What matters for women...

Another CSR event was coming on the 5th and 6th of May and my colleagues wondered if I am wearing sari again. According to their comments, I looked really nice in it. This was already good enough to trigger my thinking. Bharti and Sanghita said that cotton saree and some sort of chapels would make up for a nice summer formal look. I had just one night to figure out the dress and not much of that night either….I decided to explore the limits of Malvia Nagar market despite the latter did not make a promising impression at all… Just by walking little bit aside of my regular route I came across a very nice shop with cotton kurtas. The shop appeared a nice compromise between minimalistic Fabindia and carnival-like assortment of any market: nice cotton with very tasteful decorations. 250 for a long kurta and 150 for salwar pants made my kurta-fan colleague Piyali to proclaim her firm intentions to come down to Malvia Nagar for shopping. ASAP.



The question of salwar suit versus saree was resolved with ease: BOTH! The salwar suit was ready-to-wear for Friday and, naturally, with blouse to be stitched and the cloth for saree to be fixed saree was left for Saturday. Some time before, when I was looking for a second blouse for my first saree, I spotted a nice sari shop at Malvia Nagar market. So, this time I confidently headed there to ask for cotton sarees. For 340 Rs I bought a beautiful greenish blue cotton sari with cherry borders. Being a bit knowledgeable I asked to cut blouse from the cloth and to fix the bottom. They said I could collect my sari in two days, however I insisted on the day after. I already had a blue petticoat, but the blouse was still to be stitched by tomorrow night. I stopped by a tailor, managed to make them stitch the blouse by tomorrow night. I’ve already ordered a blouse for sari twice, so I knew what is important to mention (not to find a product of pure creativity by a tailor): lining or without, round or other-shaped neck, the depth of the neck, length of the blouse and sleeve, fastener in front and machine stitching, no hand made details. …

The next I picked up my saree (needless to say it was there waiting for me, I noticed it’s somehow in genes of the sellers here to make it look they are doing impossible for you:” it usually takse week, but for you just 6 days, mam” ;o)) The blouse came out well, but when I got there it was not ironed: the tailor tried to explain me that the fabric was too gentle to iron it (tailors have those medieval heavy metal irons). The tailor, his boss and me had a nice little discussion where I managed to convey that ironing is still possible through the other, more rough cloth; the boss said something in Hindi from which I made out only “customer satisfaction” and I sad “yes, customer satisfaction, so please”- ironing was done at the spot.

This was the fourth time I wore saree and I dared to warp it myself.. it appeared quite tricky with the stubborn cotton cloth… When I showed up at the conference (got to know from Piyali later) and a group of the colleagues spotted me my Director’s first reaction was “Someone go and help her”. However, when I approached then I heard “Very nice, you just need to fix the pleads”. Piyali made it anew and she appeared really good in it (Now I wonder when young girls give me all the compliments and add even they cannot put it one properly…… is it just another way to be sweet? The same trick works with sweets – there are always some available at very Indian house at any point or time. The hosts would be always ready to pack some for you saying “No one eats it, otherwise”…. Yet, the fact remains, there are always some sweets available at very Indian house at any point or time). My colleagues said later that it was so nice of me to try it myself though…. Yet, the pictures would document only the best part ;o)