Tired but Triumphant
Woah. Yet again, after much frustration, everything falls into my lap unexpectedly.
Managed to successfully mail cloth covered package. It was around $120 US. OUCH. That's pretty expensive, to me, for domestic shipping, but not necessarily for international, and it was pretty heavy. The purpose of the mail was to mail heavy stuff home to avoid airline charges. I'm uncertain what would be more expensive - the airline or this. But if it's break even, at least it means less airport shlepping. The cost was so close between "fast" and "not fast" (about $20), that I went with "fast", so the package may beat me home - 4-6 days. I am doubtful. I have never had anything arrive from India in 4-6 days.
But that's not the truimphant part.
I got a dance costume AND the rest of the dance jewelry!!!
This is just a teaser. See the rest of the *first* jewelry shopping trip pictures here. This is all from the Chennai jewelry shopping 2 weeks back. I have been delinquent in posting these pictures. But since I haven't even had time to take the pictures of the new stuff, these will be my teaser.
Today, we left as soon as the driver could come (around 9:30) and went to Majestic. Majestic is the oldest, most traditional part of the city. It's where you go to shop for Bharata Natyam stuff. The area is clearly *old* the streets ar e small, the shops are even more tightly packed than normal, and even looking at the windows, you get a sense of traditional sensibilities. Not to say the clothing there isn't lovely. I have a taste for the traditional, and I like the stuff there very much.
We first went to the costume tailor. She finished on the 27th. Note, the original deadline was the 25th. On the 26th, she called to say she couldn't do the original deadline, and Amma renegotiated to the 27th. I was crossing my fingers that the costume would not be too small, since I know that too small is much, much worse than too big. I crossed too hard! The costume was actually too big in two places - the blouse and the sash that goes over the hips. Woot! I don't know if this is her fault or mine. It is conceivable that the much healthier diet plus all the climbing, walking and dancing, has resulted in a wee bit of slimming. And if I loose weight, it goes from my butt and my boobs... so the fitting issue could have been me.
It hardly matters - as soon as I was done trying things on, the tailor's assistant sewed in some new seams taking in the big peices. He did this so fast (with thread changes and everything) that he was done with 4 alterations on 4 different colors before I finished figuring out how to fold and pile things. I was watching this guy sew, and he's a serious pro. I have learned to work pretty fast - I rarely pin, I can put in an elastic waist fast -- but this guy puts me to shame. It doesn't hurt that he has an industrial grade electric machine - the kind that puts in many more stiches per minute than my home-brand sewing machine. But his line up and go skills were insane.
That speed aside, we still spent 3 hours in the store. The hold up? Amma asked about Temple Jewelry. It turns out, we came to the perfect place. Lalitha went back to her store house (this took like 45 minutes, I think), and came back with a shoebox sized box full of jewelry. All of it "temple sets" which means silver with gold on top and real pearls. We bought the rest of the set.
"Rest of the set" does not do the purchase justice. The full Bharata Natyam set is:
Plus extra ankle bells that I think are nicer than what they have in the US.
We came down from our shopping high by hitting a gift shop on the way home. I made some excellent present purchases there, which means the present shopping part of the vacation is coming along nicely.
Shopping in Majestic is a physically hard experience - it's an hour ride, and we do it in an auto rickshaw. Plus the waiting and negotiating and then the paying. The price is not cheap. Even in US dollars, this was the highlight of my shopping in India experience. That said, buying and making the same stuff in the US would be twice the price, so I'm very happy to do it here.
I'm dizzy with tiredness and glee. Not only for getting the costumes after long anticipation, but also with a rush of wonder for how well made they are. This is better work than I could do myself.
I promise lots of pictures... later. It may be that the modeling show occurs after I return - in several places the super cool pleats have been nicely stitched down to keep them sharp and crisp - I'm not sure I want to unstitch them before returning to the US, after all - this stuff has to get mashed into my luggage.
