Clothing

Today, with the new driver, I was able to go to the post office and to the nice mall across town. It's funny that even this can be an adventure at times.

Getting to the post office was interesting. We live in the northern suburb of Mumbai called Goregon. It's pretty far away from the center of town, so it's not considered to be one of the good suburbs, especially if you are an expat. So even going to the post office can be interesting. It turned out to be in the middle of one of the "slums". Basically you have to go down these narrow roads that have make-shift buildings on either side. These buildings are more like shacks with three walls, the open side facing the street. They are a combination of homes and small "shops". Perhaps a barber with a single folding chair and a bucket for water, or a guy who sharpens knives using the gears of a bicycle.

In one of the only "real" building in the area is the post office. There is apparently a sign indicating that it's the post office, but it's in Hindi. No English in sight. So my driver tells me which building is the post office, and I gather up all the confidence I have and maneuver my way across the street and into the building. I am met with only a staircase and four walls. No where to go but up, so that's what I do. The stairwell is dirty and cluttered with litter and construction material. If this were in the US the building would probably be condemned. But I continue on up. On the 3rd floor I finally see the post office. It's basically one room that has been divided into two by a counter and glass, with about 10 different windows. I make it to the window where you can buy stamps and as the lady for 15 stamps needed to mail a post card. She gives me the "I have no idea what you're talking about look" and realize she speaks no English. So I give her one of the post cards and manage to indicate that I need to send 15 of them. It seems that it's been awhile since they mailed anything to the US, because it took them about 4 or 5 minutes to find out how much postage should go on each of the postcards. And in the end I'm not very confident, since the book they were looking in looked to be about 50 years old.

Once I have the stamps I need I look around for an empty counter or space where I can affix the stamps to the cards (they are the old fashioned kind, that you have to cut apart and then lick). No dice. I also decide this is not a place where I want to lick anything anyway, so I take my stamps and leave and head to the mall.

Ah, modernity. Malls in this country and just like malls in the US. Clean, air conditioned, and full of consumerism. Sometimes I spend hours just wandering around the malls of Mumbai (and there are many of them to choose from) savoring the Western feel of it all. Of course there are many differences. First of all, since labor is so cheap here, there many, many, many more sales associates in each store. And they follow you around trying to help you. Here that's considered the norm and it would be rude of them to leave you to your own devices. As an American I would prefer not to have someone following me around the store. But oh well... And I can't blend into the crowd like I can in the malls in the US. With my white skin and blond hair I stand out and people stare. But oh well, I deal.

Anyway, today I went to the mall to get shirts. The weather is such here that wearing stuff from my US wardrobe is unbearable. The stuff that looks nice and is presentable to go in public is too warm and I end up drenched in sweat the moment I step outside my bedroom (the only room in our apartment with AC). The stuff that is comfortable (namely cotton t-shirts) are stuff I don't want to wear in public because they look drab and frumpy. Frumpy because when you wear cotton it stretches and with no dryers here they do not shrink back to their original size (including jeans... so freakin annoying). Drab because everyone wears bright colors and most clothing tends to be somewhat dressy (like button downs shirts, slacks, etc...). Even though the clothing looks like they've been washed in mud, they are considered nicer than clean t-shirts and jeans.

So anyway, I've found these types of shirts that I really like. They are light weight but they look nice. And they have 3/4 sleeves which is nice because I hate short sleeves. I was very successful this afternoon and was able to get 4 new shirts for about $30. Who knows if I would wear them back in the states, but at these prices I'm willing to buy a bunch of them even though I know I will only wear them for 3 months. Sorry no pictures for now because my internet is being slow...

I also got lucky in the shoe department. I forgot my everyday flip-flops back in the US so I was stuck with my sketchers. And while they are comfortable, they are hot as hell. So I went and bought two pairs of sandals for around $25 total.

All in all a pretty successful day :-)