1st Edition-A little background and the first day of this adventure

Hello everyone. All this enthusiasm about my bracelets has led me to start blogging.So i can keep you updated and more importantly a little entertained.

First i will give you a little background on how i started buying , then i will tell you what happened today-thursday the 5th of feb 2010.

I'm in India now. Quality, i love it here. Most of you will know i've spent a lot of time here in the past 10 years. After travelling extensively i always told my wife that i would love to go and live in India one day for a sustained period. My dreams came true when on what was already turning out to be a fantastic day i phoned Silvia in Italy to report my whereabouts and she told me she had accepted a job in South India, Pondicherry to be exact. To say that i was ecstatic is just about right.What a wife!

Anyway i wont go into too much detail. Suffice to say i loved it, even though it was hard work sometimes. We had motorbikes, we lived in appartments overlooking the arabian sea,small villages, a lovely french town and even lived for free in a pyramid house in the forrest. Loads of animals were our co- inhabitants, scorpions, snakes, horses, cows, mongoose and a very friendly peacock.

It was a wonderful experience. My mother has a very nice shop in Arundel -Jam Gallery ltd, so whilst in India i would often go off for many weeks at a time sourcing some fantastic pieces for her. Silver, gold, boxes, scarves, tablecloths, belts and of course our favourite Sari Bracelet. Like i said before ,i have a wonderful wife but also a pretty cool mum who gave me the oppurtunity.

After a little over two years we returned to Italy (Silvia is Italian). I have been fortunate enough to live in various places there but this time we went to work in Milan.

Milan was great.I was teaching and Silvia had got a very good promotion and contract (gold dust in Italy) for her company CIAI, it's an NGO. She had become head of Africa meaning that she was in charge of all the projects CIAI have in Africa. Whatsmore we lived around the corner from the San Siro stadium (home to AC / Inter Millan) I was in my element.

It all changed.Silvia got pregnant and we decided to come back to England to have the baby whilst at the same time i could learn the ropes of running my mothers shop. It was a very difficult and complex decision to come back.

So now we are in Arundel getting excited about what we believe could be very big indeed.The Sari Express Company......................

4th Feb 4.30pm : I just made the bank in time. I dont trust using credit cards so i get as much hard cash as i can out of the bank.

4.31 pm : We are late. Mum is meant to be taking me to the airport but im still counting cash and doing a good impression of a very headless chicken. I haven't had time to pack.

9.20 pm : Of course i make it.i always do, just about. Sometimes i turn up at the wrong airport, but not today.

So i'm on the flight after a stop off in Muscat. Whilst in deep sleep i get a vigorous tapping on my thigh. The Indian man with the bad teeth but a very kind smile is telling me food is here. I love aeroplane food so im really quite grateful he has woken me up.

We are flying and the toothy chap points out the fact that i haven't yet filled in my landing customs form. I had my passport out, filling in all the required fields , at the same time toothy and his mate are taking a very keen interest in all my stats, they are not hiding their inquisitiveness far from it, but that's fine, i laugh to myself and enjoy the moment. Once completed i offer my pen to him as he also needs to fill in his form. He has been away for a long while working as a taxi driver in Muscat. But he doesnt want the pen. Instead he gives me his passport and tells me to fill in his form for him. Classic. I fill in his official form as best i can and we have a laugh about the photo.

So i am now , after another flight, in Chennai formerly known as Madras. Im staying at a brilliant place i have frequented many times before. It's family run and as cheap as you like.

Being very very knackered i decided to not do much today.I got to the guesthouse at 4 ish did some exercise and then went to get my haircut and a shave.Its cheaper and better than in england.The hairdresser tells me he did a special cut just for me, well really he tells me this when we are discussing the price. 60p is not bad though,he even chuked in a cup of tea for the price!

I dont like to haggle too much with the service industry. I give what i think is a fair price and then a bit more someimes. I know i can get it cheaper but i'd rather people are a little happier and in turn, i usually recieve a better service. At the same time however, i know im not getting ripped off. When i'm buying silver it is a little different, with new suppliers I will try every trick i know.

One funny thing about indian hairdressers that i love. So you're in there ,and out of the blue someone (man) will just waltz in take out a comb from his pocket and start brushing his hair in the mirror. Then he will walk out, without a word being spoken. Its mad. This isn't just what happened twice this evening, this happens every single time i go to a salon here. And with all that bollywood dance and music blaring out of the tv. Girls you don't know what you're missing.

So i'm back on the veranda and double exhausted. The teperature is a little chilly in the evening but a nice 75 in the day.

Tomorrow, amongst other things, i will be investigating the whereabouts of an indian colleague-Prasad, who helps me with the making bangles.

Good night England.

dominic

ps. i am going to try and upload some photos if the blog allows it.