SAT. AUG 9, IN INDIA

We slept in and then went on a day of shopping. I wanted to do several things but Andy suggested that I choose one thing and then see what happens. I was perplexed, but I will explain later. No one eats breakfast and lunch is between 1;30 AN 3:oo. I eat grainola bars, because I am starving. Remember dinner is not until 8-10. The restaurants do not even open until 7 for evening meals. This is hard for me to get used to. We stopped for lunch and then went to commercial street, to the shops. We went to the silk shop. Up to the 3rd floor. They send a guard and a servant to operate the lift which is hidden so I did not have to take the stairs. There are doormen to open the doors at almost every shop. The silk shop was an amazing place. You sit down in front of a wide granite counter and a gentleman comes to wait on you. I wanted to have a sawartese made. This is the outfit with long top and pants underneath and a stole around the neck, called a dupada. There are thousands of fabrics, from floor to ceiling. Silks, and satins, embroidered and beaded, plain and extremely ornate. Some weigh ten pounds just for the top, there is so much brocade and beading on them. Some of the fabrics are very sheer and lacey. He starts bringing out fabrics and placing them in front of you on the counter. The fabric for the sawartese is joined together. The front of the top and the arms are on one piece joined to another piece that is the back and the pants(usually a different but coordinating color, or a different fabric) then comes the dupada fabric. It us usually embroidered or embellished, often chiffon, and very pretty, maybe 4 ft long. There was every color, shade and hue imaginable. When you think you like one of them, a lovely graceful young woman came out and we go in front of a long, wide mirror, and she drapes the fabric over you so you can see what it will look like. There were so many choices, my head was spinning , but I finally found 2. Then the “stitcher” comes. You stand up and he measures every inch and another helper writes everything down. He will buy the lining material and design and stitch the whole out fit for 1000 ruppies, about $40. We can pick them up on thurs. we go to his shop for final fitting and pickup. I sure hope there is some kind of fitting room. It took us about 20 min. to drive 100ft, the traffic is much worse on Sat. that’s why Andy said that you can not plan many things because you never know how long it will take to travel there. The customer service is awesome, the clerk was devoted only to me and it took a long time to select fabric and all. Then I had the silk Andy had given me for Mother’s day, and I wanted it to be made into a jacket. We had to go to a “stitcher” that specialized in suit making and tailoring. Niki had 2 suits for work made at this shop and so we went there. The tailor(as I call him) measured the fabric and examined it carefully to make sure it was suitable. He measured me with an assistant writing it all out. Then I described in great detail what I wanted and how I wanted it to look. Then he drew sort of a picture with some desighn elements and I approved. I will go back for 2 fittings for this. The suit material was something to see as well. Andy will have a suit made there. Nikki had 2 womens suit coat and matching skirts made and the detail on the jackets was impressive. The buttons were small and covered in fabric and the button holes were without flaw. The cut of one of the jackets was very stylish and both fit her beautifully. I hope mine comes out as nice. It took us over an hour to travel to this shop. We went to one other shop and I found some things there as well. Then home to get ready for the evening. We had a formal invitation to a concert, given by the Ubhayakers. It was held at an auditiorium that was shaped like a violin. It was in the center of a large garden filled with flowers and exotic plants. This couple are in their 80’s and they own and run the cultural center in Bangalore. They had a son who died at 30, she was a singer and when he died she stopped singing. Her love for music and the arts never faded. Now they see that these opportunities are available to all. They have sponsored many young people to get into the music and art field and they have classes for no charge at the center and bring in performers to teach and perform. They also feed over 1,000 bedridden elderly every day. If elderly do not have family that will take care of them, they are on the street. They provide care and food for them. The concert invited many wealthy people as a fund raiser to continue the work now and after they are gone.
The concert was 3 hours. First there was the lighting of the lamp. A tall stand with 4 candles. This represented bringing light into the darkness(what a reminder of the true Light that Jesus brings into our lives. Then, this young man was introduced. He climbed on a low platform, surrounded by four other young men. There were two instruments that looked like medium rounded banjos, but with very long handles. The base sat on the floor and the men sat by that with the arms going way up on the long, 4-5 foot handle with strings. Then there was a very low silver looking drum and on the other side there was a wooden box that had a lung type apparatus that had a similar sound as a accordion. The singer tuned the sitars and they made long low resonating sounds and the drum made very unique sounds as well. Periodically the wooden box would sound. He introduced his song as one about a new marriage. Then he began to sing and this went on uninterrupted for 1 ½ hours. The voice was long low moans and sounds, I thought it was saying words, telling a story, and I thought it would be more interesting if I could understand the story. Come to find out, there were long low moans, notes and hand movements, not words. These sounds were to imply the emotion this bridegroom was feeling. It was quite beautiful and strange all at the same time. But after the 1 ½ hour, we were ready to leave. There was a short intermission and we ducked out. The place was very nice and in the center of the lobby was a large flower made out of hundreds of other flowers on the floor. I got some good pictures. We then went to have dinner at 9. We went to a place called the Olive beach. We sat in sand on beach furniture, surrounded by plastic water pools. There were real olive trees living and surrounded by Christmas lights. It was like being at a beach party. The waiters were dressed in formal beach wear. There was a lot of sea food dishes, but I had mushroom chicken with garlic mashed potatoes . Everyone in our party had something different. One had egg plant lasgna. It looked very strange, the others has halibut, this is a very common fish. Many dishes are throw backs to British rule. There were again many servers. Everytime you put something down, they are removing or serving more. The one thing that I find annoying is, that they are constantly rearranging your silverware. They server wears white gloves and moves the silver around, putting the fork on top of the tablespoon. There has been only one place that did not seem to bring a fresh bottle of water to the table. The health literature says not to drink from abottle that is not sealed and that you see them open at your table. The long lunches and dinners would work out for all of my lady friends. It is almost breakfast to bed eating and talking.