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November 27, 2006 Dear friends, Happy holidays! My article on Little India has had a makeover for this festive season. It actually had more than that: Another article was substituted in its place and the original article destroyed as we spiffed up Spurs Magazine. Fortunately, I was able to restore this #1 on Yahoo gem. Look for more updating and changes in the new year. And my best wishes for peace and prosperity all year round. I originally wrote this article shortly after the first time my daughter and I visited Little India. We've been back many times. Every time we went, I updated, deleted, and added to that first report, inserting the news from every visit in a different color type. After a while, the text was more than a little messy. I've streamlined the article, continuing the "first visit" concept-- because it was SO fun. I've incorporated the news from my most recent visit. Little India was bustling, growing-- and fun as always. Remember, if I mention a specific item, call to make sure they still have it before hitting the freeway. Little India is the exact opposite of The Mall-- items are one of a kind, with no duplication. If you see something you like, buy it-- it may be gone when you go back. Be aware that all the shops are closed on Mondays. Above all, have fun! Sandy Nathan
Something new: Many people are interested in Indian culture and want to visit Little India. This is great, especially if you live on the west coast. If you live in Kansas or Florida, accessing the wonderful stores there is hard (unless they have a web site-- and I have attempted to include those below). For the convenience of those who can't get to Little India in Artesia, I've included a link to
EXOTIC INDIA is a wonderful site with a huge variety of quality products. I've purchased from them and have been very satisfied. Please know that 100% of rebates I get from sales made through this site are donated to charity. If you'd like more information about the charity, please e-mail me. Sandy
DIRECTORY: For your convenience, I've included the following directory to shops and philosophical/cultural topics mentioned in this article.
There are many reasons for moving to Southern California. Right up at the top of my list is Little India. What is Little India? It's the second largest ethnic Indian community in the United States, just behind New York City. Little India is located on Pioneer Boulevard in Artesia, roughly between 183rd St. and 187th St. In those four blocks, you have the feeling of being in India-- or as close as possible using a suburban strip mall as a base. My daughter, Lily, and I made a weekend foray to Pioneer Boulevard recently. I'd like to share our experience with you. My love affair with India began 25 years ago when I began practicing a form of meditation from that country. India began working on my soul, body and stomach all at once. I meditated at an Ashram in Oakland, CA. In addition to Indian philosophy, they served Indian food. (My own Indian cooking efforts have been limited to chai, a spiced tea. Here's my Chai Recipe.) I discovered and was hooked by the sari shops on University Avenue in Berkeley. And then there's Indian philosophy, music, and culture. All intensely beautiful and powerful. I was in love with India long before Mira Nair's movie "Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love" came out. (This is a movie everyone should see. It is beautiful and beautifully produced. This is an erotic film-- be forewarned.) All of a sudden, after thousands of years of civilization, India and things Indian are hip and stylish! This is very good for the merchants-- but it has some negative impacts.
The problem with becoming popular: I read a newspaper article by a teenager of Indian descent. She talked about walking through a mall in Southern California and seeing bindis (more about these later) sold on cards in shops, crowded together with junk jewelry and chain chokers. She talked about her feelings seeing American movie stars sporting delicate mehndi (henna painting) on their hands. And young women wearing sheer sari fabrics made into skimpy clothes under their grunge jeans. She recalled her mother's, aunts' and grandmother's colorful saris and their traditional ways. She said, "I got mad when I saw the pictures of celebrities using Indian traditions to be fashionable. ... They were robbing something valuable from my culture without understanding the meaning of such traditions. Saris, mehndi, and bindi have been a part of Indian women's lives for thousands of years..." ("From Saris to Mehndi, the Indo-Craze Catches On", Meera Rangachar, Los Angeles Times, 11/29/97.) Yeah. This is a problem. Other cultures experience this as they are picked up by the mainstream-- our Native Americans, for instance. They become caricatures with the heart and soul cut out. What I'd like to attempt here is an article about Little India-- which I love-- and a bit of cultural exploration. Right away, we have a problem. I'm no expert on Indian culture. I doubt anyone is-- India is a huge place peopled by many, many distinct groups with many languages and dialects and several major religions. What is Indian culture? It's a composite. But I know a little bit. I'd like to insert what I know as we move through Little India. (Please, please: my readers from the Indian subcontinent-- If I'm wrong in anything I say below, correct me. I can change the text easily and would appreciate your input. You can e-mail me right here.)
