Vikalpa and Vanity: An Excursion into the Greater Pune Metropolis

Hi Everyone, We had a great time at the party last night. It was nice to hang out with people outside the setting of the institute. Everyone seemed a bit more relaxed and definitely more giddy. Joe, Cheryl, and Abbey were most excellent hosts. Abundant food and drinks of all sorts. It also had the added benefit of keeping us up until about 10 so we actually managed to sleep until "toast time." 7 AM. Normally, we have been waking a good deal earlier but have been waiting to eat until 7 AM so the toast will last us through the morning class or practice session.

Today, we practice some of Saturday's sequence, took showers and ventured forth via rickshaw to FabIndia. Marj described FabIndia as Pier One Imports in Pune and that is a pretty accurate description except they have more clothing than Pier One does. The first rickshaw we took got us in the general area but apparently did not know where FabIndia actually was and he deposited us in the train station, so we walked a bit looking around for a FabIndia sign and then at some point a nice India rickshaw driver asked if we needed help and he and another nice rickshaw driver conferred and the second driver took us the rest of the way.

Christina and I both both several cute Indian ready made outfits. We each got a couple punjabi outfits and a scarf or two and some capris.... I was motivated in my new clothing acquisition by seeing myself in the full length mirror. I have been alternating these two pairs of Flax pants for the last nine days. (Flax pants for those who don't know are sort of voluminous pants with elastic waist bands. Both pairs I brought fit me when I weighed about 20 pounds more than I do now. Also, after nine days in the humidity and the rain and the wearing and I had been rolling up the waistband about four times..... Well, I would not have been doing this if I happened to have actually looked at myself in the mirror in the flat at any point. (leaving aside how bad my hair looked-I'm now embracing Christina's headband look, so people may have even more difficulty telling us apart) Gads. !!! There are not many get ups that would make one's appearance in yoga bloomers look flattering in comparison, but I have been wearing just such an ensemble since my arrival in Pune. (I happened to be wearing the least voluminous of the pair of Flax pants at the time and once I proclaimed that I was actually going to buy new pants Christina let me know that the other Flax pants looked even more unflattering....

Anyway, I am now wearing a new pair of orange linen capri pants which actually fit my waist.. Of course, actually feeling fabric around my waist caused me to plummet into a fat cloud of despair which had settled pretty deeply in by the time we had visited the most excellent German Bakery and returned home to look at the plunder we acquired. I was resting on the other bed in Christina's room watching her put up her punajbi tops and these Indian pants that can only be described as giant clouds of fabric that one wears underneath the long tunic like top... These pants were so voluminous that I ultimate refused to buy them because they just looked so silly on me. Once I told Christina about the fat cloud situation, she laughed somewhat dismissively at first and then apologized saying that she did know how difficult it was to get out from underneath the cloud once it descended.

Then, to cheer me up, she went into my room and got the Fax pants and put them next a pair of the giant punjabi pants. Then, she did a width to width comparison.. It turns out the Flax pants were actually wider across than the pants that I refused to buy!!! Christina has now banned me from wearing the Flax pants.

Anyway, it was fun to see a bit more of Pune, I still would not classify it as a destination location or anything, but the German Bakery was quite fascinating. Lots of people wearing burgundy robes from the nearby Osho Ashram and lots of European looking backpacker sorts of people. I got a great espresso, a lovey piece of pizza and a tiramisu and Christina got a Chai and a Veggie burger!! They have a menu that would be quite fun to eat through. Perhaps the most fascinating items were mashed potato plates of all sorts... Not that I am a mashed potato fan, but these looked like mashed potatoes that were flattened out and then sort of pan fried like a giant hashbrowns. Yummy...