Saturday, June 28: Maria Luisa had to work today, so I went with her to the office and met one of our colleagues, Aarti, for a day of shopping in one of the markets. So while poor Maria Luisa spent 5 hours at a board meeting for the main project she’s working on, I hit “Lajpat Nagar.”
It’s one of those places difficult to describe in words. There were rows and rows of stores, most long and extremely narrow; some so much that it was hard for two people to pass each other. The long and narrow stores were permanent stores with shelves, floors, and electricity. Other stores, mostly the ones in the center, were likely broken down at night. For sale? Fabric and clothes. There were plenty of other things being sold: kitchen ware, purses and bags, some jewelry, but there were not electronic stores, photo stores, phone stores, etc, like at most of the other markets.
We did more looking than buying. Knowing that I’m going to be here for two more months, I didn’t feel the need to get a lot, and wanted to get a sense of things before buying things. I did get a few shirts for the office because I brought very little with me to India, not knowing what I would be expected to wear. But we mostly did a ton of looking, learning, and trying on.
Trying on clothes in a hot, steamy market in India… blech! Only a few stores had changing rooms, and those that did were not always air conditioned. They were usually very cramped ply-wood rooms about the size as a refrigerator box. And if there were a fan, it was a mixed blessing as they were uncovered and within reach, so you had to be very careful not to lift your arms up too high. If you need a chuckle, picture me trying on all styles of Indian clothing, knocking into the walls with my elbows, crouching when I put a top on or off to avoid getting close to the fan (which usually meant my backside or knees or forehead loudly hit the sides of the room), the whole time completely sweaty and having to work really hard just to get the clothes on.
Things typically did not fit very well. The ready-made garments are not made for my height or build. A lot of the styles are like tunics and just by looking at them it seemed like they’d fit most people, but there was something really off about the proportions for me. I’m glad I therefore didn’t buy things assuming they’d be fine. If I want to get a proper Indian outfit, I’ll have to choose the fabric and go to one of the tailors that the women at work have already suggested.
Saturday was also the first time I took a bike-propelled rickshaw. They are extremely cheap: $0.25 or less for a 5 minute ride. My colleague Aarti worked somewhere before which had a program that provided loans to rickshaw drivers for purchasing vs. renting rickshaws. I arrived to our destination bumped and jolted yet with tremendous respect for yet another profession in India.
Saturday was a very long day. After shopping, at around 4:30, I decided to go meet Maria Luisa and Jim for coffee instead of going home. Maria Luisa and I were possibly going to meet some of her acquaintances from the El Salvadoran embassy for a Salsa Night and it didn’t seem worth heading all the way home. I was pretty exhausted (as was she after her 5 hour meeting) so we were both pleased that the outing was postponed. The day continued, however, as we decided to grab a quick bite to eat before heading home so we didn’t have to cook or bother with food for the rest of the night (it was 6:45 by this point). We ended up meeting another American who is in India for the summer for his PhD studies. With someone new as part of the dynamic it was no longer a ‘quick bit to eat’, and became a 2 hour dinner followed by getting a beer at a place that he knew of. Jim was still there so no worrying that we were in an unsafe situation.
The ‘lounge’ was yet another world in this city. Mostly wealthy clientele, and very attentive staff. The inside had tables and chairs on top of a raised floor of aqua-glass cubes lit from within. We had a very nice time there. I enjoyed spending some non-work time with my boss, and it’s always fun to meet someone else and hear about their work and experiences.
Two things were quite frustrating about the lounge: one, they told us they didn’t have the local beers…only imported ones which cost a lot more. Two, we asked for change at the end and they said they didn’t have it. Jim was asking for change to make the rickshaw ride home easier, because rickshaw drivers often have ‘no change’ either. In the entire restaurant, they didn’t have enough change for a 100 Rupee bill. (100 Rupees is the equivalent of $2.50). So we paid the bill with a much larger bill and voila! They had change.
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