Coimbatore - Sari Shopping

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(I wrote this a few days ago and was going to re-read, edit, and finish it , but it seems every day we are on the go from early until late and I never really had the time to do it or anything on the internet until now. (even now, I only have less than an hour from waking up to shower and be ready to be on the road to Japur) So here it is, although not re-read, edit, or finished. Since I wrote this we have traveled up to Delhi and done a lot more. That's a story for another day. If I don't get this entry up now, who knows when it will be.)

We arrived in Coimadore a few days ago but it seems a lifetime ago. I have seen and experienced so much since I last wrote that I don’t know where to start. Praveen asked me this morning what has happened to my blog, there are no recent entries. The answer is that I just haven’t had the right time and the right mood to post anything. I’m on overload. Today I decided to spend the afternoon and evening in the hotel room alone, but instead of working on my blog as I’d planned, I ordered a semi American meal from room service, a bottle of beer and then took a nap.

We have spent much time with Prasanna and Santhana in their home getting to know them better as well as shopping and taking care of other aspects of the wedding arrangements. Everything here is in slow motion, and nothing gets accomplished as quickly or easily as you assume it will.

Early tomorrow morning we will be leaving for Delhi for a few days where I may not have access to the internet. We will stay in Delhi for a day or so, then go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, and to japurah, “The Pink City”. When we arrive back on the 21st it will be a whirlwind of activity with last minute wedding preparations and then events and meeting people who have traveled here for the event. This may be my only chance to write just a little of what we have so far experienced.

One of the most memorable experiences was shopping for saris a few days ago with Prasanna and Ruth. First you have to understand that the stores we went to are huge, with several floors. Then you have to understand that a sari is not just a sari. There are different types, fabrics, and qualities that are acceptable for different occasions. Thousands of saris are folded up and stacked on shelves behind a long, table high counter top. The customers sit on one side of the counter and the sales men are on the other side and once they have a vague idea of what you are shopping for they begin to bring saris to you, unfolding them with a flourish until you find sari after sari laying on top one another in front of you. The counter area becomes a whirl of color (and my brain, like a kaleidoscope.) If you show interest in one of them, it’s pulled to the side, or a lady salesperson comes to drape it over you. All the while, there are more sales men behind the counter who continue to bring more and more.

A wedding sari must be heavy silk, not the soft flowing kind, and it must be “fancy” which means a lot of gold trim and borders. It may have beads and sequins stitched to it, but not necessarily. We quickly learned that the higher quality silks were softer than the less expensive ones. After determining the quality we wanted we had to zero in on color. It was not an easy process even though there were so many to choose from.

There must be very few white women that shop for saris in this city, as we seemed to be quite a novelty. At one point the whole store seemed to just STOP and all eyes were on Ruth as one of the salesladies draped one of the saris around her. It was eerie. All the customers AND all the sales people were turned around and quietly watching the process. Not to mention that we already had about ten guys behind the counter lined up in front of us. It was like she was on stage in one of those circular theators. I felt like the mother of a celebrity. To top it off the sales guys behind the counter were fastinated with our digital cameras. They kept wanting to hold them to look at them more closely. Everyone there loved to have their picture taken.

In the midst of the process, a large group of people came in together and we were told that one of them was a famous movie producer. I guess he was there to buy clothing for one of his movies. The owner of the shop brought him over to personally introduce us to him. It was apparently a great honor, but I was unable to absorb it at the time.

We went to two large stores and took several hours but accomplished the mission of choosing two saris for Ruth and one for me. It only took me about ten minutes to choose mine. Afterall I already had sat through several hours of sari-education so I had a fairly good idea of what I needed. When I saw one that felt right and had the minimal amount of gold trim and was a suitable color, I said “yes, I’ll take it”. That wasn’t quite good enough to avoid the draping process, so I “tried it on” and the sale was final.

Ruth needs two saris, one for the actual wedding ceremony and another that she changes into after the wedding. I need one to wear to the wedding. We both will wear another type of Indian garment to the reception, which is held the day before the actual wedding and is actually a larger event.
I would write more about the saris that Ruth chose but she doesn’t want Praveen to know anything about them until the wedding, so that will have to wait. I will post photos after the wedding. Any photos posted of saris or of Ruth with saris are not of the ones she chose.

For those who don’t know, a sari is one piece of fabric that is about 9 yards long and is draped around the body in a certain way to form a skirt then up over the shoulder and across the chest. Well, that is sort of how it works. A short tight “blouse” is worn under it which mostly only shows on one sleeve. The blouse is hand made by a tailor out of a piece of one end of the sari (especially made for that) which the tailor cuts off of it.

After paying for the saris and matching underskirts, they were packaged up in a small suitcase! Many of the sales people walked us down the stairs towards the door and one of the men wanted to carry the suitcase, but one of the young sales girls intercepted, telling him that she was Ruth’s friend and she would carry it. A lot of employees gathered around to say thank you and good by and come back soon as we slowly made our way to the door. So THIS is what royalty feels like? It was most definitely a strange, but pleasant experience.