Okay. Let's go to Little India. If you're planning a trip, the first thing you should do is call up your credit card company and have your credit limit extended. This trip will cost you. Little India is irresistible. It's also really hard to get to, at least from where I live. It's a three hour drive from the Santa Ynez Valley, all on the famous Southern California and LA freeways. An adventure, if you're a country girl. Little India's "host city", Artesia, is deep in LA County, close to Orange County. Its distance from my house is the only reason I've only been there-- what?-- many times. Otherwise, I'd be camped out most weekends. But-- getting there is not impossible! Yahoo! has a map service on the Internet that will draw a map from your house to Pioneer Boulevard, tell you which freeways to take and how long to stay on each-- and give you a list of shops to visit, too! I'll attempt to hook up this wonderful service right here: YAHOO MAPS! I used this service the first time I went to Little India and got great maps and directions. Checking it out just now, Yahoo claimed it never heard of Santa Ynez or Artesia-- after drawing street maps of both cities. Maybe it will work for you. Let's add a little variety: Here's a link to MapQuest and G-Maps. Those should get you there:
My daughter and I arrived on Pioneer Boulevard about 4:30 on a Friday afternoon. We learned what I already knew: If you're going anywhere on the LA freeways, be there by 3 or 3:30. The traffic was bad, but not as bad as I expected. Still, we needed sustenance. And chai. We went to a little restaurant I'd heard about-- AMBALA DHABA. It's a tiny little place tucked at the end of a strip of stores. It's a very nice place, but not fancy. They serve on Styrofoam dishes, for instance. We got there early enough so that the restaurant wasn't packed. I noticed a newspaper article up on the wall-- a good review by the LA Times. Also a plain white card with the letter "A" on it in the window. I had not seen this before: The County of LA Health Department inspects restaurants an rates them based on conformity to health standards. AMBALA DHABA got the highest rating, an A, which means a 90 to 100% compliance. We didn't know what to order, so the proprietor suggested a number of things. I ended up ordering what the LA Times reviewer got-- a chicken dish. My daughter ordered a mahi-mahi dinner. Wow! Unbelievably good-- both dishes. And huge. My chicken was marinated in what seemed to be a yogurt sauce with spices (lots), then broiled or roasted, and served over sliced onions. Lily's mahi-mahi was similar. The dishes came with either naan-- a delicious and gigantic flat bread-- or rice with peas and spices. The food was wonderful. And the chai. If you do not love chai now, a few hours in Little India will convert you. At any rate, we had a lovely meal and I highly recommend AMBALA DHABA-- we eat there every visit to Little India and never have been disappointed.
Lily and I walked around Pioneer Blvd. after dinner. My daughter had concerns about visiting this Little India-- especially with me. She's seen me go into a shopping frenzy before. Lily ended up loving the place. She is an artist and could have spent many hours sketching here. (She has her own website, lilynathan.com.) Little India is a visual feast. The ethnic Indian character on Pioneer Blvd. is very strong: Women in saris and punjabis are the rule. Many men are turbaned. Signs are in Hindi (?) and English. The stores are uniformly ethnic. Store windows display brilliant colors, glittering jewels, interesting spices and other gear. It's a family orientated place: You'll see grandparents, parents and grandkids walking together. We felt absolutely safe and welcome wherever we went. Everyone was very warm and cordial, and answered our (dumb?) questions graciously.
Our evening walk yielded what will be referred to below as the "Parable of the Shoes." We stopped in a number of stores. One of them had a large selection of traditional shoes for men an women. These look like harem shoes or horse's hooves if they haven't been trimmed in a year: They turn up at the toes. The shoes are highly decorated: embroidered, mirrored and so on. Lily really wanted a pair she found. We decided, "Let's look around some more. Tomorrow, we'll buy." Remember this.
