Girls Day Out
INDIA | Wednesday, 4 April 2007 | Views [898]
Well, nearly a girls day out; me, Shravani, and Darrin headed into town to the local market to purchase some local handicrafts & clothing.
We've been in search of a carved, wooden Ganesha (the Hindu deity considered good luck, and the remover of obstacles). We had looked all over Mysore before arriving in Bangalore, and had learned that there were many types of wood carvings, the most expensive being sandalwood, due to the rareness of the tree, and the everlasting sandalwood smell. We opted to go with a teak version, which was just as nice, but without the smell and depleting the Sandalwood trees. There are lots of shops on MG Road (Mahatma Ghandi Road- every city has a street named this) that cater to handicrafts. We finally ended up at a shop called Himalayan Dowry, that supported a strong Anti-Dowry activist stance and dedicated a percentage of profits toward aiding women and initiatives around "anti-dowry" promotion. From what we've come to learn and read about dowry's, there seems to be a ton of negative, unintended consequences that have arisen out of the practice in Indian marriage culture, where a woman, when married, also comes to the husbands family with a dowry, valued commensurately with her caste level. If the dowry's not up to expectations of the husband/his family's standards, sometimes ill will and violence has been the result, including bride burnings which might disfigure or even kill a wife. There are many horror stories about the dowry practice, and from what we've heard, it's being done away with in some circles... however, there are still very traditional areas of the country that still honor the practice, and where violence occasionally rears its ugly head. That said, we were happy to support anti-dowry initiatives through our purchase. As Indians are shrewd businessmen... we had brought our negotiating weapon, Shravani, who artfully worked the cost down to something that was fair for the purchase and for the business owners.
Shopping for clothing is a whole other game... there's so much to choose from; fabrics, colors, styles... there are streets and streets of fabric shops, and it's daunting to go in on my own - I wouldn't even know where to start or what to ask for. A salawer kammeez is what I'm on the market for today - its a traditional indian women's outfit, consisting of a long top and pants set with a scarf that hangs around the neck, lying on the shoulders, down the back past one's waist. We had been out a few days prior when Darrin got his hair cut, so I had my eye on something with simple embroidery that could also be worn at home. It took us a little bit of time to find the same shop amongst the hundreds of shops; but we flagged down the woman whom we had negotiated down to 1000 INR for the whole set. The woman called in the tailor and after a few minutes of measuring, they asked us to return in an hour to pick up the finished goods. We ducked into a sweets shop and had the most amazing lassi; a milky creamy sweet curd beverage that cools your insides on a hot day. We also had some yummy chocolate galub jamoon and picked up some laddu's and cashew sweets (badam burfi) to go. After stuffing myself with sweets, went back to pick up my new, hip, Indian clothing and we sped off in our auto-rickshaw.
We had a great girls day out with Shravani, which made it really difficult to say goodbye that evening. After capping it off with a beautiful dinner of prawn curry and tasty sweets, I was saddened to leave the Acharya's.
I'm going to miss the friendship and sisterhood that developed over our week together, learning all about what being a woman, wife, mother, and professional in india is all about. We'll really miss our family experience; sitting down in the morning and evening with Sambit, the kids and Shravani... and sharing and learning so much from each other. It's been a truly special and one of a kind experience; one that has been completely perspective broadening.
Tags: Shopping
