After meeting him at the (crowded) airport at 4a on Saturday, we spent Sunday fighting our way through the Pondy Bazaar. We visited a gorgeous fabric shop where, after climbing some stairs, winding through rolls and rolls of fabric, and descending into an annex, we found the men's section. Booth picked out beautiful pure wool for suits, and fancy white linen and cotton for dress shirts. After inquiring about a tailor, the guy behind the counter called his buddy on his cell phone. The tailor showed up 5 minutes later, grabbed our bag of fabric, and began walking briskly. We assumed we should follow ... Ten minutes later, we found ourselves at John Tailor's AC, where our guide and another man whipped a tape measure all over Booth and had us out of there in 5 minutes. We'll see how the suits/shirts turn out?
That night we heard incessant fireworks going off, so decided to see what the commotion was about. After dodging rickshaws, motorcycles, and cars as we crossed the street, we found a small alleyway crowded with people. We watched for a while, then decided to walk through the small dark corridor. Within 100 feet of entering, the crowd parted, cheered, encouraged us to take off our shoes, and turned on bright video cameras and SLR's. We were motioned to line up and, one by one, enter into a circle of people to be blessed (meaning they put a towel around our shoulders like a cape). Then smile for the video and still cameras while everyone applauded. Afterward, with our cape draped around our shoulders, we lined up to pay homage at the mini temple nearby. People were giving bananas, limes, and onions as gifts, as well as money. We contributed ten rupees ($0.20), and Booth was given some colored powder to make a dot on his forehead.
We walked away in a daze ... only wish one of the many cameras was one of ours so we would have something to prove the experience was real!
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