Indian Retail Therapy

So, I am here nearly a whole week and I am so hot and uncomfortable. Walking around naked isn’t an option here, and my Irish clothes are just not made for purpose. My dad once said to me, if you are in a new place, look to what the locals do. So I went Sari and Punjabi Suit shopping. A Sari is the very long piece of cloth that gets wrapped around you, and the Punjabi suit is loose trousers, a dress over and a shawl. We went to Laxmi Road, the Henry Street of Pune, if you will. But imagine Henry Street with hundreds of bicycles, scooters and rickshaws speeding up the middle and the shops spilling onto the streets, not to mention the shoppers, beggars and temple goers. It is worse than Dublin on the last Saturday before Christmas, and we were there on a quiet Sunday night! I really think a Punjabi Suit will improve my quality of life so we start there, we enter a shop. What I didn’t entirely realise is that you don’t buy a suit, you buy fabric for a suit, and then have your favorite taylor make it for you. But even before you call in the taylor you must have the Dohbi man come and wash and colour fix the fabric. Now there is little bit of ‘instant gratification girl’ inside me that wants to wear it home and is devastated. The bigger ‘I need to control the universe, girl’ inside me is now thinking that I can have the suit made how I like it. I control everything. (MUH huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh) Ok, back to shopping. What colour/fabric/pattern would I like my suit. All I know is I want a light as air fabric, so we select cotton. Little shop guy starts pulling parcels of fabric out, each one with the dress material, the pants material and the scarf thingy inside. I start rejecting parcels, telling him, pattern too big, colour too red, pattern to lurid (that got some looks) I told him I wanted a nice subtle pattern, so he pulled out a few more, this orange one catches my eye and I ask to see the trouser and shawl part, its lovely and mine, for the princely sum of five hundred rupees! We break at this point for Ice cream, mmmmm. Sari shopping begins with the sari itself, that is the fabric that gets wrapped around you. There are literally thousands of fabrics to choose from on Laxmi road. Each shop has a different selection, it is very rare to see two of the same sari. We enter a shop and start with the basics, do I want a daytime sari or an evening sari? Daytime please, this means fewer frills, embroidery, sequins etc... Ok, what colour/pattern? Colour, I don’t know. Pattern, I’m thinking something floral, mmmmm. Little Sari man starts pulling out fabrics and I see a lovely green pattern against a cream, reminds me of Nanno, (my paternal grandmother, died a few years ago) so I buy it for a lovely 150 rupees! Steal! On to get a blouse, or blouse material as I discover and a petticoat. I give a man in the shop my new sari material and he selected from a wall of colour, the perfect green to go with my fabric. Just a cream petticoat and we are good! Happily, we go for some dinner a the only restaurant in the area, there is lots of street food around but I’m not ready for that just yet, best play it safe. HA! Three days of vomiting, sweating and diarrhea later, I feel strong enough to type. But I do have my two new outfits which will look much better on me now I have lost any access fat!