Saris and Gems

The chaos at the fish market - AKA Nalli Sari Shop.
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So on Monday, we went window shopping around Chennai's shopping district. First up, we visited Nalli - a very famous Sari shop.  This place was packed to the gills with people purchasing cloth and saris.  There were four floors, the fourth reserved for brides and containing the most elaborate saris, some of which cost up to 40,000 Rs (a lot of money, even in dollars!)

A little more about saris...  A typical one is between 7 and 9 yards long and about 1.5 yards wide.  That's a lot of fabric to wrap around a little Indian bride.  They range from a solid color with a simple border, to elaborate gold embroidered diamond encrusted designs.  The colors are bright and eye-catching and from every hue of the rainbow.  They are, in a word, magnificent.

More chaos.
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After taking in the wonders of the saris, we chose some raw silk to make a couple of blouses for me.  This is a gift from Chitra. We'll take it to a tailor and they will be made before we leave for home.

Next up was a jaunt through the hot hot sun to a jewelry shop.  Indians love 22 karat gold in all its yellow glory, and boy did we see a lot of it.  The most impressive were little girdles worn, again, by brides.  These brides must be the skinniest brides in the world, cause the girdles on display would have fit around my thigh and not my waist.  PIctures weren't allowed in the jewelry store so I stole a couple images off their website.  Tee hee.

Checking out the saris. Note that I am in my second Indian outfit.
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After a traditional South Indian lunch at Sishir's favorite local restaurant, similar to a bento box, we headed home and slept the day away.  Ahhh the joys of being on vacation.