India Trip – Day Eight

The eighth day of the trip is a bit special.  Today, Amma & Nanna (Sridevi’s parents) are throwing us a party!  If you remember, we struck out on the gold front yesterday, so today, we try again.  This time, we are after a gold necklace for Sridevi and a simple ring for me.

We have to get Sridevi’s sari altered at the store that made it, so we stop in at the family gold jewelry store again and in fairly short order, make our decision…  Although we will bring Amma in for advice before making a final selection, it is after all, her favorite Jeweler.

We also found a simple gold ring for me as well, so it is off to home to get ready for the party (plenty of finery to climb into for sure!).

Back home, we take care of the mundane and get the new US based phone that we installed last night up and running, requiring several phone calls to get account changes made

In no time, it is 5:30 and we are in the car on the way to the hotel for the party.  One quick stop on the way to collect our jewelry and right on time we get to the party.  Of course that means that we are 15 minutes earlier than anyone else, but that gives us time to primp, prime and worry.

Sridevi is especially gorgeous in her deep red sari.  In fact though, the finery on display is amazing.  Her mother and grandmother stand out as well.  The colors span the range, from bright hues to dark, rich colors.  This is India at its most colorful.

This is a chance for the whole community to look me over.  Everyone from the family lawyer to almost every teacher who works with Amma arrives.  Along the way, it slowly dawns on me that I’m not only the only white guy in the room, but I’m also the only male in the room who has been put into a full Indian outfit.  Every woman in the room is in a sari and every male but me is in “Western” outfits.  I guess that makes me the lucky guy in the room.

In the middle of the party we exchanged our gifts and Sridevi wore the necklace and earrings, after placing the ring on my finger…

At any rate, we dined well and made
our way through a very enjoyable evening and in no time we are beginning to usher people out the door as they make their goodbyes.

The truth is that I met about 80 people who hold Amma & Nanna in high regard and are truly making sure that I’m a good choice.  Luckily, I think I have passed muster, not a minor thing for me as the only westerner in the city of 2.8 million souls, or so it feels at times…

Back home, we are soon off to bed, which is a good thing, because we are to be up at 5:30 to catch a train to the mountains…