Shopping, Jewelry, and Clothes

In past posts, I have mentioned that shopping was one of the main diversions of my coworkers, and I was along for the ride without enthusiasm. As I have tagged along on these shopping excusions though, I have come to notice some of the fine wares available for sale. As we go into stores, I see all kinds of things that I think would be great to own although I can't always justify the purchase without having a location in mind of where to showcase the item. I don't think Kim would appreciate a statue of Shiva in our living room. Shiva is one of many gods and godesses of the Hindu culture. I'm not sure what she is the godess of, but her depiction is an elephant-looking head with a multi-armed women's body in a lotus position.

There are also many examples of elephants for sale in all shapes and sizes. There are stone elephants, marble elephants, wooden elephants, ceramic elephants, and cement elephants. There are elephant paintings. There are elephants by themselves, or elephants in herds. There are statues of elephants pulling logs. There are statues of elephants carrying people. I've even seen a statue of several elephants stacked on top of one another. What is perplexing is that I have not seen one live elephant since I've been here. They must be in another part of the country. If they were going to build statues of the local animals, there would be all sorts of icons devoted to cows, dogs, goats, and oxen. But I haven't seen any likenesses of those animals.

There are many places to buy jewelry here. The primary items are made of gold or silver. There are earings, bangles, bracelets, necklaces, and rings (finger and toe). There are all kinds of precious stone jewelry and costume jewelry. I am not an expert in jewelry prices but my co-workers seem to like the deals they are finding. I am told that a toe ring and not a finger ring in the Hindu faith identifies a married woman. Women here do not typically have many piercings in their ears. Their usual jewelry item consists of up to 12 bangles on one arm at a time.

Many of the people I see on the streets wear sandals, flip flops, or go barefoot. Even in the office environment, women predominately wear sandals. In fact, I cannot remember anything but sandals on women. Most professional men wear dress shoes, but it not unusual to see men in dress slacks wearing sandals. Jeans in the office is very rare for men except on Fridays, and even then, it is not that common. It is very rare for women in the office to wear anything but saris. I have not seen any women in the office wearing suits or dresses.

Our group is making plans for last minute shopping since the upcoming weekend is our last in India. I have already purchased many items that I need to find homes for. But I now like to buy stuff. It's fun! Maybe I'll find something else that I cannot live without. I hope I will not exceed my luggage weight limit.