sari shopping

Saturday I took off to go shopping for a sari. Little did I know it would turn into an 8 hour adventure. First stop was a little sari store where the process reminded me quite a bit of shopping for a carpet in Turkey. Having 10 people there meant they were willing to pull out a lot of different saris out for us to look at, although I'm not sure if that was good or bad. We sat in two rows facing away from each other in the center of the shop and soon enough there were saris flying through the air over our heads as they tossed them back and forth. Saris were being pulled out of clear plastic bags and draped on the platform after being held up by one of the workers. There I sat; just waiting for one that caught my eye and whose texture was appealing to my fingers. I think I only touched 3 or 4 in the 3 hours we were there (most had a bit too much bling for me) and the only one I picked up to really look at I ended up buying after having it wrapped around me to try it on. Its a dark teal with a red border and lots of little mirrors stitched around. Have to say saris aren't cheap, but then I didn't expect them to be.

After 3 hours we decide a lunch was needed and so off we went for a well deserved break. The debate then turned to should we have the cholis (the shirt that goes under the sari) made now? Most of us voted "yes" as we just wanted to get as finished as possible. The sari shop had cut the fabric off of the end of the sari for that and gave it to us, so we headed out to a tailor who specializes in making cholis. There were tons of designs on the wall, samples hanging around, and more choices then I wanted to deal with at that point. Here is where our timing for the day went a little awry. We walked in, checked what we needed to do and were told to stand in line. Okay, we can do that. This lady was in there and had a ton of cholis to be made. After watching her pull fabric after fabric from a bag we were finally told that we had to have an appointment. Aargh! Turns out making an appointment just meant putting your name on a list, but by this time everyone who came in after us already had their name down and we now had another hour to wait. We'd come so far though that we decided to persevere. Eight names got written down, and off we went in search of tea for a brief break. Just had to make sure we were back in an hour.

Luckily once we walked back up the stairs to Eve's we didn't have long to wait. Decisions just had to be made and explained well enough for the tailor to draw a sketch. What shape in the front - round or v-neck? How should the back go (this is more important as you actually see the back of the choli)? Should it tie? If so you need to step over there to that cabinet afterwards and pick out your dangle. Trim? Where should the zipper go (front or side)? Padded support or not? Gosh, I wasn't quite ready for that many choices. I let a few people go ahead of me then managed to come up with an idea. After explaining  it was time to step around the counter and get measured. I never knew you could take so many measurements for a top! Some I expected: bust size, length from shoulder, across the shoulder, around the rib cage (after all the cholis and short), arm width, down an arm....but then there were at least 5 more measurements. How deep cut in the front, how deep in the back, around the arm in three places, across the upper chest...this thing should fit quite well!

So after eight hours I found myself back home with nothing concrete to show for my day's adventure. The sari was at the store getting the fall put in. The choli being made at the tailor. I suppose I did bring home a matching colored simple petticoat, but that hardly seems like enough to show for such a day! I hope I'll be happy when I get to wear my sari for the first time, and will be sure to share pictures then.

Body percussionist

Well I seem to finally be well and am no longer spending all of my free time sleeping. Hopefully that means I'll be back to my somewhat regular updates on life.

Keith Terry, body percussionist. That's what all the signs around campus said. A body percussionist? I have to admit that I was intrigued. What kind of artist were they bringing in for our visiting artist series? I have to go check that out. So Friday night found me in our school theater for what turned out to be a very entertaining evening and a much more interactive hour and a half then I expected. It turns out that a body percussionist is exactly what it sounds like. Keith Terry makes music by striking, rubbing, snapping, clicking and tapping different parts of his body. You can see a short clip of him here, or check out a longer youtube video here. It was an interactive evening where I learned how to make more of the sounds then I thought I would be able to (you have to be able to keep a beat though) as he imparted little nuggets of information about different traditions of body music (such as the slave tradition of playing the ham bone - the side and/or back of your thigh). A thouroughly entertaining evening and a great interactive show for the kids; I'd highly recommend checking him out in person, or maybe even wandering over to one of the international body music festivals that he organizes once a year (they've even be reviewed by National Geographic!).