Day 2 of the pre wedding preparations saw chaos in motion. Trying to co-ordinate 14 people and a three year old, for lunch and shopping may seem like a fairly simple task but in reality and amidst Calcutta’s very own brand of pandemonium, it was no picnic. We managed to get to the airport bright and early to meet the 2 latest arrivals from the UK, Rich and Nadine who arrived looking frazzled and dazed but delighted to have finally reached the end of a very long journey. Rich revealed that he’d slept for only 2 of the past 48 hours but nevertheless was up for the shopping expedition which we had planned for everyone to pick up their gear for the wedding reception. So after a delicious lunch during which I suddenly remembered that I had left everyone’s sarees at the guesthouse and had to charge back to pick them up so they would be able to select bangles to match, we headed to New Market. Imagine trying to steer a large party of foreigners through the dark twisted interiors of New Market, whilst from all sides hawkers and salesmen and beggars and scruffy street urchins pulled at clothes and tried to touch bright blonde locks of hair and pale skin, hoping to appeal to the soft hearted westerners who would be more than likely to dip into pockets give generously.
We headed first to pick up sherwanis for the guys …. And waited and waited … and waited … as they chased around to find a cashpoint. Apparently the UK banks have introduced new tougher security rules which basically means that none of our lot were able to get any money out of the ATMs so everyone was in a bit of a panic. Somehow they managed to beg borrow and steal enough rupees to get by, and joined us for the sherwani shopping. Boys all looked like white maharajahs in their gorgeous outfits, and I think they primped and preened more than the women. Next, salwar shopping for the girls. Having dispatched the boys to the Oberoi coffee shop, girls were free to shop to their hearts’ content – oohing and sighing over stunning fabrics bejeweled and glittering, shimmering and shining.
Interesting to see the British dealing with the mayhem that can be India. Brits are so used to having their lives measured out in 15 minute intervals, making plans weeks in advance for even a dinner date, and heaven forbid anyone who might just drop round for a coffee on the spur of the moment. We are, as a nation, bound by our collective need for order and for everything to be proper and in its correct place, for meetings to start on time, trains to run on time (though they rarely do, which gives us fodder for the moaning which we love to indulge in) and meals to arrive on time. India is the complete opposite, bound by chaos and the need to create chaos to be able to offer solutions, meetings which never begin on time and always due to ‘the traffic” (as if its not part and parcel of life), and trains which ironically DO run on time. In India its unusual for a plan not to change, in fact any preparations however painstaking will normally be turned upside down and back to front before the day is done, and that’s all acceptable and normal. We Brits (and I include myself even though I’m used to this system now) get so uptight when plans change, because we are programmed to make things happen on time and without delay. In India, there are delays for no reason (or so it seems) or for reasons which may seem unacceptable or odd to us (traffic, prayers, stopped for chai, illness in family etc). When plans change here, Indians take it in their stride and adapt to the new arrangement without asking too many questions. Brits huff and puff and generally get hot under the collar. When there are delays which make waiting a necessity, the Indians calmly get out their dabbas, drink chai, read the paper and smile all the while. Whereas the Brits huff and puff some more, grinding their teeth with the effort of not wringing anyone’s neck. Always fun to see afresh the cultural differences between our countries.
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