Mrack's Summer: Last Day in Chennai

For our last day in Chennai Chandra and I had a huge to do list. I wanted to get gifts for people, get a sari, mehndi done, and that night we were meeting up with Chandra’s friends for a last meal before I left. We powered through the day and got everything done!! First we went to a jewelry store to get bangles for my sister and mom. I ended up finding the perfect bangle for my sister and mom J they loved them!!

After jewelry shopping we headed out to the fruit shop for a milk shake break. We had Jug Heads which are sooo good, and then headed out to buy a Sari. We had a hard time finding a Sari that I liked. But then we saw some women who looked like they knew what they were doing. We followed them around a little and ended up finding one that they turned down and I liked. We then realized I needed to find a top that went with it we went to two different stores but then found one that matched and fit.

After Sari shopping we took a lunch break. We went to Saravana Bhavan which is a chain restaurant that we had went to in NYC. At Saravana Bhavan we got my favorite Masala Dosas. After having lunch we went to a sweet shop called adyar anandabhavan to sample some sweets and decide on what I wanted to bring home to my family to try. We ended up deciding on Gulab Jamun which I call soggy donuts, a cashew sweet called Kaju Katli, a buttery shortbread called Mysore Pak, and a wafery sweet called Son Papdi. My family had a lot of fun trying out the sweets.

After picking out the sweets we went to a hair salon so I could get mehndi done before I left. It was an interesting experience. We had to wait forever for them to be ready. Chandra and I joked it was because they were looking up how to do mehndi online, which after I got it done we were fairly certain they had no idea what they were doing. It took them a very long time to prepare and then to actually do it. I decided to get black mehndi and thought that it would look good and last longer. They said it would last a month but it started to wear off a few days later. It was defiantly an experience J and I decided I am going to have a mehndi party at my apartment when I get back.