Peaceful weekend

Friday March 27, 2009 was "Ugadi" here in Bangalore. We are told that it is a sort of "New Years Day" in the southern Indian culture. We were considering going to the Mysore area to see a temple and a few other things in either a day trip or an overnight trip. However, we both felt very tired Thursday and we decided to stay in the area. Our driver had Friday off, so we relaxed and worked on various chores- including income tax papers and bill paying. In the later afternoon we walked to a bookstore about a mile away and then had dinner at a hotel that is near the book store. There are several bookstors in bangalore that seem reasonably good, but none of them seems to have all the books we are looking for at any time. We walked back home after the dinner and went to sleep.
On Saturday the 28th we did more chores in th morning and then went separate ways for awhile. Janet had some errand that required the car, so she went one way and Jim walked to MG (Mahatma Gandhi) Road (most towns have an MG road- its like "Washington - something" in the US.) where they have a couple more book stores. MG road is a sort of shopping center for the city and most foreigners end up there at some point. There are also some government craft shops and lots of people on the streets trying to sell stuff to the foreigners. Those who live here and have no interest in the trinkets are assumed to be tourists who just have to have this thing or that thing that they are selling. Eventually, maybe they will recognize us and know we are not buying. Jim did not find the book he wanted and rather than look at the far flung shops, he found a used copy in the UK that can be shipped at a reasonable price.
Eventually Janet and the driver picked Jim up on Brigade road- one that connects to MG road and is loaded with more shops. We then went together to a framing shop that our driver found to get some small art works framed. It is another thing that is amazingly inexpensive here. We took in 10 items and the bill came to about $11 apiece! At home, one item would have cost about as much as this whole lot! Of course, we'll see how well it turns out. Things often don't end up the way we expect them to- though it so cheap to have it done again that it still seems OK as long as they don't damage anything in the process.
Janet had drapes made for the echoing living room here. the labor was about $15. When she didn't like the way they looked, initially, the guy said he'd change it. However, it now seems OK. It is difficult to understand a situation where someone does his work for $15 and is perfectly happy to re- do some of the work at no added cost! One has to keep in mind that a large fraction of the people in India earn only about $1 a day. So, the $15 the tailor and his assistant got must have seemed pretty good... and he was a very nice man too!
We had dinner at a very nice western restaurant on Saturday night and then walked home.
On Sunday we also relaxed a bit in the morning and also did some chores. Then some friends came by and we went to lunch at a vegetarian restaurant that seems good and is also air conditioned and only about 2 blocks from our apartment. The 4 of us had a good lunch with ice cream dessert and a generous tip for $20. It is quite warm now in Bangalore so we were happy to go back to the apartment and relax a little and do more chores. The income tax stuff is largely assembled now- that is a real accomplishment!
Overall it was a fairly relaxing long weekend. Ziggy and Zoe seem happy too!