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India!
A beautiful (but blurry) sari from a Delhi sari shop – this picture doesn’t do it justice!
So we’re through the first week of our trip, and it has been quite a whirlwind with great and some not so great experiences.
First, the good. The country is vibrant, filled with fantastically nice, extremely service-oriented people, interesting sites, culturally rich heritage, lots and lots of opportunities to buy saris (more on that later!), beautifully colored clothing, and so much vegetarian food, I don’t know what to do with myself. Also, the movies. While I can’t understand a word, I love the movies with all their dancing and over-the-top outfits. So, so good.
The bad: vast class differences like I’ve not seen many other places, disparity between the shiny new office buildings of the emerging IT companies and the beggars / shanty towns / roaming stray animals (oxen, monkeys, buffalo, elephants!) just a few feet away. Shocking poverty next to seemingly intense wealth. Infrastructure challenges of all kinds that make even the most underdeveloped US cities and towns look more advanced than most places here (at least in this area).
The really awful: I am insanely sick, like I have never been in my life. All that vegetarian food? Yeah. Well, despite my vigilance not to come into contact with the local water in any regard with finding only safe, uncontaminated food, I’ve had one of the worst 24 hours that I can remember. I am not overreacting. I will spare you the details, but suffice it to say, I am never eating anything again for as long as I live. Not even chocolate, or even homemade Twix bars (Ryan, are you reading? I mean it. Seriously. You can have them all). My dear roommate, who coached me through my illness, is now in the thick of it and I am returning the favor. Our resident doctor, Dr. Jolly, has been a saint.
The really awesome: The saris, the fabric, the clothing. Some of what I knew about saris before this trip came from Tyra banks and the Bollywood photo shoot from the season when they went to London. Since I trust Tyra as a source on all things Important and Good, I am sure I have been well educated in this regard. (By the way – India is a great country for many reasons, confirmed by the fact that they are showing this illustrious TV show (and this exact season) here in Delhi. Brilliant!)
There have been a few hours to go some sari shops and check out the scene. In my next post, I will write a bit about how fun it is to buy them, what the buying process is like, and the loot that I walked away with! They are beautiful to wear, but I bought two of mine with the intention of using for projects…though cutting these beautiful pieces of fabric up just seems wrong!
Hope you are all appreciating the microbe-reduced environs in which you live. Send some good microbe karma our way. More later!
Posted by robyn on May 24th, 2008 under crafts8 Responses to “India!”
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I'm Robyn. Thanks for stopping by! This is my craft blog.
Contact me at robyn [at] dognamedbanjo [dot] com.
May 25th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Oh noooo!! Not The Sick! I’m so glad you survived it — now go buy more saris!
melindas last blog post..In which I whine
May 25th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Hi Robyn,
Sorry to hear you fell sick with the Bombay tummy (Mumbai now?)… when you return, it will all just be part of the experience!
Your sari looks beautiful and I’m glad to know now that I’m not the only one who watches Top Model!
Jenn
May 28th, 2008 at 11:36 am
BLECH. Sounds horrible – hope you are feeling better now and I can’t wait to hear all about your travels! Miss you!
Doris last blog post..1
May 30th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Yeh, I am no stranger to the first-time-to-Mumbai-never-eating-again sickness… perhaps a rite of passage (or more like a running of gauntlet). But it’s all downhill from there! And rest assured that your body is building all these new antibodies and whatnots for the next time!
June 1st, 2008 at 2:14 am
Down with Delhi Belly!
Hope you’re having a blast. Dying to go out there soon.
K x
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:02 am
Hallo Robyn,
halte durch in Indien und geniesse die Zeit! Was fuer eine coole “heimatseite”! Kompliment! Dein Kai
June 14th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
@Kat:
Hi Kat, The trip was indeed a blast, especially now that I’ve had a chance to put on my rose-colored glasses, you know? 🙂
June 14th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
@Kai:
Hey Kai! Schoen dass Du vorbeigekommen bist!