Various Thoughts

Who knew that you could spend an entire afternoon in the post office? Liz wanted to mail some of her special purchases home so we set off for the afternoon with the intention of quickly dropping the parcel off and meandering through the local shops. After waiting in a rather long line at the post office we were directed to a smaller office down the dusty street to have the purchases sealed. I sat in rapt amazement for the next 3 hours while a kind old gentleman and his eager young daughter bent over the table and prepared the parcel. They fussed and fumed, weighed and measured, and stuffed and sewed for a good part of the afternoon. He brought out four different boxes, wrapped it in two kinds of string, wrapped that in yellow plastic and then put more yarn and fabric on top. Then he sat and sewed a perfect little square of fabric to wrap around the already beautiful box. Finally, he sealed the edges with a special wax and sent us on our way with a pat on the head and a handshake. It was the longest, most interesting visit to the post office I have ever experienced. (We also had to take 3 chai breaks, of course!)
On the way home, we popped into a fabric store and interupted a birthday celebration. We quickly apologized and tried to back out of the store but the family chased after us, sat us directly next to the birthday boy, and soon we were singing along with the family and eating birthday cake. People are very friendly!
After 8 days in Udaipur, we sadly bid our sunny room goodbye and hopped on a bus to Mt. Abu. Oddly, we arrived on Valentines day. At the bus station - as always we were mauled by a dozen hotel touts trying to haul us off to "the best bargain." The followed the man with the best offer down the street and found ourselves at the "Hotel Couples Paradise." We were signed in as one gentleman and one lady and were given a single lovely towel to share. Anything for a good deal!
Barbershops in India are so funny! They can range from a nice little stall set in the midst of other clean stores to a simple tin shack on the street corner. There is sometimes a stool to sit on or an overturned box for the visiting patron as well as some type of mirror in front of the box/stool/chair. However, there is always an eager young lad with a very large knife standing at the entrance encouraging people to come in for a cut and a shave. I have to take some pictures.

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