I'm So Sari

My mom sent me an email saying it was too bad that I wasn't going to be home to see the presidential inauguration on TV. Little did she know I would be watching it at a black tie inaugural ball hosted by the Ex-Patriots Abroad group of Hyderabad. Since the inauguration was held in the morning in the US, here in India we could watch it in the evening while sipping cocktails and eating a fancy catered dinner (all of which cost less than 20 dollars. I love Rupees). A few weeks ago a group of students from my program were eating out when they were approached by a woman who runs the Ex-Pats club who invited us all to come to the event. The majority of us (about 20 people) decided to go since it was not only an exciting, historic event, but it was a good opportunity to get all dressed up.

"Dressed up" in India means fancy saris, and sari shopping was quite an experience. Two of my friends here are staying in a homestay and this weekend I got to tag along with them to the sari store. Their host-mom came with us, which seemed like a good choice...if you ever need to go sari shopping I would recommend bringing an opinionated Indian woman with you. The store had shelves and shelves of sparkly, shiny, silky saris and all of us American girls were completely overwhelmed and befuddled. We had every color and pattern to choose from and when faced with the decision of simple vs. gaudy I picked gold with rhinestones. I suppose I'm not really one for subtlety.

Sari tying is perhaps even more complicated than sari shopping. The study-abroad program has connected us all with Indian "peer-tutors" and a whole army of them arrived last night to help dress us up. Who would have thought that five yards of fabric could turn into a lovely dress just with a few safety pins? Tying the saris was a pretty involved process but apparently it doesn't stop with the dress; in the world of Indian clothing any part of your body which can be adorned should be. The Indian girls helping us with the saris couldn't understand why none of us owned more jewelry. Luckily, I had picked up some pretty sparkly shoes the other day that met the minimum glitz requirement for footwear.


The ball was held in a swanky bar and I was surprised to see so many people there. They were serving an interesting variety of beverages including the "Obamagranate pomegranate martini." The tasty food consisted of American favorites like mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. Everyone gathered to watch the inauguration on a big projection screen, and that was immediately followed by a very strange celebratory dance party. The Indian DJ selected a very eclectic mix of American music to play, dragging hip-hop favorites of the late 1990s screaming from the vaults along with techno-remixes of Pink Floyd. Nothing says patriotism like booze, pie, TV, and dancing.









Just a note...Tomorrow I'm leaving with a group of friends for our first out-of-Hyderabad adventure. We'll be staying in Aurungabad and traveling to some cool caves and temples and such. We will return on Monday so I won't blog for a few days, but when I get back I'll probably have a lot of cool things to say.