Partying and Shopping

I missed the chance to post yesterday because we traveled outside of Gujarat to go to a party for the wedding.  Since Dhaval's state is a dry state, his family put on a cocktail party in a city called Daman that is about 1.5-2 hours away.  We left Sunday afternoon and returned on Monday afternoon.  I got to meet one of Dhaval's special friends, Srikanth.  Very interesting character.  We also met with another of their friends named Viraj.  Both were very good guys and we had a goot time at the party.  I met a ton of people at the party so there's no point in listing them all.  Suffice it to say that there was a lot of good conversation and LOTS of dancing.  I'm expecting a check from Youtube soon enough once some of the videos that I starred in hit it big.  The guy with the camera was pretty much playing film the white guy.  There was a lot of booze, a lot of food, a lot of dancing, and a great time.

Today we returned to Dhaval's house, ate lunch, and sat around.  We watched Reservoir Dogs to pass some time.  Once that was finished, we decided to go shopping for clothes to wear for the wedding.  Dhaval has convinced me to wear a traditional Indian outfit for the wedding.  We traveled to a "shopping center" which was basically a huge maze-shaped warehouse with hundreds or thousands of booths about the size of a typical storage unit you would rent.  We were looking for a particular unit - F-11 - inside the maze.  Once we got there, we removed our shoes and went into the shop.  Apparently, though, the front of the store is not where the magic happens.  We went up a TINY staircase in the back of that room to go up to the second floor.  Here there was a TON of boxes and clothes were strewn everywhere.  Apparently the shop works quite efficiently.  They show you different outfits and you pick which color you like.  From there they go find the one you want, you try it on and see what you think.  I've got to double check the name of these things but I think they're called Sherwanis.  You also get a scarf thing to match the outfit and this is called a Dupatta (again, gotta have this QA'd).  In keeping with my culture back at home, I picked out a bright purple sherwani and a gold dupatta.  This way I'll be sporting LSU colors at the wedding.  On top of that, I figure I can wear it out for tailgating in the upcoming football seasons!  Once the shopping was done, we headed downstairs to pay the bill.  Mine was fairly expensive... coming in at 4,245 Rs ($85).  My dad's was about half the price and, to top it off, Dhaval's mom bought it for him as a present since he's having such a great time here in India.

We made our way out of the maze, loaded up in the van, and headed back to the house.  Not long after we returned, they were setting up for dinner.  I have no idea what we ate but it was amazing.  It tasted almost like a veggie chili.  I think this was my favorite meal thus far in India.  After dinner the choreographer came by and we all practiced our dance routines for the wedding.  A few hours of this went by and it's pretty much time to call it a night.

I figured this week would go by quickly.  My time in India is nearing an end.  I have a feeling that time will only speed up as we go through all of the wedding festivities in the coming days.  I definitely miss my wife, my pups, and my bed.  Going home will be nice but this has been one hell of an experience that I am going to be sad when it comes to an end.

Anyway, here's a couple of quick pictures from the shopping trip.  They made me try on this other outfit (can't freaking remember what it's called) to take a picture.  I can say that I definitely had a lot of fun!