Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Of Shopping and Other Things

I haven't entered anything in this log for a long time... There has been so much happening in life that I have been too busy to write any of it down. Thankfully, mostly good things. Life is great just now.

The weekend was awesome. The weather was charming - the sun would peep out from a blanket of clouds and we would hope for a sunny day. Soon however, the rain god would turn on the shower again. The lightest drizzle - heavenly to walk in.

I treated mom to a Chinese lunch on Saturday that turned out to be a total disaster. It was so hot we choked on it - we were too brave to give up, but not brave enough to finish it.

Later, we went shopping . Nice normal event of a girl's life - going shopping with mom. Not that usual for me, though, and I was looking forward to it. Of course, it started to rain as soon as we left home - but we didnt let that dampen our determination.


We had intended for window-shopping. I wanted to check out saris - not having much experience in sari-shopping, I wanted to get an idea of things so that I could imagine what kind of bridal sari I wanted. I had thought of silk, nothing too traditional or elaborate, nothing too expensive.

The first sari store we walked into had a sale. After looking at a few frayed or otherwise blemished pieces, we walked inside for healthier specimens. The poor sales guy unfolded sari after sari in an effort to please me - but nothing seemed good enough. My mom, who liked a few, got quite exasperated with my pickiness and sat at a distance from my choosy self. But - well, after all, a gal only gets married once. With thanks to the shop guy, we departed.

We walked along the street for a while (well, it is a 'walking plaza' on weekend evenings), then caught a rickshaw to a mall, hoping to window shop undisturbed by eager salespeople.

We got our wish. Though we found only a tiny sari counter in the mall (crowded by screaming youngsters cheering on dancers in some kind of competition in the middle of the mall - Have I grown too old? Or was I never young enough for that, I wonder.) the salesperson happily ignored us, believing us to be aimless window-shoppers.

And, wonder of wonders! I found my perfect sari. I had found a similar one on the internet, but had despaired of finding anything like it. This was, if anything, better - and wonderfully inexpensive. I unfolded it and draped it over myself and looked at it carefully, afraid to believe it really was it.

But it was. And we brought it home. I waited to show it to the Guy the next day - he had particularly asked to come with me when I would choose my sari. But he liked it too.

The flipside is - now that I have done the most important thing I needed to do for the wedding, what do I do all these weeks? But then, I guess I'm saved a load of tension and trouble.

Wait - the weekend isn't over yet. The Guy came back on Sunday. We had a nice day at home, mostly watching TV, eating and chatting. There was a scare in the morning, as Shiv Sainiks went on a rampage all over Mumbai, and it spread to Pune and other parts of Maharashtra too. (I really think they should outlaw the organization - they are as bad as terrorists.) We watched a movie on TV in the evening. When the Guy finally went out to go home, there was not an auto to be found. He came back, rather shame-facedly. I gather he and mom had a companionable time watching the World Cup final - I, of course, had turned in to sleep. I lay awake till later than either of them, though - life was too exciting just then to fall asleep easily.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who is "the Guy"? ;-)

Unmana said...

Thank you, Masood!

Aneela Z said...

I know it is a bit late in the day (am going through your archives at the moment) but you were shopping for a sari in Pune? how blasphemous!! with all the lovely silk in Assam!! Im in shock...

Unmana said...

Aneela: I'm flattered that you're reading through my archives!

Oh well, I didn't go to Assam between the engagement and the wedding, so couldn't shop there. I only picked up something when I went there after the wedding - and havent had a chance to wear it yet!