The bangketas of Bengal

these, my friends, are pictures of me in heaven hard at work glassy-eyed scaring marlon in the process of amassing 9 pairs of sandals, roughly 40 bangles, about 15 pairs of earrings, 2 pure silk sarees, 2 saree petticoats/skirts, 3 saree blouses, 1 salwar (dress-pants-dupatta set), 3 necklaces, 6 hair clips, 2 dresses, 6 tops, 4 bags, 1 shawl, 250g of tea leaves, and 1 ring (to rule them all).

my hoard in its infancy

in case you think i'm a total freak, this inventory already includes christmas presents for people back home, plus a few presents i received in india.

oh gawd, what am i saying? i'm a shopaholic who went mad, mad, mad! kasi naman e. kapag ganito ang mga nakita mo sa bangketa, how can you resist?

dibidi dibidi? i think not

gariahat market was my first foray into the wonderland of indian shopping. gariahat is kind of like divisoria, except there are no mass-produced, cheap-ass chinese goods and everyone is really, really good at deflecting bargains. but that's okay, since the prices are so fabulously reasonable (for such unique items) that eventually you feel guilty for even trying to bargain.

muniya, tita nupur, auntie kohlani and uncle sujit took me to buy a saree on my very first day. what i took to be one saree turned out to be two, complete with matching blouses, petticoats, an armful of churi (bangles), bindi (forehead decorations), sandals, earrings and necklaces. whew.

uncle sujit absolutely refused to let me pay for anything. i puffed my thanks after him as we wove through the crowded sidewalks of gariahat. "it is my moral duty," he replied, smiling. i was like, omg this is wild! i've discovered relatives who think it's their moral duty to take me shopping!

it created an interesting dilemma. my eyes were popping out of their sockets at all the great stuff i wanted to buy, but i was deathly afraid of showing interest in anything because i knew my aunt and uncle would snap it up and buy it for me. so i decided to postpone shopping until i was relative-free.

which was at new market, in central kolkata. but i'll save that for another day.