You wouldn't recognize me - July 12, 2009

Hi All,

We are now in Hubli, staying at Shrimiti's house. It's colorful, full of gods and very interesting. I can't possibly describe it but I'll take plenty of pix. We got a lesson by Vasanth (her husband) on his prayer ritual which is fascinating.

Our bathroom has a sink on one end and about 5 feet away is the toilet on the other end. In between is a faucet with hose near the toilet for cleaning yourself. Then there are three sets of hot and cold handles with two shower heads and a faucet on the wall (no shower curtain or difference in floor). Near the faucet are two big buckets and a plastic two-cup measure. I have no idea how it's supposed to be done, but I poured water into the bucket and used the measure to pour over me, soap up and then rinse. I got the job done. Still haven't figured out the shower.

Then Shrimiti was entertaining five colleagues, all female professors. One wanted to go shopping so I joined them (Charles was incredibly relieved and went to the Internet cafe on his own). It may have been a bait and switch because within minutes, I was wearing a cotton tunic and pant with matching shawl out of the store to the delight of all who helped me. By the way, it cost about $7.50.

Then to the sari shop. What an experience! We all took our shoes off before entering. It was a very large shop, maybe the size of a Gap with the walls lined with folded "bolts" of different colored material. There are wooden benches coming out from the walls dividing the areas into spots of about 8' x 8' that had a single covered pillow covering the whole area. We all walked through to the back, behind the glass doors where the "good" saris were. So several of our group were telling 3-4 men what they wanted all at once. The guys took 5-10 saris (what I thought were bolts of material) opened each up to their glorious 6 meter length and waited for the women to narrow what they wanted. It was a wonderful experience of sight and sound. In the end, one woman bought two, another bought one, both very different, both silk. And I bought two identical silk ones because it was a good way to choose the material for the dress I want made.

India is everything I've read, full of people, sounds, sights, cows, pigs, goats and water buffalo roaming, no driving rules...and it's wonderful and exotic. Everyone we've met has been kind and genuine.

All for now, Love Jan and Dr. Charles