Fabric Friday!!!

Friday was a quiet day, except I did decide to go out and walk the other direction….away from the grocery store. 

I have noticed that there is not as much outright gawking at me as I walk, so they must be getting used to this crazy white woman!!!

I had walked a couple of blocks when this sign caught my eye, and if you know me at all, you know that the work FABRIC is always an eye catcher, although I am not exactly sure what “Matchings and Creation” mean!!!

I spent a few minutes looking at the packages of fabric that were designed to be used on Sari’s.  Then the shopkeeper said the fateful words…..”Follow me”.   I did follow him up the stairs and was met by this wonderful sight….

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Now, none of these fabrics are cotton but are gorgeous silks, chiffons and wonderful embroidered pieces.

I picked out one piece that I wanted and said that I needed 1 meter.  The salesman looked at me quizzically and said that one meter wouldn’t be enough to go around my waist.   I assured him that I was not making clothing but rather would use the fabrics for decorating.  Amazingly, from that point on EVERY fabric in the store was great for decorating…..he was a very good salesman!!!

He patiently cut fabric for me, often stopping to show me another piece that I might like.

At one point I had pulled a bolt out of its place on the shelf and then couldn’t get it back in properly   He came over to help and I apologized to him.  He laughed and said “No…..MY job”.

A few doors down I found a wonderful store that sold bangles….LOTS and LOTS of bangles……

I was very excited to find this store and thought that I would come out with my wallet lighter, BUT unfortunately all of them were too small to get over my hand.   I have a couple of sets that I bought here in 2008 and they still fit fine so I  guess that the manufacturers  have made changes in sizes since then!!   I have looked at several other shops and still haven’t found any that will fit.

The thing that I will remember about this shop was a young man (may 9 or 10 years old) and his father at the back of the shop.   The father was busy opening up packages of items to put on the shelves and I could tell that he was encouraging his son to come and help me.   It took several minutes for the young man to summon the courage to talk to me, but eventually he did come over to help me.   I was really sad that I couldn’t find anything to buy from him!!!

A bit further down the street brought me to the Hanuman Statue and Temple.  The statue was right at the front of the property and various people were walking around it and worshiping.

Inside the courtyard there was a community center and a water station where people can come and fill their water jugs.

There was the main temple building….

….and several smaller altars…..

On the walk back to Mandara, I passed these two guys carrying a large steel bar on a motorcycle…..

I wanted to show these bowls that are sold in the local hardware store…..

I know that they look like cooking bowls and you might think that they were being used in the kitchen, but in fact they are used on construction sites, to move bricks, rock, sand or, in this case, concrete…..

And, in many cases, it is the women who are doing this particular job!!!

I have come to recognize many of the Rangoli styles in our neighborhood.   This woman loves to do echo line designs…..

Remember that she is not drawing these on with chalk but is pouring out bits of rice flour.  I cant imagine how she gets the lines so perfect!!!

The lunch at NCBS was excellent as usual, but had some different flavors and included a boiled egg with the rice…..

It was a good day!!!