My clothes buying has been quite the experience here.\u00a0 While Forbesgunge is considered a city by Bihar standards, it is a big village by India standards.\u00a0 I have heard that there are very nice, posh shopping malls in Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata which rival the American shopping experience.\u00a0 But here in Forbesgunge, one steps back in time in many different ways, not the least of which occurs in the realm of acquiring clothing.\u00a0 Poorly lit big stalls open to the street and the incumbent noise, dust, bugs, etc.,\u00a0Forbesgunge clothing shops\u00a0 have one long counter that spans the length of the stall.\u00a0 Behind this counter are floor-to-ceiling shelves of individually packaged shirts, tops, and pants.\u00a0 In order to see anything, it is required to tell the shop clerk what is preferred (long or short shirt length; cotton, poly, or mix for material type; short- or long-sleeved; size).\u00a0 The clerk then goes and selects a collection that is bundled by size, which in the case of this American is XL.\u00a0 The clerk then goes through the bundle and pulls out samples which he (I’ve seen no women shopkeepers or clerks) thinks would be liked and what they want me to buy (not unlike American car salespeople).\u00a0 There is no such thing as browsing as I know it.\u00a0 A few times I’ve taken matters into my own hands out of shear frustration, to the surprise of the shopkeep and my Apne Aap escort.\u00a0 Additionally, the salesclerk inevitably lies about what kind of material the item is made; I’ll have requested cotton, but time and again I’ve been proffered garments with an avalanche of assurances such as “100 percent cotton, Madam.\u00a0 You like.\u00a0 Guarantee.”\u00a0 There are no fitting rooms, so I’ve had to buy the item just by holding it up to me for size.\u00a0 And, as I’ve found out after the fact, there is no ‘return’ policy, only an ‘exchange’ policy.\u00a0 Nice racket.<\/p>\n
It was my intent not to bring clothes to India but to buy them here, for several reasons:\u00a0 1) reduce the amount of stuff to pack and carry; 2) support local business; and, 3) buy culturally appropriate clothing.\u00a0 But what I did not consider:\u00a0 my body type.\u00a0 I am HUGE by Indian standards, although in the States I am a 6 – 8.<\/p>\n
So I found it very comical that the ladies, old and young, at KGBV were so concerned with my garb.\u00a0 I need to have not only an appropriate kurta (tunic) or t-shirt (loose fitting) and pants, but also a dupatta (long scarf) to finish the outfit.\u00a0 When I refused the dupatta on the grounds it makes me very hot and sweaty, I was perceived as being unfinished and in danger of sticking out.\u00a0 Well, LOL.\u00a0 As if a scarf will hide the fact that I am five to six inches taller than most women here, that I have light colored skin not seen in this area, and that I have almost platinum blonde hair seen only on\u00a0old people here.<\/p>\n
So I am learning to embrace my different-ness; it does afford me a freedom that\u00a0is rare for me in my current surroundings.\u00a0 I say “hello”, wave, and smile at\u00a0the strangers that sit down to gawk at me in\u00a0train stations, at market stalls, and along village roads.\u00a0 I have yet to be greeted back by anything more\u00a0ominous than\u00a0downcast glances (usually children), but am mostly responded to with smiles or astonished looks that I could possibly see and acknowledge that individual.\u00a0 It is a truly unnerving\u00a0experience, that just my smile can give someone such validation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My clothes buying has been quite the experience here.\u00a0 While Forbesgunge is considered a city by Bihar standards, it is a big village by India standards.\u00a0 I have heard that there are very nice, posh shopping malls in Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata which rival the American shopping experience.\u00a0 But here in Forbesgunge, one steps back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=149"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151,"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions\/151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}