Saris, caves and adventures

Yesterday we went to some Buddhist caves which were man made over 2000 years ago and were beautifully carved out with elephants and designs. They had a main room for a temple which was huge and many smaller rooms for the Monks dorms, with stone beds which had been carved out and stairways. It was amazing to see how much they had created with such basic tools.
For more info about the caves see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_caves
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaja_Caves

This morning we have learnt about Hindu Gods and Goddesses. We had a session where the volunteers dressed up as various gods to show the various outfits and signs of that God. We then learnt about the story of Ganesh, as it is his festival starting on Saturday for ten days where he is welcomed into the Hindi houses. The story goes that his father, Shirva, had gone up to the mountains to meditate and his mother, Parvati, stayed at home and had a wash. With the muck, she created a son, Ganesh. Some time later, his mother was having a wash and asked Ganesh to not let anyone into the house as she was bathing. At this point, Shirva returned from the mountains and was unaware that he had a son and requested entry to his house. Ganesh refused as he was obeyed his mother and this resulted in a fight where Ganesh's head was chopped off. His mother had the commotion outside and came out to find her son without a head, she told Shivra that this was his son and he was so upset that he asked a servant to find the head of the nearest animal he could find and bring it back. The servant found a baby elephant and so that head was placed onto Ganesh's body and he returned back to life. So in all the statues and pictures of Ganesh/Ganesha/Gannapati (same God, different names) he has an elephant head! There are variations on the story, but this was the one we were told.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha
http://groups.ku.edu/~kuindia/ganeshfestival09.shtml

My sari material (pink with blue embroidery) has been sent to the tailors. A tailor came to sangam to measure us for the sari blouses and petticoats. If anyone would like a Sari, I have found out what measurements you would need:
1) length from waist to floor
2) around bust
3) around waist
4) length from top of shoulder to bottom of ribs
5) top of shoulder (midpoint) diagonally across to breast bone (this can be guessed from other measurements)
6) Round biggest part of top of arm
7) length from top of arm to sleeve length (about 2/3 way down top of arm (ie. before elbow)
Also, I would need to know preferred colours and patterns, whether you want it highly decorated, embroided or patterned. There is lots of choice, too much! I am planning on visiting a western tailor at some point to see if I can get a suit made, as Mina said you can in some parts of town.

I have been going to yoga before breakfast every morning. This afternoon we have some rangoli practise (pretty patterns out of coloured sand on the floor to welcome people into the house) and then the international fare tonight.

Hope all is well at home.

xxx