For anyone who hasn't read the book, it's a story about a woman who has a personal crisis of sorts, followed by the realization that she's lost herself along the way. The book/movie chronicles her journey across the world to find herself again. Personally, I found the book more rewarding than the movie, but I thought the story line was great.
I must've fallen asleep during the movie and woke up around 11am! I don't even know the last time I did that!
I woke up and made dinner for tonight (chickpea curry with rice pilaf) as I was planning to be out for the remainder of the day.
Around 1pm one of my best friends, really more like a sister, came by to pick me up to take me shopping at one of the local indian stores. We perused the myriad of outfits, with dizzying patterns, and some of the most ornate embroidery you'll ever see. Indians are not afraid of colour, and if you can imagine a colour, chances are it exists in some way, shape or form in an Indian outfit.
There are three main types of outfits for women -
saris - fabric ranging from 4-9 metres in length, wrapped around the body in a multitude of styles
lehengas (long or short top with a long skirt),
and a salwar kameez (usually a long top with MC hammer-like pants, that are either really loose and billowy like super-wide bell-bottoms, or tighter like leggings)
I finally made the decision to purchase two sets of fabric which were both unfinished products (i.e. I need a seamstress to sew the outfits for me). I asked the shop owner if it would be possible to get both sewn by Wednesday (for pick-up) and he asked if I could come back on Monday for all the measurements to be taken. Unfortunately, with all of the events tomorrow, there's no way I'd be able to squeeze in an early morning 30 km round trip in. Besides, if the measurements were wrong, I'd have to make this trip a few times and that's just not feasible with everything else that needs to be done.
He asked what part of town I live in, and when I told him, he said that the seamstress was in the same part of town. As it turns out, I can almost LITERALLY see her backyard from my backyard! I've chosen to get both made in the salwar kameez style. I'm not big on skirts or dresses, so the pants will suit me just fine. For anyone who has never tried on an Indian outfit, let me say that as ornate as they may look, they are some of the most comfortable clothing you'll ever wear. I'll head over to the seamstress in the morning and get measured so that she can start sewing. I can't wait to see the finished product.
Here's a funny story - As I was chatting with the shop owner telling him what style of suit I wanted, he asked if I wanted "pajammie" pants. My friend overheard it, and asked me if he was asking if I wanted to wear pajamas. I had to explain that "pajama style" pants don't mean the same thing as pajamas do in North America. She then said it was weird that we took the word "pajama" from the English language. I had to tell her that it was actually the British who took the word from Indians during the British colonial rule of India from 1858 - 1947. Some other examples of everyday words borrowed from Hindi/Urdu/Arabic are: shampoo, bungalow, avatar, orange, pepper, and punch! There are many!!
After shopping, we went down to the Forks and browsed for a bit. It was so great to be out of the house, away from all of the commotion. She dropped me off at home with just enough time to gather some stuff for dinner over at my sister-in-law's home (Sharron) for Easter.
Sharron is one of the MOST AMAZING chefs I know, so imagine showing up at her place and the smell of Easter ham is wafting throughout the house! Fortunately, she also made several vegetarian side dishes, so along with what I had brought from home, we didn't feel too left out. She even made an out-of-this-world sweet potato pie with a pecan crust for dessert, and it was eggless and meatless (i.e. the crust was not made with lard).
While we were eating dessert, we started to recount the story of my dad's passing and all of the signs. When we got to the part about heading out to the crematorium, and how we had no idea where we were going or if we were even going in the right direction, my mother-in-law pipes up and says that she was there JUST the day before making plans for her own funeral!!
What's further ironic is that my mother-in-law grew up just a hop-skip-and-a-jump away from the crematorium (long before the cemetery or crematorium were placed there). Up until Wednesday, none of us had ever even heard of this cemetery or crematorium, and then, within a 24-hour period, ALL of us were there!?
We chatted a bit longer and then headed out.
Tomorrow will be another eventful day. We hope to pick up the ashes and dispose of them (as per my father's wishes) before noon, when the movers will show up at my mom's house to move her belongings into storage.
I really haven't been affected by the selling of my childhood home, but I have to say, tomorrow might be a little sad. Saying goodbye to my Dad last Tuesday, and now the house less than a week later ... it'll be interesting, if nothing else.
Wish me luck with the seamstress tomorrow. Did I mention, she doesn't speak English? This ought to be fun!
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