Globe Corner Blogs

Sari, Mehndi, & Bangles! -- photo by Nicole

In India, everything is beautiful. Well, okay. Not everything.  But the women are gorgeous. Stunning. In fact, I noticed this even before I got to the subcontinent. While sitting on the plane and waiting to take off, anxiously anticipating the twenty-something hour flight from San Francisco to Bangalore, it was hard not to notice that the airline attendants — all women — could pass for models. It was also hard not to notice my dirty, holey cargo pants and extra baggy, don’t-harass-me shirt in comparison to their sleek pencil skirts and perfectly coiffed hair.

It was a theme that would be repeated during my stay in India. I even heard local women in Bangalore complain about the appearance of backpackers one day. “They come from all these rich countries and they are always dressing the same. They look so dirty and smelly…” Well, I could only assume they weren’t talking about me. But I decided then that I was going to ditch my unisex travel uniform of khaki pants and boring black top. I was going to dress like the beautiful Indian women I saw everyday: like the South Indian housewives who pinned jasmine flowers in their hair and dripped with gold and jewels for only a trip to the neighborhood market; like the professionals who floated through offices in silk salwar kameez; like the college students who sauntered through the high-end shops on MG Road in designer jeans.  In short, I decided to look like a lady instead of another “dirty” backpacker.  I decided to buy a sari.

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Rough Guide South India

In a few hours, I’ll be on my way to India. I’ve never been before, and it’s a little hard to fathom. I have not yet stepped off the plane and am already discombobulated and overwhelmed. The big stuff is taken care of: I’ve got my tickets, and my visa is on the way. My doctor has inoculated me against a number of diseases I’ve never even heard of, and I have a giant vat of anti-malarials resting safely in my backpack. (I have placed them there for safekeeping, in case I forget them in a frenzy of last minute packing.  Although it is equally likely that I will forget that I have already packed them and panic when I can’t find them…)

But it’s the smaller things that have been churning around in my brain. I’ve been scouring the travel blogs for any helpful bits of last minute advice for a woman going off to the subcontinent by her li’l ole self. (A blogger on the India Mike forums said she always carries a door stopper with her to supplement a lock; there is another post that lists the addresses of stores in the Bangalore area that sell Cobra brand Mace.)

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