What a Day!

I am spending the weekend at my sister's place. When I came my niece was sleeping. I too decided to take a short nap. When she woke up after an hour she demanded 'mummy' and I started distracting her by various tricks, then I asked her to say 'masi' (aunt) and for the first time she said masi! Of course, I am in the seventh heaven.

Then in the hot summer afternoon she fancied a walk. So, we went down and I was strolling with her in a shaded area. I was singing (and I dare to sing only when I am completely alone, my husband, and everyone else, tease me endlessly whenever I hum even by mistake and I don't blame them) mein pyasa tum sawan, mein dil tum mere dhadkan, ho na? I must have paused a little while, cause Vasu crooned hun tou! Then it became a game between us, now she sings both the verses Ho Na, hun tou. Oh! What a day it has been. (The rough translation of this song is, that I am singing "You are my pleasant rainfall, you are my heartbeat" and then I ask, "are you?" That is where Vasu chimes in "I am")

And I wonder what kind of a lousy masi I am that I never blogged about Vasu's and my shopping trip together. My brother-in-law was admitted in the hospital sometime in the last semester (it was not so serious but it needed hospitalization). My husband and I alternated with the baby sitting duties. My sister had completely freaked out with worrying about her husband and our complete lack of baby sitting skills. But Vasu and I decided to chill out. There is a mall next to the hospital and we went shopping! I am always on a lookout for decent formal shirts and we entered a shop. There was music playing and Vasu had a lot of fun dancing. I picked up what I consider my best shirt till date and later for the first time I bought some jwellery for Vasu. Now usually I can never for my life pick up decent clothes and Sesha's expert comments make it all the worse but I guess picking up the dress also depends on the right company!

PS. I took the picture off after reading this.

Shopping in Leh, India

When I visited Leh in June, 2005 the primary reason was to trek. It could not be as I developed a bad stomach after a few days. We suddenly found a lot of time to spend in the city, and it was not in our original plan.

The markets in Leh are colorful and I often found myself gawking at various display windows or roadside stalls. The problem was, we had made no plans for any significant shopping so we had no proper budget for it. The above photo is of my husband trying to go local!

The thing that fascinated me most was the display of jewelry at the roadside stalls. As a rule I hardly wear any, apart from earrings, but I found the designs and colors so beautiful that I ended up buying two pendants and a pair of earrings. I also had a chat will the ladies selling the jewelry. I feel the prices in Leh are a bit high if you earn in Indian rupees as, they decide it by the value of dollar. If a thing is priced at Rupees 500, it is actually less than $ 10, and this pricing makes sense as there are so many foreign tourist in Leh.

I guess the local Moti Market beats the Main Market Leh hollow in terms of colorfulness. The above photograph was taken there. My husband bought a second hand ‘down’ jacket from here, which we hope to use in our next trek.

The other thing I fell in love with is T-shirts. Without a prior budget allocation I managed to buy four. I am wearing one right now. It is green in color and has two Lamas saluting each-other, depicted on it. My nephews have one where two skeletons are dancing together. I got one for my brother-in-law Amrit that has a dragon on it. My husband has one with the slogan 'Yak Yak Yak Yak Ladakh' with lot of Yak faces on it. For my sis Alka I got a shawl. All this shopping was done in main market Leh. Prices vary from shop to shop, so do not rush into buying.

The above photograph is taken on the Fort Road, in Leh. The most beautiful and eye catching displays in Leh are the curious. The antique pieces look so fascinating and just waiting to be picked. However, on inquiring about their prices, I found them expensive.