So much to say...so little time

So much happens to me everyday here, it is getting difficult to decide what I want to write about, because there is no way I could sit here and describe everything. Here are a few highlights:

Devaraj Market
A few of us ventured to this open market on Sunday, located in the heart of Mysore, and what an adventure it was. As soon as we stepped beyond the wall the separates the market from the street, every sense was bombarded. A man was sitting at the entrance selling piles of fresh herbs (I can still smell the coriander); there are piles upon piles upon PILES of fruits (pomegranates watermelon mangoes bananas) and vegetables, dried chilies, banana leaves, jasmine flowers, marigolds, and vendors selling anything and everything you could imagine, from incense to stainless steel plates, flashing in the sunlight, to neon colored scrub brushes, all the while the shouting of vendors making the task of taking everything that much harder.
We were eventually lured into a tiny booth with the promise of seeing how incense was made. I have to admit, these two young men were excellent salesmen. There were also selling essential oils, and if we told them a problem, whether it be migraines or insomnia or a stuffed up noise, they had a remedy. Their prices were excellent, and everyone ended up buying a few oils, and they even gave everyone a bundle of free incense. The only problem was that as we stood there talking to these guys, the street vendors (guys selling things from their pockets) picked us out and decided to follow us throughout the market. There was one point where the seven of us were all huddled together trying to decide how to shake these guys off, and there were about 7 or more surrounding us, shouting over each other, "Six bracelets, 200 rupees!" "Coral necklace, for your sister, your mother!" "EIGHT BRACELETS, 200 RUPEES!" We ended up leaving the market as quickly as possible, shaking all except one off, so we ducked into a store and waited for him to leave. Once he was gone, we had the chance to regroup and realized we were in KR Circle, a major shopping mecca of Mysore (lucky us!) The crowds seemed less crowded since we were no longer being assaulted by salesmen, and we happily dodged motorbikes and rickshaws as we made our way to Indra Cafe to enjoy a wonderfully delicious and cheap meal of South Indian thalis.
After lunch, the four girls headed off to Badsha's to splurge on some new salwar kameezes. I hadn't planned on purchasing anything, but of course I fell in love with a gorgeous pink and brown and gold, silk, salwar kameez. After having the store torn apart for our benefit (that is how you shop here: go into a store, and they pull everything off the shelves a pile it in front of you until you are so hypnotized by the beauty you can no longer resist), we all decided to head back to the hostel before we went broke.

I'll add one more thing before I head off to class: Bharatanatyam, South Indian dance.
Wow. We went to a performance last night, put on by our future teacher, and it was mesmerizing. I would suggest that you look it up on YouTube, but I doubt it would do it justice. The woman performed the story of the Ramayanam, playing all the parts (Rama, Sita, a tons of other characters, my favorite being Hanuman, the god who looks like a monkey). Her use of her eyebrows alone was enough to send me into a trance.

Anyway, if I don't stop now, I'm going to be late for class.
If you click on the slide show to the right, it should take you to my flickr account, where the photos can be viewed larger.