Sari .
A 6 yards long cloth draped over a innskirt and blouse by meticulously pleating it and securing it with safety pins at the waist and the shoulder.Even when the mercury touches 45 c we Indian women cover ourselves with this unnaturally long piece of clothing and the current poor of India drape themselves in 6 yards of polyester which is as good or as hot as wearing a sweater , in a desert.
Our sisters across South East Asia have long since abandoned their traditional dresses like the Kimono etc in favour of Western dresses.A sizable population of N.E India have taken to wearing maxi,pants ,and top,.
But here we stick to our sari dearly. It takes a lot of time to drape it ,makes one self conscious,i.e. parts of the body gets exposed if the pallu is not monitored every second,doesn't dry quickly in rainy seasons and is as hot as inside a oven during hot summers.
Why do we cling to this cumbersome dress?Is it to establish our Indian identity fiercely at all cost?It is not only Hindu's ,Christians, Parsi's, Jains but also Muslim ladies of India and as well as Bangladesh who refuse to abandon the sari and don gharara's or sharara's.
In the generation next to mine there is a sea of change.The dress once considered as the dress of Punjabi's is worn by girls all over India even in the remotest hamlets of Southern India.Churidhar kurta has become a national uniform second in importance only to the sari.
For the past 20 years India has been swept by Churidhar Revolution.Yet the sari refuses to surrender.It is mandatory [unwritten code] that the bride must wear a sari [ no gowns not yet] shimmering with zari .It is so rich and expensive that it can be worn only on occasions.
In rural India and in small towns and in pockets of middle class households in cities and in lower income tenements however sari is the only attire of women.The laxity shown in allowing girls to wear churidhar is only up to the day of their marriage thence forward it is only sari and sari all the way.
Ghandhji's emphasis that every Indian should wear only 'hand loom clothes has curried favour by millions of Indian women though abandoned by men ,not because Ghandhiji exhorted us to do so but because we women are all crazy after handwoven Kanchipuram or Benares's silks which even the poorest of the poor will somehow or the other acquire it for her marriage.
The poor Indian woman may have abandoned home spun cottons for more durable and cheaper polyester Saree's but the middle class women and some higher class women take pride in wearing the comfortable cotton Saree's fresh from the looms of Bengal ,Orissa, Venkatagiri or Madurai.
Will we ever abandon the figure hugging chiffon's,and Georgette's,the heavy and dignified Kancheepuram silks and crepes or crisp cottons,the glittering Benarasi brocade Sarees or the poor cousin polyester Saree's?Maybe 50 years hence the entire population might switch over to pants and tops.But I am sure that the at least one sari ,lovingly bought and cherished dearly will occupy the pride of place in every Indian women's cupboard.
Thus the sari is very much sought after not only by the simple folk as their daily attire but as well as the soignee's to bewitch the on lookers in soiree's.
Our sisters across South East Asia have long since abandoned their traditional dresses like the Kimono etc in favour of Western dresses.A sizable population of N.E India have taken to wearing maxi,pants ,and top,.
But here we stick to our sari dearly. It takes a lot of time to drape it ,makes one self conscious,i.e. parts of the body gets exposed if the pallu is not monitored every second,doesn't dry quickly in rainy seasons and is as hot as inside a oven during hot summers.
Why do we cling to this cumbersome dress?Is it to establish our Indian identity fiercely at all cost?It is not only Hindu's ,Christians, Parsi's, Jains but also Muslim ladies of India and as well as Bangladesh who refuse to abandon the sari and don gharara's or sharara's.
In the generation next to mine there is a sea of change.The dress once considered as the dress of Punjabi's is worn by girls all over India even in the remotest hamlets of Southern India.Churidhar kurta has become a national uniform second in importance only to the sari.
For the past 20 years India has been swept by Churidhar Revolution.Yet the sari refuses to surrender.It is mandatory [unwritten code] that the bride must wear a sari [ no gowns not yet] shimmering with zari .It is so rich and expensive that it can be worn only on occasions.
In rural India and in small towns and in pockets of middle class households in cities and in lower income tenements however sari is the only attire of women.The laxity shown in allowing girls to wear churidhar is only up to the day of their marriage thence forward it is only sari and sari all the way.
Ghandhji's emphasis that every Indian should wear only 'hand loom clothes has curried favour by millions of Indian women though abandoned by men ,not because Ghandhiji exhorted us to do so but because we women are all crazy after handwoven Kanchipuram or Benares's silks which even the poorest of the poor will somehow or the other acquire it for her marriage.
The poor Indian woman may have abandoned home spun cottons for more durable and cheaper polyester Saree's but the middle class women and some higher class women take pride in wearing the comfortable cotton Saree's fresh from the looms of Bengal ,Orissa, Venkatagiri or Madurai.
Will we ever abandon the figure hugging chiffon's,and Georgette's,the heavy and dignified Kancheepuram silks and crepes or crisp cottons,the glittering Benarasi brocade Sarees or the poor cousin polyester Saree's?Maybe 50 years hence the entire population might switch over to pants and tops.But I am sure that the at least one sari ,lovingly bought and cherished dearly will occupy the pride of place in every Indian women's cupboard.
Thus the sari is very much sought after not only by the simple folk as their daily attire but as well as the soignee's to bewitch the on lookers in soiree's.
posted by K.C. Sujata at
12:08 AM
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