet… You couldn’t fit two people inside and have both of them turn around at once without knocking things over.  It was all jewelry… earrings, necklaces, bangles and the like.  A few scarves and hair clips but nothing spectacular.  We found a pair of earrings that both Shali and I liked that matched the outfit well… I think we settled on 160Rs ($3.20) for those.  Shali started asking about bangles… we looked and tried a few… my hands are bigger than the average Indian (surprise surprise).  The shop keeper showed us a trick of putting a plastic bag over your hand to make the bangles slip over the biggest part of your hand easier.  We finally found the right size and were asking about colors that would match.  Once we got to the part of price, Shali and the shop keeper haggled a bit and we ended up moving on around the corner to keep looking.  Things went much smoother at the next shop.  I think I ended up paying 80Rs (about $1.60) for 20+ bangles. Not too shabby.  From there we crossed the street to a little shoe shop and found a cute pair of flats with sequins and beads all over.  Not generally my style, but very Indian—which is the whole point, right?  :o)  Shoes = 350Rs ($7).   

Awesome Indian outfit? Check.  Accessories? Check.  Happy wallet? Check.   Overall experience? WIN.

Shopping success achieved, we stopped at KFC to grab some chicken to take home for lunch and we were one our way back to the house.  I think we were gone all of an hour and half or so.  I was impressed.  Back in the states, that kind of a trip would likely have taken me most of the day and I would have easily ended up spending at least 5-6x’s what I did.  I was more than pleased.  :o)

After we ate, it was time to get ready and prep for the evening.  Inika and Suresh had planned a surprise birthday party for Shal (Shali’s sister-in-law) at their in White Field which is very near the Xchanging office.  So, rather than paying for two separate cars (one for Shali to the office in the early afternoon and one to pick me up later in the evening), I went with Shali in the afternoon and stayed in Kaila’s room at the hotel until it was time to leave for the party.  They left the office together and picked me up at about 8:30 and we headed off to the party. 

It had continued to rain all day so the roads were wet and pretty nasty.  It took us a bit to find the house or townhouse, as it were, but we did eventually find it. As we were pulling up to the gate, the car behind us was honking and attempted to go around.  I couldn’t help but laugh when I looked out the window and saw Shal’s face looking quite perplexed to see me looking back at her.  Surprise!!!  LOL  We were actually the first to arrive and we were worried about being late.  With the rain everyone was running behind so the surprise happened there in the driveway.  People came in bringing all kinds of food with them.  Shal is a chef… and many of her friends that came are chefs as well.   Food was amazing!  I had so much fun chatting and getting to know new people.  If I could remember all of their names, I’d mention them… but alas—I fail at that part.  Sorry kids!  Because Shali and Kaila were on “lunch” from work, we pretty much came, ate and ran.  They cut the cake just before we left.  It was made by a friend a Shals, he’s a chef at the Leela (big 5 star hotel in Bangalore).  It was such a pretty cake!  We got to sing happy birthday, give hugs and we were off. 

It was back to the hotel for me and to the office for Shali and Kaila.  I decided to go down to the bar in the hotel and see what was going on.  Being that it’s a western holiday, I figured there would be something going on down there and sitting in the room watching movies was slightly less than entertaining by that point.  I found good music and good people!  Got to hang out with a group of people from an office near Xchanging (Tesco?  I think?  Their specialty is conferencing; tele- web- video- all types).  They’re boss was in town from Ireland and they were having a great time.  I sat to the side for a few minutes just singing along to the music.  Eventually one of the guys came over and grabbed by hand and dragged me out to the dance floor…  We were jamming out to Thriller.  :o)  Thank you Michael Jackson for making my Halloween complete.

Success!  

I just really like this car...  :o)  Also, there was a brand new Mercedes parked right in front of it when  I pulled out the camera, but it pulled away just as I snapped the pic.  Rude.

Random shot of traffic

Awesome gourmet birthday cake!  All of the stuff on the top is fruit and meringue,  the purple band around the outside is white chocolate-- it was SO tasty!

Kaila and Shali workin it at the party

Preparing the cake for candles and singing...  they guy pulling off the gold ribbon made the cake.

Happy Birthday Shal!!  Guy on the left is her husband, Suresh (Shali's brother)

strike a match..

light a candle...