Plan enough time: My previous trips to Little India were marred by the fact that I was tightly scheduled and staying on the other side of town. This time, Lily and I were smart. We stayed overnight in nearby Cerritos. Many motels can be found in Artesia, but I found the Sheraton Cerritos Hotel at Towne Center on the Internet. It offered a great weekend deal for posh accommodations. The Hotel was wonderful. While cheaper places are available, you might as well stay here. You'll max out your credit card in Little India anyway. What's a few dollars more? You can reach the Cerritos Sheraton at (562) 809-1500. The address is 12725 Center Court Drive, Cerritos, CA 90703. The hotel offers lovely, quiet, large rooms, a pool, spa, and a gym. Everything you need after a day of shopping and eating at Little India. They're also right next to the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. Wynnona Judd was playing there the night we stayed. You might want to plan your Little India trip around what's playing at the Performing Arts Center. We spent all day Saturday tramping Pioneer Boulevard. (Wear good walking shoes.) We hadn't planned on staying that long, but we got hooked. Sari stores! Oh, God! I love them! When I was a teenager, I made many of my own clothes. I have a deep and abiding love for handcrafts and textiles. The clothes in these stores! So beautiful! The workmanship, the ornamentation! The variety! You have to see them. The saris, punjabis and other traditional clothes are displayed in racks, as in our familiar Western stores. They can also be displayed hanging from the ceilings and high on the walls. Most stores are packed with goods. You walk into a brilliant rainbow of color and pattern coming from all sides: Rich fabrics. Glitter and gold. Beads. Sequins. Intoxicating! Traditional Indian clothes could be worn many more places than they currently are. I wore a punjabi to a family party at Christmas. Punjabis consist of a below-the-knee tunic-- usually ornamented-- harem pants, and a scarf. They range from unbelievably fancy, embroidered, sequined, and beaded silk to everyday stonewashed denim and cotton. Punjabis are beautiful, and very practical. Also flattering to any figure. The word "Punjabi" was transformed into "pajamas" by the British. That's how they feel: Like pajamas. Relaxed. Comfortable. My mother was captivated by the punjabi I wore at Christmas. She wants one-- to wear to her country club parties.
The brilliant variety went on, shop after shop after shop. I'm going to talk about some specific stores below. These are stores where we bought something-- they just pulled us in. Many other stores exist in Little India-- ours is by no means an exhaustive list. This place is a treasure trove. Every corner is worth exploring. First on our shopping list was groceries. If you read the Recipe section on this website, you will note that I recommend visiting an Indian or Chinese store for chai spices. They have them in Little India! Indian grocery stores are another visual feast-- and a feast of smells! And sounds! Merchants play traditional and modern Indian music everywhere. And the shelves loaded with exotic stuff: Condiments! Vegetables! More types of lentils and beans than you've ever seen! Spices you've never heard of, but are worth buying just for the color! We loaded up on cinnamon, coconut, star anise (throw a few of these into my chai recipe), a packet of a brilliant saffron yellow powdered spice, golden raisins. Other things. Most of the groceries offer similar goods. PIONEER CASH & CARRY at 18601 Pioneer Blvd (phone 562-809-9433) is a favorite grocery of ours. They offer great spices and produce (and many other items) at very good prices. All the groceries offer slightly different things, you should visit them, too. You'll find many unusual items by poking around. Many grocery and variety stores offer very interesting stainless steel cookware and dishes. I didn't need any pots or pans, but I certainly would look carefully if I did.
Some groceries and other stores offer Hindu devotional pictures. Others have rudrakshas. (I'll talk more about these later.)You will see Hindu devotional statues all over Little India. God appears in many forms in Hinduism-- some study is required to know the names of all the deities whose images are depicted. Two of the most famous are the Shiva Nataraj and Ganesh.
