Tis the Season...

In India, tis the season to tie the knot. Adil and Khadeeja have been invited to not one, not two, but THREE weddings in the past week. Meaning naturally, Emily and I have now been invited to three weddings. Exciting huh?! The third one is actually her brothers wedding, but that should almost be counted as 2 weddings because there are so many events involved. Last night Khadeeja asked what clothes we would wear to the events, and before letting us answer called us out into their study to search through all of her saris and ghararas (traditional Muslim wedding wear) for proper 'formal attire'. So, Emily, Khadeeja and I played a little dress up, and I tried on my first sari! Aside from being extremely hard to wrap, its a beautiful piece of cloth. I'm so excited to wear one in public soon (this Thursday actually, we are attending our first wedding reception)!!

The excitement of new clothes only continues, as today I made my first trip to the local tailor. I imagined him being situated in a shop of sorts, maybe with a dressing room, something... but naturally, all my expectations were wrong (I really need to stop expecting things to be a certain way here, I am NEVER right) and we showed up to find a man perched in front of a sewing machine in a room smaller than a half-bath. I wasn't sure exactly what I was getting myself into, until he gave Khadeeja the shirts she just had made, and they were perfect! She had a shirt made that looked like it could have come out of the J.Crew catalog, for about 150 Rs. And she said that was kindof expensive for stitching. (!?!?!?!?!)  As I later discovered, the majority of women prefer to get clothes made for them from fabric, because it is cheaper and much more personal. We need to bring this fad to America!! If only visiting the tailor in Canton, Ohio was as cheap as the one in Sukdhev Vihar. Ah well. 

I also was introduced to India's version of an all-you-can-eat restaurant. They took us to a South Indian Canteen from Arunachal Praddesh, serving an endless thali -full plate including with 2 subzis (veggies), rice, dal (lentils), rotis, dahi (yogurt), multiple dipping sauces, two small soups and a sweet. You would THINK one helping would be plenty,  but in true Indian tradition, just as I came close to finishing one portion, the subzi-walla would come around and refill my plate before I could refuse. I also had the added pressures of my host mom giving me endless rotis, claiming "Rachael, your appetite has decreased so much since you joined the gym! You need to eat more!!" I found a way to finally stop the food from coming (difficult also because it was delicious) and as I write this I am still bursting at the seams. Moral of the story: Don't go to an all you can eat in India restaurant if you are accompanied by Indians. I love my host parents, but sometimes they just don't know when to stop feeding me!

The past few days I have been mulling over more detailed plans involving my ISP (Independent Study Project). I am definitely working with Jaipur Foot, but as November is coming faster than anyone could have expected, I am still trying to narrow down my topic into a focused question. Our program center is hosting a guest lecturer that has been giving talks everyday about the Social Determinants of Health as well as Health Equity in India. It is so interesting to compare and contrast the availability of treatments within a developing country and a highly developed nation, as well as how funds are being allocated to try to ease the disparity between the rich and poor in each of India's states. These lectures are helping to hone my research question, and hopefully in the next few days I'll post a more in depth description of how I'm planning on spending my last month here. Crazy that I am already planning that. If you would have asked me in June about my trip to India, I would have responded with "I'm excited, but nervous for the 30 page paper at the end!" I can say now that I'm llooking forward to being able to research a question that really does interest me (excited to write a paper, what is happening to me?!!?). AND, I can totally (somewhat) communicate in another language, with another set of characters. But that's a WHOLE different phenomenon. Speaking of that, I should probably get back to studying .... midterm on Thursday!