Farb in Indian garb

Last weekend, I finally picked up some Indian duds. Kerala is a very conservative state, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen a woman other than a tourist wearing jeans. My guess is I'm still going to get stared at, but ideally not as much...

So I'm bad enough at shopping in the US- 40% of my wardrobe consists of concert t-shirts, and the remaining 60% comes from three different stores that are most likely all owned by the same company. Pete only knows what I'd come home with if I went out here on my own! Thus, I enlisted the help of one of the co-workers I'm friendly with.

To get our strength up for shopping, Rekha invited me over to her parents' home for lunch. This was very fortuitous- the other secondees and I had been talking earlier about how we might solicit such an invite. Apparently, the last ones in our position gave up on being invited and simply told people from work that they were coming to their home. Needless to say, the guys were jealous that I would not have to resort to that method. Our secondee handbook (written by people on past rotations in Kochi) warned that going to someone's house can turn into an "all-day event." They weren't kidding...

Lunch was served in the traditional way, on a banana leaf, and was veg (veg = vegetarian, non-veg = meaty goodness). It was good, but they heaped food onto my plate, and added more before I could finish what was there. I literally had to cover the banana leaf with my hands and plead with them to stop serving me!

The house was really nice- made of marble, rooftop garden, Western-style bathroom. I was especially happy about the last bit, because the Indian bathroom is essentially a hole in the floor.

Apparently Rekha's no better at shopping than I am, so her mom came along to assist. We were very successful, and picked up many churidhars (known as salwaar kameez in northern India). No saris though- apparently they can get complicated with the wrapping and whatnot, and I'm not brave enough for that.

The hospitality here is incredible. They picked me up and dropped me off at my apartment, fed me lunch, spent all day shopping, and took me to dinner while the clothes were being adjusted despite my protestations that I would come back for them myself later. The clothes were a big hit at work- the bathroom attendant even said I was beautiful. And I'm happy because they're insanely comfortable. It's kind of like wearing pajamas to work, but socially acceptable.

Of course there are a few pictures of me in my new attire, and I've also included some miscellaneous shots of the view from the balcony of my apartment. Depending on the treatment of the sewage on any given day, it may not always smell pretty, but at least it always looks pretty. My place is on the 10th floor, and has two bedrooms as well as a room with a bar. Yes, the bar has its own room, and a balcony that connects to my room.

Pictures are provided for your viewing pleasure here:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=217559738/a=123174408_123174408/t_=123174408