What is the Nataraj? Who is Ganesh? The statues are artist's depictions of Hindu deities. The heart of Little India's Hindu identity. The Nataraj is one of the most famous religious images in the world: The dancing Shiva, representing the dance that is life. A dancing four-armed figure standing on one foot, encircled by a ring of flames. Ganesh, the son of Shiva, himself a God. Ganesh is the destroyer of obstacles and the deity to be worshipped when beginning any new task. A playful fellow who removes obstacles on the spiritual path, but also puts them in your way just for fun. Fully understanding these two would take a scholar or a saint a lifetime.
A story on this website, "Bill Miller: The Halloween Edition.", Introduces you to Ganesh and the Nataraj. Bill Miller is Native American musician-- a very talented man who won 5 Native American Music Awards in 1999. "Bill Miller: The Halloween Edition" is a true story which illustrates how Ganesh works in his "playful" mode. It also discusses the Nataraj. I heard Bill Miller play live for the first time while I was taking a course at my Ashram in New York. One of the professors gave a very good description of the Nataraj which meshed into my experience of Bill's concert. I describe what the professor said in my article on Bill Miller. I think the article gets to the heart of the Nataraj as well as you can in a couple of paragraphs. You have to read into the article a bit to find this reference, but its a good story. When you see Hindu statues and pictures in Little India, understand that they represent arguably the oldest religious system in the world. The ancient quality of Indian culture is reflected in Little India's stores, especially the jewelry stores. The jewelry could have come from long lost palaces. From temples or tombs. Jewelry stores abound on Pioneer Blvd. They're almost as enticing as the sari stores-- and most sari stores offer jewelry, too.
After shopping all over, Lily and I ended up buying pure silver necklace and earring sets from SHREEJI JEWELERS, 18628 Pioneer Blvd. (562) 402-1016. These pure silver creations seemed very good buys, especially when compared to the costume jewelry sold elsewhere. This store has lovely, well-priced items, many with an antique quality. We couldn't resist. Proprietors Sudhir Mehta and his wife also carry a complete line of diamonds and pearls. Since that initial trip, I've purchased a gorgeous pair of pure silver earrings washed in 24 k gold and another necklace and earring set. My last trip I bought an incredible, ornate silver, Gothic style cross covered with blue stones-- perfect with a choker length chain. After many visits, we always come back to Shreeji Jeweler. The service is terrific: on one visit, one of daughters fell in love with a necklace, but didn't buy it. She continued to talk about it for months. As her graduation approached, I realized it was the perfect gift. I phoned Sudhir and asked him to send it to me. He correctly remembered and sent it! Thanks, Sudhir! (I was delighted to learn that our family and the Mehtas have the same meditation teacher.) Jewelry alone is reason to make a trip to Little India. If I was shopping for a wedding ring or something extraordinary, this is the first place I'd head. Numerous stores offered 22 K and higher gold jewelry and every gem you can imagine. The workmanship was superb. So elegant! So ornate! And if you're looking to have your nose pierced, this is the place. Lord's Jewelry will do it for you.
TO PIERCE OR NOT TO PIERCE? Our first, and maybe second through fifth, visits to Little India, my daughter thought about having her nose pierced. And thought again. On 11/29/00 she took the plunge, having her nose pierced at LORDS JEWELERS. (18608 Pioneer Blvd. (562) 809-9378) Lord's is a beautiful, posh jewelry store with an extremely friendly, competent staff. They use 24k piercing pins and do the piercing by hand. This allows the best placement and is more sanitary than using a gun. The customer selects a piercing pin and it is sterilized. Before piercing, the "piercee" holds a bag of ice and water to her nose for 15 minutes. The ice numbs the nose and apparently softens it as well. We were at the end of our allotted time at Little India and wanted to keep shopping, so Lily took the ice bag and walked around to a few other stores, icing her nose as she went. We returned to Lords when the 15 minutes was up. The actual piercing took less than two minutes start to finish. Lily reports, "It didn't hurt AT ALL, but it did feel weird." Also: the man piercing her nose was very gentle. He obviously had done it before. The result? Lovely. And no problems. While we can't guarantee your experience would be so trouble free, I may get my nose pierced next trip. Maybe. And Lily's delighted. Her dad wasn't even mad. Oh, yes, it cost $40, including the 24k pin.
