Sorry folks if I have kept you guys out of the loop, I actually wanted to write more about my experience at the ashram and some of the wonderful ppl that I have met there...but I’ve been easily distracted by a few things...and especially now that the memory is not so fresh on my mind, I’ve decided to let it go and just give you guys a heads up of what's going to happen this coming weekend. This weekend I will be attending Vaibhav cousin's wedding (Vaibhav is one of my roommate) in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
So last Saturday, we did a little shopping for the wedding. I bought for myself a fancy kurta which has a white pajama (trousers that hugs to your legs) that goes with it, and I still need to buy some special sandals for the occasion. Vaibhav left for Udaipur on Sunday morning and I will be there Thursday night. I believe the wedding is a two day event...starting with singing and dancing on Friday with the actual wedding happening on Saturday. Vaibhav told me that they have sent out roughly a thousand invitations and probably 800 will show up.
The trip to Udaipur is quite long so I have to take a flight from Pune to Ahmedebad and then from there take a bus which is 5 hour trip to Udaipur. There are no direct flights, but this is the best way to get there because getting there by train will probably take about 20 hours from Mumbai (again, there are no direct trains from Pune).
While we went shopping for the kurta pajama...I also tried on a slip-on dhoti used on special occasions. The dhoti gives a silk-like sheen and actually looks quite nice because it’s quite baggy. This made me want to get a special dhoti that is not slipped on but it was much harder to get than I thought. After getting my kurta, Vaibhav and Abhik spent like 5 hours shopping for clothes at the handful of malls in Pune! The nice part was I get to see parts of Pune that I don’t normally see, but the terrible part was waiting for them to buy clothing that was quite expensive even for my standards. Now I understand why Indian ppl like to wear jeans and t-shirts so much. Since it can cost quite a bit here in India (I was surprised to see jeans running for 1300 rupees and above), it becomes a statement of how much someone has spent on their clothing. It seems like the style that most ppl like wear this day is the tight ones that hug to your legs...again those types of jeans were never my style...I always wear loose fit ones. I don’t think they have a whole lot of selections for loose fit or baggy jeans. I also notice that the style that’s preferred by my house-mates are ones that fit quite tightly...including t-shirts and long sleeves shirts. They don’t seem to wear loose-clothing...even the t-shirts are quite tight and goes up more than halfway of the upper-arm. Long-sleeve dress shirts also fit quite tightly. I kinda made fun of Vaibhav who was wearing a tight purple t-shirt that says “All You Need is a Hug” with a big cartoon picture right in the middle of it. I told him that if I were to wear it in the streets of San Francisco, ppl would begin to question my sexuality...however it seems pretty normal here in India. Anyways they also drove me to a place where I was able to get a luggage for about $50. I took an auto-rickshaw back home b/c it was hard to carry on a motorbike while Vaibhav and Abhik shopped for a few more hours. I need to start thinking about packing up the things that I bought for the trip back home.
On Sunday, I wanted to go and get a dhoti that I can wear with my kurta seeing how nice it really looked with a slip on one. However, the slip on ones are cream color and I needed something that was white. It proved to be so much of a hassle actually that I decided to drop the thing entirely. I went with Renjeet to Lakshmi road bazaar to see whether we could find anything...but all the dhotis were for daily wear not for special occasion. The ones that were for ceremonies not only cost 2000 rupees but I doubt that they were long enough for me to tie the dhoti so that it has that baggy look. Furthermore, if I buy a slip on dhoti, I would have to shorten my kurta one and a half inches because it would have been a little too long for the dhoti...so I just decided against the whole thing. There are other kurtas too that are made for wearing dhotis...just not this one. What I need to do however is go to a tailor to get my pajama shorten before I go on this trip. - Quang out.
So last Saturday, we did a little shopping for the wedding. I bought for myself a fancy kurta which has a white pajama (trousers that hugs to your legs) that goes with it, and I still need to buy some special sandals for the occasion. Vaibhav left for Udaipur on Sunday morning and I will be there Thursday night. I believe the wedding is a two day event...starting with singing and dancing on Friday with the actual wedding happening on Saturday. Vaibhav told me that they have sent out roughly a thousand invitations and probably 800 will show up.
The trip to Udaipur is quite long so I have to take a flight from Pune to Ahmedebad and then from there take a bus which is 5 hour trip to Udaipur. There are no direct flights, but this is the best way to get there because getting there by train will probably take about 20 hours from Mumbai (again, there are no direct trains from Pune).
While we went shopping for the kurta pajama...I also tried on a slip-on dhoti used on special occasions. The dhoti gives a silk-like sheen and actually looks quite nice because it’s quite baggy. This made me want to get a special dhoti that is not slipped on but it was much harder to get than I thought. After getting my kurta, Vaibhav and Abhik spent like 5 hours shopping for clothes at the handful of malls in Pune! The nice part was I get to see parts of Pune that I don’t normally see, but the terrible part was waiting for them to buy clothing that was quite expensive even for my standards. Now I understand why Indian ppl like to wear jeans and t-shirts so much. Since it can cost quite a bit here in India (I was surprised to see jeans running for 1300 rupees and above), it becomes a statement of how much someone has spent on their clothing. It seems like the style that most ppl like wear this day is the tight ones that hug to your legs...again those types of jeans were never my style...I always wear loose fit ones. I don’t think they have a whole lot of selections for loose fit or baggy jeans. I also notice that the style that’s preferred by my house-mates are ones that fit quite tightly...including t-shirts and long sleeves shirts. They don’t seem to wear loose-clothing...even the t-shirts are quite tight and goes up more than halfway of the upper-arm. Long-sleeve dress shirts also fit quite tightly. I kinda made fun of Vaibhav who was wearing a tight purple t-shirt that says “All You Need is a Hug” with a big cartoon picture right in the middle of it. I told him that if I were to wear it in the streets of San Francisco, ppl would begin to question my sexuality...however it seems pretty normal here in India. Anyways they also drove me to a place where I was able to get a luggage for about $50. I took an auto-rickshaw back home b/c it was hard to carry on a motorbike while Vaibhav and Abhik shopped for a few more hours. I need to start thinking about packing up the things that I bought for the trip back home.
On Sunday, I wanted to go and get a dhoti that I can wear with my kurta seeing how nice it really looked with a slip on one. However, the slip on ones are cream color and I needed something that was white. It proved to be so much of a hassle actually that I decided to drop the thing entirely. I went with Renjeet to Lakshmi road bazaar to see whether we could find anything...but all the dhotis were for daily wear not for special occasion. The ones that were for ceremonies not only cost 2000 rupees but I doubt that they were long enough for me to tie the dhoti so that it has that baggy look. Furthermore, if I buy a slip on dhoti, I would have to shorten my kurta one and a half inches because it would have been a little too long for the dhoti...so I just decided against the whole thing. There are other kurtas too that are made for wearing dhotis...just not this one. What I need to do however is go to a tailor to get my pajama shorten before I go on this trip. - Quang out.
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