Gotta shop 'til you drop, or 'til you need lunch!!!

India is, of course, a shopper's paradise and here even I, previously a "shopper only when absolutely necessary" have taken to this national pass time!! Maybe because everything is so exotically different, the service is great without being pushy, I have more time (no cleaning, ironing, washing up etc. frees up a bit of time!), I don't have to drive or find a parking spot and then inch my way into it!, for whatever reason I am now enjoying shopping.
As a novice shopper I am more comfortable in "fixed" price stores - going to work on my negotiation skills another day....with I'm sure another story!
Not having an indian shaped body - being too tall and long bodied is not a problem - if it doesn't fit either have it made or get it altered. Most of the clothes stores have tailors to do alterations in an hour or so (just time to grab a cup of coffee or fresh lime soda - my latest favorite!).
With Shubha, as our fashion consultant, guide and leader, Lisa and I managed to buy some fabric (only cotton this time round) and then leave it with a tailor, Lisa's with a pattern (in the broadest sense of the word - sketch and measurements maybe more accurate), and mine with my favorite kurta to copy. In a couple of weeks we return to collect!!! You can buy fabrics in co-ordinating colors and designs, in a sort of pack, all ready to be stitched into a "suit" (salwar kameez), being tunic, pants and scarf or for those in the know: kurta, churidar and dupatta.
The fabrics are amazing. Before we leave here I will try a sari, or similar but using these fantastic materials and beadings.

Look at the beading detail on these models - so beautiful, intricate and exotic and all the more incredibly done by hand! These guys sit at the back of the store with beads, cottons and hand tools and from under their hands appear these amazing designs.