We originally came to Little Indian looking for things for the home, rather than clothes or jewelry. Lily was redoing her room and searched for the perfect bedspread. Her room has an elegant tone: A red Chinese rug, a brass bed, an antique Venetian glass chandelier. And her own rich paintings and drawings. Exotic stuff. Where to find a suitably lavish bedspread? In department stores and malls? Nope. We couldn't find a thing. Lily found exactly what she wanted at Fashion Galleria, owned by Archna Puri, 18327 Pioneer Blvd. (562) 402-7525. The Fashion Galleria is primarily a very beautiful sari and clothing shop-- but Archna also has bedspreads, wall hangings and pillow covers which looked like they were made of antique punjabis. The highly ornamented-- sequined, beaded, embroidered, tasseled, metallic, you name it-- cuffs and neckpieces of punjabis were sewn together in incredible patterns. The finished pieces look like the art of Gustav Klimpt, who did the well-known painting, "The Kiss." They were opulent and perfect for Lily's room. Several visits later, everyone in our family has a bedspread from Fashion Galleria-- every type of patchwork and color, light and heavy weight. Drop dead gorgeous! Fashion Galleria is another "must visit"--we stop by every time we go to Little India. The service is wonderful-- reminds me of shopping in San Francisco in the old days when the staff actually helped the customers. Alterations are available: I purchased a wonderful velvet dress, which they had altered and mailed to me. My "special fit needs"-- being every inch a grandmother-- were accommodated by the staff, who brought me the most comfortable Punjabi (tunic and pants outfit) I own on my last visit. FASHION GALLERY has opened a new store for housewares and furniture. See AAKAR HANDICRAFTS & FURNISHINGS below...
WHO IS LORD KRISHNA? I bought two beautiful paintings of Krishna from Fashion Galleria. Many of Little India's stores carry Hindu religious images. These look strange to outsiders, but they represent one of the oldest religions on earth. Pictures of Krishna abound-- usually he's a blue skinned man playing a flute, or an adorable bluish child. Most non-Indians only know about Krishna from the Hari Krishna folks at the airport, if they know him at all. Krishna was an historical personage, like Buddha, Mohammed or Jesus. Krishna lived about 5,000 years ago and has been adored by millions of people all over the world for thousands of years. Some of the greatest religious writing in history has been inspired by his life. Lord Krishna's story appears primarily in two texts: the Shrimad Bhagavata and the Mahabharata, both worth reading, but perhaps dauntingly long. There's an easy way of reading about Krishna. The Play of God: Visions of the Life of Krishna might be described as an inspired "cheat sheet"-- like those books that summarize great books so you can take tests on them when you haven't done your homework. Play of God's author, Vanamali, pulled together the references on Krishna's life and presented them in a very readable form. (You can order any of these titles from Amazon.com by clicking on them. All Amazon rebates from this site are given to charity.) Play of God captures the feeling of the Mahabharata-- which is one of the great adventure stories of the ages. It also captures the devotion and love that Krishna inspires. Krishna's life story has everything: Violence, treachery, action, beautiful women, warriors, sex, intrigue. War. Supernatural events. Demons. The Mahabharata is a must read for every literate person. The Bhagavad Gita lies embedded in the Mahabharata like the crest jewel in a crown. The Bhagavad Gita, which means "The Song of God", is one of the most exquisite and concise religious texts in existence. It's short: 18 brief chapters. I carry a pocket edition that's smaller than a deck of cards. (Pocket Bhagavad Gita) There it is: The heart of Hinduism, as spoken by Lord Krishna to his cousin, the great general Arjuna, on the eve of a decisive battle. The Gita is an astonishing text that one could devote a lifetime to studying. Jnaneswar, a 13th century Maharathi saint, did spend a lifetime studying the Gita. . His Jnaneshwari-- comments on the Bhaghavad Gita- are brilliant illuminations that make the text understandable to all. Many versions of the Janeshwari exist. I would like to recommend Janeshwar's Gita: A Rendering of the Janeshwari, by Swami Kripananda, State University of New York Press. In addition to presenting the Gita and Janeshwari in their original language, this book pulls together the English translations so that they capture the aliveness of the originals and are understandable to modern readers. Reading a work such as this-- which is more beautiful than any piece of jewelry or tapestry I have described above-- is essential if you want to understand Indian culture. AAKAR HANDICRAFTS & FURNISHINGS, 18612-1/2 & 18618 Pioneer Blvd., (562) 809- 9093. This is the homeware shop opened by Archna Puri and her family. You read about her clothing store, Fashion Galleria above. AAKAR HANDICRAFTS is a dynamite store loaded with things for the home. Very hip, very stylish. So many things: Embroidered, sequined, quilted pillow covers and bedspreads. Furniture made in India and upholstered with embroidery and patchwork. All sorts of religious statues. Paintings. Embroidered hangings that would make great window valences. A fantastic silver candelabra about 3' high. A silver coffee service. Much more I can't remember. I bought a pure silver antique-look necklace that I cherish: I buy something there every time I go. This is one of the best places for Hindu religious statues and paintings in Little India.
