Sari, Carly!!

Last night I was at Jacob and Leah's house and asked Leah if I could borrow one of her saris to wear this weekend for Bob's play (remember Bob, the volunteer from Madison who is putting on a play in a village near Vijayawada?).  I thought that since I'm going to the village, it would be a nice touch and nice surprise for Bob.  I didn't have time to shop for one of my own, and Leah and I are roughly the same size (where it counts for saris at least), so I asked to borrow one of hers.  Some of you, but probably not most, are aware that I love dressing up in other people's clothes.  And what could be more fun than other people's INDIAN clothes!!!  Here is a pic of me wearing Leah's sari last night;

 

I brought it to work with me this morning, and Geetha (office tea woman) took me into one of the storage rooms to help me to put it on (it's quite a process).  Everyone at work loved that I was wearing a sari, but they were upset because it wasn't bright enough!  So Geetha called her husband, and within 10 min he arrived at the office with 2 more saris.  I was hurried back into the room where another woman, Judy, changed me into this sari:

 

Everyone was happier about this one (although I prefer the first one).  The funny part of this picture is that i'm also wearing my shoes, which is definitely not normal to wear with sari.  While in the office, I dont wear any shoes, so it looks ok.  But today our boss, Ramki, took me, Jacob, Dr Sathish and 2 visitors out to lunch, so I had to wear shoes.   I found that being a white woman wearing a sari in public gets me more stares than when I go running!  But also, a lot more smiles.  Also, I had flowers in my hair which Leah picked up for me on her run this morning, so my outfit was extra special!  Everyone, including me, is all smiles today!

PS- here is a bonus pic that I took in the shared auto this morning.  Shared auto is a slightly larger auto rickshaw that only goes on one route, costs around Rs. 10 no matter how far you go.  You can't tell, but it's crammed with me, Jacob, 2 other women in our row and then 4 more women in front of us (plus 2 men next to the driver).  Example of one style of flowers in the hair;