The Pool and Pondy's

We thought it would be a bit of fun to get a small pool for the boys to put on our rooftop patio. When he was here last time, Alex saw several plastic pools at a place called Pondy's Bazaar so we decided to check it out over the weekend.

Pondy's Bazaar is a bargainer's dream. It's set up similar to a flea marked except that it's lining a very busy street (congested, not fast). Between cars, people and booths, you can barely walk through. I loved it! Is was such a fun experience. Not only can you buy virtually anything there, you can totally immerse yourself in the culture and people.

We started out in a popular woman's clothing store. I bought my first sari, but I have yet to wear it since I can't remember how to drape the thing around myself and I don't think Alex will be much help. We actually didn't spend that much time there, though I think it seemed like an eternity to Alex who was in charge of the boys. I had no fewer than four people wrapping me up in various saris and leading me around the store at any given moment. I'm don't think everyone gets that kind of treatment, I'm guessing it had something to do with us being the only westerners around. The sales girls were very helpful and gave me several suggestions to help me, all the while pinching the boys cheeks whenever they let their guard down. This didn't make Alex's job any easier I'm sure.

By the time we left the sari store, Alex was already at the end of his rope and would have been quite content to just go home. But we still had a pool to find. Did I mention besides the wall to wall people it was a cool 95 degree's in the shade? Needless to say, we were a bit hot. After every few shops, which, incidentally would take about 5 minutes to weave our way through, we would walk into an enclosed store under the pretense of looking around but really stay just long enough to cool off. This was also the only way to get rid of the "drum guy" that was following us everywhere we went. He was trying to get our attention, (especially the boys) so he trailed us through all of the crowds tapping away on one of the 10 drums he was carrying. When our pretending not to hear the drum didn't work, we had to take more drastic measures, and since he couldn't follow us into an actual store, it was the perfect solution! Air conditioning and no drum salesman - heaven on earth.

We finally found a small pool, but we were still in search of a bargain so we decided to wait for the next place. However, 20 minutes later when we were still looking for another place we weren't quite so sure. Just as we were all getting extremely frustrated, we found what we were searching for! And it was less expensive than the last one. That along with the frustration level aided us in our decision not to bargain for a better price. Though we probably could have gotten it for half of the cost, the time and effort it would have taken wasn't worth it (considering it was only 350 rupees--about $7.00 to begin with).

Our next adventure....filling the pool. Sounds simple right?