Another must visit is Sari Kiketan, at 18423 Pioneer, in the same strip as Ambala Dhaba restaurant, which I talked about above. Another wonderful feature of Little India is the multitude of sweet and chai shops. They're everywhere. One of the fine shops is Rasraj Sweets & Farsan. Owned by Senjal Patel, Rasraj Sweets & Farsan offers take out service via its Web site. They are located at 18511 S. Pioneer Blvd, Artesia, Ca 90701 Ph 562-809-3141 Fax: 562-809-8283. We stopped at a couple of sweet shops between meals. I didn't know what most of the delicious looking sweets were-- so I was cautious in trying. The chai was good everywhere.
Sari Kiketan has very nice saris and punjabis, as well as dancing bells, jewelry, henna for mehndi painting your hands and feet. Ready-made turbans! Traditional shoes! And some really neat, very ornamented table and altar cloths. At Sari Kiketan, I've bought clothes, some great earrings and Indian children's clothing: very nice for grandchildren. I've purchased several sets of rudraksha:. Sari Kiketan has the best prices I've ever seen on rudrakshas. (You can buy them at other places in town, as well as set in gold at the better jewelry stores.)We have also purchased lovely pendants with Hindu deities-- Durga and Hanuman. The store has very good service and a friendly staff, as well as good prices. Do you know what rudrakshas are? They are the seeds of a plant which grows only in the Himalayas. Rudrakshas are known as the "Tears of Shiva". Yes, the very same Shiva shown in the Shiva Nataraj-- "the Dancing Shiva"-- that we talked about before. Shiva is known in the Hindu pantheon as "The God of Destruction." This is oversimplified. Shiva is the God of Destruction in the sense that, on the spiritual path, some things have to go before you can get other things. This destructive force is very powerful, and contains a massive creative component: Whenever something is destroyed, the vacuum left behind implies creation of something else.
The legend of the rudrakshas is this: Lord Shiva looked down on the earth from his home on Mount Kailasa in the Tibetan Himalayas. Shiva was so distraught when he saw what we humans had done to his perfect creation that he cried. His tears fell to earth in the form of rudrakshas-- they are his gift to us, a blessing and a protection. Rudrakshas are said to take away the effects of your bad actions, in this or previous lives. People use strings of rudrakshas to count their prayers (mantra repetition) in a manner similar to a rosary. Many paintings and statures of Shiva show him draped with rudrakshas-- brownish, crinkled, round seeds anywhere from 3/4 inch to less than 1/8 inch in diameter. Rudrakshas are ceremonially presented to spiritual seekers when they join religious orders. People wear rudrakshas the way Native Americans wear a medicine bag: As a protection and a remembrance of the divine. They work: I've worn rudrakshas for over 20 years and can testify that they have protected me. Not once have I been run over by a truck-- no physical trucks, anyway. A couple of emotional ones. Rudrakshas have a lovely, fine feeling when you hold them. I'd wear them just for that. With rudrakshas, smaller is better. Price varies inversely with size: The smaller the rudraksha, the more expensive. I got a very nice neck mala (108 beads plus the "guru bead") set in real silver at Sari Kiketan for $39. This is a deal. I've paid $150 for a set not much better. Unstrung rudrakshas-- strung on wire or heavy cord but not finished on gold or silver wire-- went from about $18 for 1/4 inch size to $24 for microscopic ones. You can string these yourself. My older daughter made herself a really pretty neck mala using some Sari Kiketan rudrakshas, tiny silver beads and a plastic covered wire.
