Yesterday while raising into updog I had a flash...I could buy a saree and have it made into a dress for the Melbourne Cup party I’ll be attending less than 24 hours after arriving in Sydney. No slow transition for me! I called my tailor, Nissar, and asked him if it was possible to convert a saree into a cocktail dress in less than a week. “Yes, Madam, possible.” So after breakfast at Alia’s off I went to Badsha’s to saree shop. I took Jocelyn with me for another opinion and we had a great time as, true to Badsha’s tradition they pulled every saree off their shelves that remotely fit the description of what I was looking for. I narrowed it down to 6 by the time Nissar arrived.
He showed me pictures of other dresses he’d done and I narrowed that down to a choice of two. Coincidentally both were made by Cathryn, the previous inhabitant of the apartment I currently live in. He and I discussed how the various sarees could work with these two patterns and I decided on the one that was my first choice anyway. It’s electric blue with a bit of a pattern through the material. The bit that is meant to go over the shoulder, which is always the most decorative part of the saree, is blue and green with gold sparkly bits running through it. It will be transformed into a strapless A line, fairly tight fitting and flared at the bottom. I think it will be gorgeous! Now I just need gold shoes (he’s making a matching bag).
After the myriad of measurements I tentatively asked him if my measurements had changed between now and July, when he made my other clothes. After consulting his book he said, “Why yes, Madam, you have taken 1 and 1/2 inches from your bust.” NOT the news I was looking for. The good news is though that, since I’ve been in India, I’ve also lost 1 1/2 inches from hips and tummy and even 1/2 from those pesky thighs! This, despite the fact that I regularly eat 3 pieces of Bruno’s french toast or two big pieces of Santosha’s home made bread every morning. We won’t even talk about the frequent gelato trips or the once weekly hot fudge sundae from the Corner House that I enjoy.
My time is definitely coming to a close though. I have shipped presents to friends and started sorting through my own stuff (what to take with me, what to ship (a lot!) and what to leave here in a trunk for my next trip back.
Last night was my last Kirtan at Auntie Ji’s (an aging music teacher that is house bound but really enjoys the yoga students coming to her). I cried. Partially because it hit me that I’m really leaving India after 4 months and partly because Mike was singing a chant to the Mother that he’d written and it’s just beautiful!
We were lucky enough to have Richard on the violin (he’s excellent and the sweet, sad sound adds so much to Kirtan) and of course, Ganesh on the Tablas.
The rest of the past week has really been spent resting (not much pool time though as we seem to be having a second monsoon season) shopping for last minute items and saying goodbye to others who have left. Ken and Maev to Goa, Christian to New Zealand and others I was less close to for other parts of the world. Goodbyes are not as sad though here, there’s a definite feeling that we’ll see each other again. The sad goodbye will be when my plane takes off from Bangalore and I leave India, the country that, for all its foibles, has a firm grip on my heart.
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