Chennai Fashions

Last night we went to a fashion show in the hotel. It's fashion week here in fashionable Chennai and the hotel has been abuzz with unusual activity. The staff wanted to give us free tickets and we didn't want to miss the chance to participate in some cultural activities.
And, I just need to say that this was a long, brutal work week. Lots of long hours and frustrating situations. And remind me to tell you about the fire drill. Anyway - we were ready for a little diversion.
So, a bit before the appointed hour we show up to get our tickets. But of course this task takes three helpers who run around and finally inform us that the show is at 6:30, not 6. No, wait, 7. Yeah, that's it. So we go down to the function room around 7 and nothing's doing. It ends up starting around 7:30.
The function room is full of booths by the sponsors failing to garner interest from the crowd milling around.
Mostly it was people like this dude:


Except he was one of the only other Westerners. Here he is looking happy about a foor massage that was somehow sponsored by TaTa brand water. I know, but just roll with it.
The other people waiting around seemed mostly like people's mothers and the occassional hipster type:

So, eventually the show starts and they let us in. Being VIPs of the hotel, we go to the front row and sit in seats reserved for the hotel. But then some jerky guy comes up and shoos us out of them and makes us sit in -- get this -- the Second Row! I'm scandalized by this and am beginning to be sour on the event. It was a lot of waiting, the usual people pushing you and now this guy was a jerk about how he did it. He wasn't gracious and this is like the fourth jerky thing the hotel has done to us.

Then the show starts. It's kind of amusing. One girl loses her shoes, the models are wearing these weird flowers and bees on their heads and keep doing all these corny moves as they pass each other on the catwalk. Like pantomiming "call me" and high-fiving.

The whole thing is over in about twenty minutes. I didn't really care for the clothes on display but it was kind of a hoot. I'd never been to anything like that and it was another side of India that we got to see. Well worth the wait and the price of free tickets.