Sunday 18-April (5pm): I do it myself!

It’s no surprise to any of you that my first complete sentence was “I do it myself”… However, in Bangalore that has been difficult to put into practice. I have an extensive set of well-intended ‘handlers’ here and every move is supported by a team insistent on my complete happiness while in Bangalore. (I know that sounds lofty, but these guys take incredible care of me!) On every previous trip to Bangalore I have been escorted all over the city by my work network (i.e., friends and family). However, this weekend I insisted on going it alone. My Shopping Diva buddy is getting married and was off in marriage class all day (hmmmn… now there’s a thought: marriage class… somewhere along the way I missed that training!)… and with her out of pocket, I took the opportunity to exercise my independence and DO IT MYSELF! Needless to say, it was completely liberating.

I took a rickshaw from the hotel to Commercial Street -- my very first solo rickshaw ride… and then I tore all over Commercial Street. Now those of you familiar with my travels (and my blogs) know that Commercial Street is one of my favorite shopping zones in the world. It’s not just one ‘street’ – but a labyrinth of streets and alleys (locally known as ‘sidelanes’ – where the real deals are). I have shopped with good guidance so much that I know where I want to go… and all afternoon I enjoyed visiting my favorite spots and spontaneously stopping in to explore new ones.

It’s interesting when you’re a foreigner and out ‘solo’… You do meet more people. And I find that in Bangalore – even in the lower-end type shopping areas – everyone either knows enough English to get by or really really wants to work with you to know enough English to communicate. All afternoon I went in store after store and fell more in love with Bangalore and the beautiful people here. When I went to visit my favorite ‘one-gram’ gold shoppe – the shopkeeper I normally work with was not in, and his mother, Maneesha, was tending the shop for the afternoon. I spent an hour there with her… in the basement of a shopping complex, drinking tea and talking about the volcano eruptions in Iceland impacting world travel. I’ve known it a long time, but it’s such a small world… I mentioned my friend Michelle, and it turned out that Maneesha was holding a couple of bangles for Michelle for her wedding… so I picked up the bangles to take to Michelle that night at dinner that we had planned. I know this sounds overly simple, but to think that a girl from Tennessee could be in Bangalore and wind up basically running an errand for a pal – picking up something at a shop for her… well, I just thought that was pretty cool.

I also bought some shoes (no brainer, there) and some silver jewelry (duh, I know) and had a skirt and a dress stitched. I am still amazed that I can go pick out fabric (from literally thousands of fabrics to select from) and walk into a shop and draw out what I want – and then return in an hour or two to pick it up. I was feeling so confident, I even used two different tailors I found along the way and then returned to both to pick up completed (and totally lovely) new clothes. If I get a chance, I’m going back for another couple of summer dresses.

Of course, I got completely ripped off (according to my ‘handlers’ who I met for dinner that night). My rickshaw ride into Commercial Street was 50 Rs (about a dollar)… and the ride back was 80 Rs ($1.60). I stopped and paid 30 Rs. for some jasmine that only should have cost me 5 Rs – but I figure sixty cents USD is a small price to pay for that really really awesome fragrance in my hotel room. It’s all relative – and in the big scheme of things, I may overpay fifty cents for some flowers… but the experience of an afternoon exploring on my own and meeting new people… well, you just can’t put a pricetag on that.