Getting Ready to Leave

Goods as far as the eye can  see.

This morning I woke up at 4am and realized I hadn't booked a flight for my son for Christmas. He could book his own flight, but he offered to escort our daughter, Kamala, who  is handicapped to LA for Christmas. He will miss his own children over the holidays, so I didn't want to leave him alone.  Getting the flight took some time, and then it was 6 and Rama came in with my morning coffee. So there was no sense in going back to bed.

At 8am the taxi driver, Ouvrir. arrived to take me to Delhi Network, an organization for foreign women in Delhi. They meet every Tuesday morning and trade stories, find out where to buy things and generally sit around and complain about their frustrations. Don't get me wrong, I would have been a lot happier my first year in India if I had been able to join a similar organization. No one feels as alone as I did and the women  know there are others who understand their plight.

 I had a good friend, Audrey, who was married to an Indian, and who had been in India for at least four years before I arrived. She was great, but she  lived in Ghaziabad and came into Delhi on the weekends.  In the 70s there just weren't that many people who lived on the economy. Those with the embassy privileges had their own food, booze and whatever else they needed. Business people and academics were stuck with the economy and aside from some exquisite materials to make clothes out of, there was little we could buy.

Okay, I am getting off the subject. I dropped in on my doctor and got some medicine and then went shopping for my grandchildren.  Every year we have a reunion, and I buy outfits from a different part of India. We take photos and sometimes one of the kids wants to wear the costume for the rest of the vacation. That makes me happy. But the triplets are only five and they won't want to dress up for many more years, so I have to get them while the getting's good.

Who knows how long the girls will enjoy the dresses. It depends on how much they like fancy beadwork and bright colors. These dresses are really fancy.

The Assam Emporium

Shopping is always tiring. The hundreds of things you can choose from, in the markets or in the shops.  It is so overwhelming. I have learned that I must know exactly what I want to buy before I go, or I drop over from exhaustion in one hour. And let me tell you, it is not my age. Even at 30 I couldn't handle the assault on all my senses.