Paltan Bazar

Saturday morning Alka (a computer programmer at WII who is guiding me around) and I went shopping at Paltan Bazar, which is the main street of shops in Dehra Dun. Stores lined a narrow alleyway, which was packed with people, motorcycles, and the occasional man-drawn cart. The store fronts beckoned with colorful saris, glittering sweets, moving toys, and clerks who begged me to enter. Beggars (small, dirty children, a woman with white pigment-spotted skin, and a man with injured legs on a rolling platform) followed at our heels until we gave them 1-rupee coins (which, by the way, is 1/40 of a dollar).

Alka, my guide


I bought a salwar kamis, which is the Indian outfit made of a long shirt, wide pants, and a scarf. It's purple with tiny white flowers and gold sequins, and was basically the only color that wouldn't make me stand out like a highlighter (Indian women wear color as if its the 1980's: hot pink, florescent yellow, neon green...). I also bought a long shirt to wear over jeans. Alta also bought me several packs of bindi's for my forehead (which I feel self-conscious wearing, but they are beautiful).


After wearing the salwar kamis yesterday, my respect for Indian women skyrocketed. That thing is HARD! The scarf kept falling off my shoulders and getting stuck in my backpack and in my chair...the shirt flew up in the wind Marilyn Monroe-style as I walked, and I kept tripping over the pant legs. I can't even imagine the struggles I would experience in a sari! Alka says she will show me how to wear one, but I seriously doubt I will take on that challenge.

Did I mention that I have an office the size of an auditorium? Ok, maybe it's not that large, but it certainly feels like it. It is directly next to Dr. Rawat's (my adviser) office and I share it with another grad student named Umesh. It has a desk and a phone and a balcony (!)...sniff, sniff, I'm a real graduate student now! Or, at least I can fake it for 9 months.