Yeah... About that...

Can I just state for the record here that I really, really, really hate shopping? I know…I’m a girl and by default I should have some genetic make-up within me that strongly encourages and even cause me to desire and enjoy shopping. Yeah…about that…NOT SO MUCH!

Right now we are in Chennai (formerly known as Madras), the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu. It’s a pretty large city. We were dreading coming here because of how we feel about Mumbai. Fortunately for us Chennai is nowhere near the scale of madness that Mumbai is.

We are here because of two reasons: 1) to visit Mamallapuram which is another World Heritage site that reportedly has an amazing temple and stone carvings to view, and 2) to go shopping.

So if I hate shopping so much why would I do it? Well, I put the blame squarely on this woman we met on the ferry ride from Ernakulam to Fort Cochin. She is from New York/Los Angeles but has been living in Jaipur (Rajasthan state) for the last year and a half (her boyfriend is Indian). She informed us that northern India is very much different from southern India.

How so? we asked. Her answer: the people are less friendly/more rude, more possessive of what are “theirs”, and more in-your-face towards foreigners. She has found that to negate as much of this as possible it’s better to blend in through dressing as much Indian-style as possible.

Despite trying to be as much as conscientious travelers possible, we still draw attention. Therefore, hearing this pseudo-expat describe her experience we decided to take her suggestion to do even more to try and repel attention and blend in. Also, we really didn't want to draw increase hassles. I ended up purchasing some kurtas and skirts. I also purchase a couple of saris, one of which I had the head saleslady show me how to put together. When I stepped out to display my new outfit everyone in the store was greatly amused. I feared that some of the men sewing in the back was going to fall out of their chairs trying to catch a glimpse/laughing! K, really not at all amused by the tiny blouses that one must wear as part of the sari, opted to go the route of kurtas with skirts and a salwar kameez (a knee-length tunic over pants topped off by a very long scarf). I purchased one also but the sleeves do not fit right after being attached – part of the yesterday’s ordeal that made me lose it in the middle of a confusing and maze-like shopping mall.

Today we ran a trial run with our new outfits trekking out to “Gallopin’ Gooseberry” – An American-Italian eatery. What do you know? They really did cut down on the questions, stares, inquiries of national origin, hassles from touts/taxi drivers/shopkeeps, and stares.