After all that shopping, we were hungry again. Lily and I found ourselves in front of The Udupi Palace, a vegetarian restaurant. I noted it's "A" rating by the door. This was a great choice. The restaurant is fastidiously clean and elegant. It was packed when we arrived, but we quickly got a seat. Only to discover that we didn't know what anything on the menu was. All around us, people were being served delicious looking food. How did we order it? We had an experience typical of Little India. My daughter and I sat laughing at ourselves, feeling really stupid and wondering what to do. Four turbaned men sat at the table to my right. One noticed our discomfort and graciously offered to help us order. He was so nice about it. Our waiter arrived at that moment and did the job, but the incident left a warm glow. We were soon eating our own delicious food-- soups, a dosa and lassis-- and chatting with the young couple on my left. Who had great looking meals. I would like to go back to this place and eat my way through the menu. A lassi, by the way, is a yogurt drink often made with pureed mango. Delicious. A dosa is a giant (18" or so), crisp crepe rolled around a filling, usually potato. It came with two spicy dipping sauces. This is almost too much to write about-- it was so good. The young woman next to me was drinking a pale pink drink she said was made of rose water. If it tasted the way it looked, it must have been ambrosial. We've gone back to the Udupi Palace several times-- still great.
All that eating built up a powerful appetite for shopping. We moved on to Cottage Art, owned by the Nagrani family. 18619 S. Pioneer Blvd., (502) 924-6268. You can reach their web site by clicking on the name. Cottage Art used to be called "Sari Boutique" but changed its name when they added furniture, homeware, statues and many fascinating things for the home. This is a lovely, lovely place which features items from all over India. India is a huge place with may regional art specialties, many of which are represented here. Cottage Art sells beautiful pictures and statues of Krishna and Ganesh and other religious figures, wonderful saris and punjabis. And pillow covers, bedspreads. I found the most wonderful-- what to call it? Banner? A very ornate hanging that would go over a doorway. You can see a similar one above Jyoti's head in the photo above I bought it: it's wonderful in my house. Fabulous shawls. These ranged from embroidered Indian wool shawls, to block printed wool shawls, to Indian shawls with the pattern woven in, to the most wonderful Kashmiri paisley shawls. These latter were fine, soft wool, also with the pattern woven in. Lily bought one with a reversible pattern. Mine was heavier with the pattern on one side. I have seen these shawls in Santa Barbara and elsewhere for twice the money. Subsequent trips yield more treasures: a selection of Western clothing made in India. I bought a beautiful long silk dress sooo reasonably. She also had short velvet dresses, great shiny brocade jeans with embroidered fringes-- a whole rack of hip, cute things. For you decorators and seamstresses: Jyoti has many antique embroidered pieces that would make great valances over windows or trims on you name it. Lots of pillows, spreads. Home stuff. Exotic! Their customer service is among the best I've ever seen; they've accommodated me above and beyond anywhere.
On our first visit to Cottage Art, Lily bought a metallic gold sari to use as a window treatment in her room. We'll swag it over the window to complete the opulent look. As a former interior designer, I can tell you that saris offer a host of possible uses beside their intended use as saris. You can cut them up and make them into Western style clothing. You can use them as window treatments. Or pillows. Bedcovers. Whatever you can think of. They're much cheaper than fabric by the yard, and offer so many color and pattern possibilities it boggles the mind.
