Out on the Town

20.12.06

Sandeep left for school at 7am, and we all got to sleep in. After a lovely breakfast of idli and dhosas, which he arranged to have delivered to our rooms, Freya started her dance practise.  She was vigorously stomping on the floor, and I was a little worried about the noise levels in the office downstairs, but they very sweetly reported that it did not bother them. Sandeep called the office, and was happy, because he could hear her stomping down the phone line too!

After lunch freya bought a dazzling Indian suit covered in intricate embroidery, and we then headed home. None of the rickshaw drivers knew the address on the business card we had with us, so we ended up directing a very reluctant driver directly back to our temporary home without a hitch. Sandeep arrived a few minutes later, and soon we headed out on yet another shopping mission to find Caspar some jeans.

Sandeep took us to 3 shops owned by his students family. I have NEVER seen so many jeans in one shop in my life. It was floor to ceiling jeans. In India people love the concept of uniqueness = no 2 patterns or styles the same, not even across sizes! This is especially typical of sari shopping, but in the jeans department it was no different- they were all unique in color and style, and as Guy remarked they were also very unique in size within one waist size alone! Thanks to Sandeep, the shop gave us great prices, and Caspar got away with 4 pairs of nice jeans, a grey pant for school, a cargo pant and a nice printed shirt for about 75 Dollars in total. While we waited for the pants to be delivered to the last shop we visited, the owner sent for fresh coconut juices all round. They hemmed the jeans perfectly, cutting off the stonewashed hem and re-attaching it to the bottom of the pants, in order to not loose the look of the hem. Ingenious, incredible India.