12 blocks, dozens of street vendors selling breakfast to patrons, eating "on the go", two rain showers, where the drops nearly dried before they hit the cobblestone sidewalks, a crowded market with hawkers and incense pulling me towards their booths, and two major department stores and still no safety pins! (The traditional top & pant set for women - sawar & kameeze - includes a third piece - a long scarf that may be worn many ways...the most common, which demonstrate respect for the culture, is by draping from back to front, curving over the bustline...resulting only in my scarf falling off my shoulders constantly. I've learned in past visits that young women, first wearing the sawar @ puberty, use safety pins to cheat the look until they become accustomed to the posture and bearing to pull it off! So...I'm needing safety pins, plus it seemed like a fairly manageable task for a to-do list today, sitting in the comfort of my breakfast nook @ the Maharaja restaurant adjacent to the Choudary Estates Guest House, my temporary home before looking @ flats on Sunday.)
I did find, after three mornings of double strength Sanka instant coffee, a marvelous barista, tucked in a corner of one of the department stores, Westside. He seemed genuinely surprised I'd order a double expresso. It's a decision which obliterates another item on my to-do list - "see how cheaply you can eat for a day" @ 65 inr ($1.45 usd). He took a while to make it, reading how many beans to grind for the "grande" of LaVazza Italian coffee. Was worth the wait - hot, rich, deep flavor, Cheryl Crow on the sound system, salesclerks presumably discussing, in the beautiful, song-like Bengali language I so wish I understood, the new styles as they unpack the morning's shipment. The safety pins will wait!
Location:Kolkata, West Bengal, India
No comments:
Post a Comment