Today was all about finishing some of the shopping and packing up. I bought so much that we had to ship some of it back in boxes. Thanks to a local courier service we were able to get the job done. We stopped by a temple to mark the end of my trip which was beautiful inside but I didn't feel like I should be taking pictures. But, marking the entrance of the temple was this plant called a Krishna Tulsi. It is used a lot in Hindu ceremonies and is a favorite of one of the Hindu gods, Lord Krishna. I have to say I was sad to leave Bangalore. It was an amazing trip and I will miss Abhay's family. I am very happy that I will be seeing everyone again soon in December.
Nearing the end of our trip we did a lot of last minute shopping and collected items from the various tailors around the city. So, I'm going to just show you a video of a ride in an autorickshaw (the little taxi cars) and various street signs I found interesting.
Tomorrow is a festival day for Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth and entire area is preparing for the day. The pictures show the numerous street and market vendors selling flowers, fruit and other items. Except, these first two pictures are of us getting lunch at a place that is a "fast food" style eating establishment. You can see the food counter below where you hand over your ticket but first you have to place and pay for your order (second picture).
The above picture is of a woman selling fresh mango leaves which are hung above doorways .
We stopped at a boutique tailor today to drop off one of my blouses for the wedding. The woman who owns the business has several men on staff doing custom embroidery work which was amazing to watch. Me trying on a sari - which was beautiful but I didn't buy it. I took a video of how a sari is typically displayed if a customer wants to see how it will look on - and you don't want to stand there like I am above. What an expert!
Since we had so much to be stitched before I leave, we had to spread our tailoring needs around town. Today we went over to a fancy blouse tailor Amma has used in the past. You can see all the different styles the tailor offers in hanging in the back.
We also dropped off some sarees to be finished at the tailor. When you buy a pure silk sari, the ends are finished like this: But, you can get it finished so it will stay much nicer, longer like these different styles below: The tailor snipped a piece of material from each unstitched blouse to attach to our receipt. I was fascinated by his receipt book with all its little pieces of sari material sticking out. After the tailor, we stopped at Bhavani Bangles to get . . . bangles!Basically, you bring in the sari you need bangles for and the guys in the shop put together a set of bangles for you to match. They can combine many different kinds of bangles to make a really good looking set. My selections half-way through the process.Bhavani also sells lots of costume jewelry sets. My purchases lined up for check out. As I said above, we had to spread our tailoring needs around town. At the end of the day we went to Commercial Street to deposit our final set of blouses to be stictched.
We stopped by a temple to mark the end of my trip which was beautiful inside but I didn't feel like I should be taking pictures. But, marking the entrance of the temple was this plant called a Krishna Tulsi. It is used a lot in Hindu ceremonies and is a favorite of one of the Hindu gods, Lord Krishna.
I have to say I was sad to leave Bangalore. It was an amazing trip and I will miss Abhay's family. I am very happy that I will be seeing everyone again soon in December.
The meter in the autorickshaw.
The above picture is of a woman selling fresh mango leaves which are hung above doorways .
Me trying on a sari - which was beautiful but I didn't buy it.
I took a video of how a sari is typically displayed if a customer wants to see how it will look on - and you don't want to stand there like I am above. What an expert!
Appa's mother and father who I got to visit with everyday.
Appa's mother's sister also stopped by one night to visit.
Srihari, one of Abhay's cousins who I got to hang out with a lot along with his sister Shruthi (not pictured - but in earlier posts).
We also dropped off some sarees to be finished at the tailor. When you buy a pure silk sari, the ends are finished like this:
But, you can get it finished so it will stay much nicer, longer like these different styles below:
The tailor snipped a piece of material from each unstitched blouse to attach to our receipt.
I was fascinated by his receipt book with all its little pieces of sari material sticking out.
After the tailor, we stopped at Bhavani Bangles to get . . . bangles!
Basically, you bring in the sari you need bangles for and the guys in the shop put together a set of bangles for you to match. They can combine many different kinds of bangles to make a really good looking set. 
My selections half-way through the process.
Bhavani also sells lots of costume jewelry sets.
My purchases lined up for check out.
As I said above, we had to spread our tailoring needs around town. At the end of the day we went to Commercial Street to deposit our final set of blouses to be stictched.