Managed to successfully mail cloth covered package. It was around $120 US. OUCH. That's pretty expensive, to me, for domestic shipping, but not necessarily for international, and it was pretty heavy. The purpose of the mail was to mail heavy stuff home to avoid airline charges. I'm uncertain what would be more expensive - the airline or this. But if it's break even, at least it means less airport shlepping. The cost was so close between "fast" and "not fast" (about $20), that I went with "fast", so the package may beat me home - 4-6 days. I am doubtful. I have never had anything arrive from India in 4-6 days.
But that's not the truimphant part.
I got a dance costume AND the rest of the dance jewelry!!!
This is just a teaser. See the rest of the *first* jewelry shopping trip pictures here. This is all from the Chennai jewelry shopping 2 weeks back. I have been delinquent in posting these pictures. But since I haven't even had time to take the pictures of the new stuff, these will be my teaser.
Today, we left as soon as the driver could come (around 9:30) and went to Majestic. Majestic is the oldest, most traditional part of the city. It's where you go to shop for Bharata Natyam stuff. The area is clearly *old* the streets ar e small, the shops are even more tightly packed than normal, and even looking at the windows, you get a sense of traditional sensibilities. Not to say the clothing there isn't lovely. I have a taste for the traditional, and I like the stuff there very much.
We first went to the costume tailor. She finished on the 27th. Note, the original deadline was the 25th. On the 26th, she called to say she couldn't do the original deadline, and Amma renegotiated to the 27th. I was crossing my fingers that the costume would not be too small, since I know that too small is much, much worse than too big. I crossed too hard! The costume was actually too big in two places - the blouse and the sash that goes over the hips. Woot! I don't know if this is her fault or mine. It is conceivable that the much healthier diet plus all the climbing, walking and dancing, has resulted in a wee bit of slimming. And if I loose weight, it goes from my butt and my boobs... so the fitting issue could have been me.
It hardly matters - as soon as I was done trying things on, the tailor's assistant sewed in some new seams taking in the big peices. He did this so fast (with thread changes and everything) that he was done with 4 alterations on 4 different colors before I finished figuring out how to fold and pile things. I was watching this guy sew, and he's a serious pro. I have learned to work pretty fast - I rarely pin, I can put in an elastic waist fast -- but this guy puts me to shame. It doesn't hurt that he has an industrial grade electric machine - the kind that puts in many more stiches per minute than my home-brand sewing machine. But his line up and go skills were insane.
That speed aside, we still spent 3 hours in the store. The hold up? Amma asked about Temple Jewelry. It turns out, we came to the perfect place. Lalitha went back to her store house (this took like 45 minutes, I think), and came back with a shoebox sized box full of jewelry. All of it "temple sets" which means silver with gold on top and real pearls. We bought the rest of the set.
"Rest of the set" does not do the purchase justice. The full Bharata Natyam set is:
- Head peice (see picture)
- Two hair clips of sun and moon (see picture)
- Long necklace (see photo set)
- Short necklace - purchased today
- Gold belt - purchased today - we got a big one - I figure I am big, and I can pull it off.
- Earring set of 3 peices - an earring post with a flower decoration, a long strip that hooks into the hair, and a little dangly umbrella thing.
- Bun cover
- A short tikka - purchased by special direction from Aparna, because apparently the big head thing you see in the pictures is *too* big if I'm giving a small performance for a small audience. Given that I *do* perform for small functions (like SCA parties), this seems very smart.
Plus extra ankle bells that I think are nicer than what they have in the US.
We came down from our shopping high by hitting a gift shop on the way home. I made some excellent present purchases there, which means the present shopping part of the vacation is coming along nicely.
Shopping in Majestic is a physically hard experience - it's an hour ride, and we do it in an auto rickshaw. Plus the waiting and negotiating and then the paying. The price is not cheap. Even in US dollars, this was the highlight of my shopping in India experience. That said, buying and making the same stuff in the US would be twice the price, so I'm very happy to do it here.
I'm dizzy with tiredness and glee. Not only for getting the costumes after long anticipation, but also with a rush of wonder for how well made they are. This is better work than I could do myself.
I promise lots of pictures... later. It may be that the modeling show occurs after I return - in several places the super cool pleats have been nicely stitched down to keep them sharp and crisp - I'm not sure I want to unstitch them before returning to the US, after all - this stuff has to get mashed into my luggage.