sleight of hand and twist of fate

Compared to yesterday, today was somewhat unexciting. However, that was exactly what I (and my abused liver) needed. I didn't wake up until noon, and so I checked my email, showered quickly, and then went for lunch with some of the people in the office. There was a big intraoffice cricket match this morning that I should have gone to, but I was far too tired to try. This meant that I really needed to go to lunch so that I wouldn't like like a complete misanthrope. Lunch was at Bottles and Chimneys, which is really a nightclub, but they serve food at lunchtime. That makes it a very awkward, depressing place--the smell of stale cigarette smoke permeates the atmosphere, the club is poorly-lit, and the music (in this case, mostly Creed and Pink Floyd) is played with far too much bass for early afternoon. I ordered the 'Mexican' food, which was another mistakes; the 'nachos' were decent, although there were only three chips, and the Spanish rice was good, but the 'fajitas' were just wrong. Then, Matt and I went to Habib's to get haircuts; Habib continues to impress me, and I feel that I am one step closer to marrying him. After that, we went to Mebaz, which is home to a Meena Bazaar-esque selection of fabrics for made-to-order suits, pants, and other articles of clothing.

The process for this is very entertaining; there are approximately five times as many people working in the store as there are customers, and there is a rigid hierarchy--some people only sweep the floors, some people only unfurl the bolts of cloth, some people only furl the bolts of cloth, and one man only exists to bring glasses of soda or tea to the customers. You just walk in, sit down, and then they show you dozens of bolts of fabric. Once you've chosen fabric, they call the head designer, and he helps you to figure out what styles you want. For Matt, this entire process took three hours, but the people were so friendly and helpful that it's convinced me that I should go to the trouble of getting pants made here after all. Sigh. That means more time at Mebaz--I didn't want to pick fabric simultaneously with Matt since that would just confuse them, and by the time he was done it was already six p.m. and I didn't want to start the process over. But, I did take a break from the suit selection to check out the ladies' side of Mebaz; it looks like a great place to go to get another formal Indian outfit made. I also bought two sets of anklets on a whim, and they entertain me greatly. So, depending on what I do next weekend, I may end up back at Mebaz. Yay.

After that, we had dinner at Fusion 9, then came home and watched 'Donnie Darko'. The movie was rather depressing, but I'm in too good of a mood to let that bother me. Tomorrow I get to go to Cotton India (yay!!), and I should probably do some work. So, I really should sleep. I've posted some pics from Sri Lanka below--have a great day, everyone!