ThoughtWorks: Immersion: Pune: Shopping Day

Today was a shopping day.

I set out this morning at about 11ish, expecting to meet up with Rixt and Chris and my fellow Immersees. I walked down Koregaon Park Road, which is one block from my hotel (after I wind my way out of the spiral), and found a number of things I wanted.

I headed back to the German Bakery, which is on the corner of Koregaon Park Road and Koregaon Alley A, which leads back toward my hotel. When I got there, no one was there, which surprised me. Then I ran into Chris (the trainer), who told me the time had been changed to 1:30 because the others had stayed up until about 3am and weren’t moving yet. So I walked upstairs to the Ayurvedic (sp?) clinic where he had a massage and I had a chat with Diane from NYC and Deborah from NJ. Afterward, we stopped in the Dragon shop on the way out, and I bought a few more things. So I went back to the hotel to drop off the things I’d bought, while the others finally showed up.

We all gathered together at the German Bakery, and headed off to FabIndia – primarily a clothing store, where I got the last few things I’d wanted.

From there, we wandered over to a little shop, and then Rixt and I headed back to Pune Central where I went to the grocery department on the top floor looking for curry sauce. I found a few things that might do. We’ll see. Then Rixt left, and I went and bought another suitcase to bring back all the goodies I bought (many of which are for for my wife and kids).

I went and treated myself to a massage – 90 minutes for INR 1200 ($30!!!!), then went and had dinner with Chris the trainer, Rixt, and Rixt’s boyfriend Lalit at a restaurant named Shisha (hookah). We sat on a “sofa” - a wooden platform with a carpet on top. We smoked a flavored hookah, ate some Indian food, and had a lovely time.

I got back here about 9:30ish, took another shower (I think I’ll take a shower before bed here from now on, as well as one in the morning), and put away all the stuff I bought.

Oh - and today was "people photography day" for me - lots of photos of kids and people along the streets and vendors and the like. I'll upload those soon, too.

And that’s it for Sunday!