Jyoti had photos of a Beverly Hills wedding party all dressed from her shop. The bride and all her maids were dressed in traditional Indian outfits in every color of the rainbow. Beautiful! And the groom and his men wore Indian clothing. One fellow had the most novel approach to his baldness. This man had a shining pate-- completely painted with mehndi, the traditional henna designs usually worn on hands and feet. Isn't that better than hair transplants and all those drugs guys take now? Another great photo was of an African American actress decked out in white by the Sari Boutique. I don't remember her name, but she played the sister in Eve's Bayou and she looked wonderful in glistening Indian silks and beading. Great photos of Hollywood and celeb customers here. Every visit produce new treasures: we loaded up on padded embroidered jackets for Christmas gifts. Bought several terrific batik wall hangings of Hindu deities, also for gifts. Jyoti had all the wonderful things described above plus more Western fashions made in India. Terrific skirts. The greatest little tops, from bustiers to halters to shells, in silks and embroidery. Fantastic pure silver antique jewelry. A new line of paisley shawls, pashmina. Plus her own sweet self and helpful staff.
Every time we visit, new shops have opened. One of the most beautiful is Prasiddhi, which carries the highest quality art and home furnishings from India. Lily and I stopped by on our last visit and were blown away by the quality and variety of fine arts shown here. These are absolutely top qualitiy pieces, so many of them I won't attempt to list them. Beautiful art work in various woods and metals. Particular favorites of ours were "paintings" made of various types of wood. The wood grain was worked into the design so that it seemed brushed on––but it wasn't. They're located at 18709 South Pioneer Blvd. Hours are: Tues - Fri 12 Noon - 8:00 PM, Sat - Sun 11:00 AM - 8:30 PM Closed Monday, like the rest of Little India. Phone: 562-402-3222 Fax: 562.402.3404 email: info@prasiddhiarts.com
AND NOW WE COMPLETE THE SAGA OF THE SHOES: We couldn't find that shop where Lily saw the traditional shoes the night before. It completely vanished. "Do you think it was on this side of the street?" "Yes." "I think it was over there." "No, it wasn't. It was over here." We never got the shoes. Hence, the parable: If you see something you like at Little India, buy it. You may not be able to find that shop again. Or you may.
I saw a stonewashed cotton punjabi at India Silk and Fashions on Friday, and was able to find it again the next day. This punjabi was on the Sale-Sale rack, really marked down. I love it. It's tunic is a soft mauve cotton with pastel fabric animals-- elephants, dogs, birds-- hand sewn all over it. Incredible workmanship. It came with mauve pants and a huge shawl. It's something I can wear everywhere. $50 for all three pieces. Wow. India Silk also had a full range of other traditional fashions.
WHAT ABOUT BINDIS? Did we come away with the red dot between our eyes? Or paste-on jewels? No. Traditionally, the bindi was worn by married women. It was made of fine red powder called Kum Kum, which was rolled into a tiny ball with a bit of water and pressed on to make a perfect circle. In modern times, unmarried Hindu women and girls wear bindis, often of easily applied liquid Kum Kum or the fancy, painted and shaped stick-on type. Members of religious orders also wear traditional Kum Kum bindis. In Hinduism, the spot between and slightly above the eyes is associated with insight and intuition. The red dot is applied to honor this site. It may have other religious significance that I don't know about. Wearing a bindi is not about making a fashion statement. So we didn't buy even the fanciest stick-ons-- no matter how well they matched our outfits. How about mendhi? Didn't we get our hands and feet painted with henna designs in the traditional way? Didn't we have our eyebrows "threaded"-- unwanted hair removed by being pulled out with a thread? All over town, beauty shops would have gladly performed these services. Not this trip. However, we made discrete inquiries as to where to get our noses pierced. (Lord's Jewelers) We would have done it, except that I don't think my husband could stand the shock of us returning with the Master Card bills and pierced noses. He'd probably lock us up. (But maybe next time...) 11/29/00 My daughter took the plunge. Read about it in LORDS JEWELERS above. Will I get my nose pierced? Time will tell...
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