So, that was a two or three days ago (I have lost all track of time). Today we went back to that store again. You see, Ruth decided she wasn’t so sure she got the sari she liked best. There were two of them vying for top choice but they were sort of similar so she only chose one and the second one she chose was totally different. Then, she kept wondering if she made the right choice and decided, heck, why not have all three, so back we went today. Thank goodness we had the photo of the one she was after still in the camera to show them (to their delight, they got to play with my camera again).

Anyhow, we arrived at the shop and were greeted like old friends from everyone including the two security guards at the front entrance. It didn’t take them long to locate the sari that Ruth was after and while they were doing that I picked up a couple of cheap cotton ones that were in a sale stack in the center of the floor for less than two dollars each. One of the sales girls proudly presented us with ink pens with the store’s name on it, specifically saying that they were gifts, free. We thanked her graciously and truthfully, the pens will be quite useful, as I’ve lost both of the two that I brought with me.

We left the store and stood on the street watching the world go by and waiting for our driver to appear with the car. A group of kids were packed into an “auto” which is a small three wheeled vehicle like a taxi. They were all waving at us, and it was sort of fun. We waved back and they were all smiles and kept waving. There was a traffic jam so there was plenty of time for a LOT of waving. Other “vehicles” passed us including an ox cart with a young boy on the back who also got into the waving party. Our royalty/movie star persona had apparently stuck with us out onto the street.

I would love to take more photos of things like this, but it’s really hard because by the time I get my camera ready, the moment is gone. Also, many of the people and things I want to have pictures of are in motion, or I am in a moving vehicle, and it’s just too hard. I really regret not taking a picture of those kids in the auto.

We had another shopping trip the day after the Sari shopping during which I found something to wear to the reception. I think it’s called a salwar, but even though I asked several times, I can’t remember for sure. It’s a garment like a calf length dress with high slits up both sides and is worn with baggy pants underneath it. It is considered “fancy” because of the fabric and the amount of gold trim on it. Actually I like it a lot. It’s a dark plum color with most of the gold being on the top 12 inches or so.

Praveen was also able to bag his wedding garments, a long white jacket and white pants. I missed much of the process of selection (which is a big one) because I was drifting around the store alone buying a couple more casual Indian garments for myself. These are sleeveless, although I don’t think that is the generally accepted style here. They have a tailor in the store who is quite willing to make any garment into anything you want. What I want is no sleeves, so that is what I got. Again, these are the longish “dresses” with the baggy pants underneath.

SHOPPING observations

I don’t much care for shopping in India (so far). I like to take my time looking at things (BY MYSELF) not being shown things and having many sales people flashing things in front of me that I have to respon, “NO…I don’t like it, I don’t want it” And then that only makes them more determined to appear again a few seconds later with other options.

So far I’ve only seen been in one store where clothes are on the racks. Otherwise they are all folded up in boxes behind counters like the saris, and the customer is at the mercy of the salesperson pulling the right boxes off the shelf to show you what is available…and to often insist you try it on (even if you know it is not what you want or the wrong size). I was getting very frustrated with this. I like to look at things in a leisurely (ALONE) way and think it through in my own head to determine if something is what I “might” want. All the extra input and interaction causes my brain to freak out. This is the way much or most of the shopping seems to be done from the lowest street vender to the highest class store. I don’t like it. I am very glad that there is little that I need to buy.

We went to a “market” or shopping building or whatever it is called that had many types of things including a bit of clothing and jewelry but all sorts of items. I almost went nuts. I felt like I couldn’t even take a little space to look at something without all the very helpful sales people suggesting things I should buy. I was hesitant to even pause to look at anything or show any interest at all, lest I be flocked by helpful sales people. The items were arranged in a circular fashion around the edges of the building with a center display on tables. As I made the circle It seemed like the same people were crawling under to tables to “cut me off at the pass” waving new items in front of me. I know in my head that this is just the way it’s done. I know that I am supposed to just ignore them, but I find it very difficult and unsettling to rarely be left alone. I had to escape that store because I thought I might start screaming.

It’s too bad (for me) and I really need to get this thing under control because I feel like I will be missing out on a lot if I don’t.

Also, all the shops seem to be very specialized, so one cannot just go to the local Wal-Mart to buy many different types of items. For instance, Ruth wants to get a hairdryer, and for that we need to go to an electronics store. That is all fine and good, but all the moving around takes much time. If I needed cough drops, we would go to a pharmacy. We currently travel around in a car driven by a driver. Usually he drops us off and then goes to find a place to wait for us. I assume that someone contacts him by cell phone to tell him we are ready to be picked up. It’s not like driving to the store, getting what you want and getting in your car and leaving. It is much more complex and time consuming. There is usually no parking on the streets near the stores or little street shops, as the streets are much too crowded or all parked up with many motorcycles and scooters, which is understandable since that seems to be the major way that most people get around.

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Comments

[michael f]

enjoy
sounds like a great adventuren your haveing--that is what I love about traveling to new and different places--hope you enjoy every every day and take it all in. Be safe and hope you enjoy/ michael.................