don't expect poetry or any ethereal discussions on the phenomenon of nightmares or anything remotely intellectual... not that any of my posts are ever that... this thing is a straightforward rant at the lack of taste and elegance in ANYTHING u might expect to see in a market full of clothes...
A short backgrounder first... those who already know me intimately.. u've heard this before... so u may skip to the next para.. if, that is, u really want to read the same thing i've been moaning about for quite a while now... i dont go shopping all that often... my shopping is usually limited to a coupla new tshirts/kurtis/dressy tops every season.. or a pair of jeans roughly once a year coz thats just about how long it takes for me to either get bored with it or ruin it somehow.. For the last coupla months..every time that i've bothered to haul myself to the market, i've come back empty handed with aching eyes at the sheer number of BRIGHT sequinned things with weird colours and funny stones all over the place... WHAT is the world coming to????? that people think dressing up means draping what seems like the entire rainbow(and then some..) of colours on yourself n putting a few bright sparkly things in even weirder colours on top of it..??????
why i rant today?? ah yes... i just spent 3 hours looking for a sari to wear for my sister's wedding.. n now i have a pounding headache.. n NOT because its sunny in delhi.. oh NO... but coz there was just SO MANY SHINY THINGS!!! today is not the first i've gone on a sari hunt... the last 2 weekends were spent in a similarly futile search for pretty things.. except that THOSE were for my beloved Sis n i didnt really have to spend time analysing every sari that was spread out, like i had to today... from South Extn mkt to chandni chowk to kamla nagar n every mall we could find... we've been scouring every place we can think of for more than a month now.. n its been really hard to scrape together enough saris for the family and the bride.. WHY is every sari one can find in the market covered with stones?? or sequins, or worse, BOTH?? dont people make simple elegant WEARABLE saris anymore?? the only stone free saris were the heavy kanjivarams and assorted silks that befit ONLY the bride.. what of the rest of the women in the family?? either we look like badly designed chandeliers or dig into mom's old clothes chest.. which ofcourse contains things she would NEVER let me wear coz they're too heavy/old-style = inappropriate for an unmarried little girl like me to wear.. WTF!!!!!
sample this... i walk into this old renowned shop in Kamla nagar, say hello to the aged uncleji sitting there n ask to see simple yet wedding- appropriate saris in a particular price range.. in his infinite wisdom he dispatches an underling to get the "achchi wali, modern saris".. well and good.. mom, dad, me and kid bro(who tagged along for some unknown reason) sit waiting in anticipation, looking around at the rather exorbitantly decorated saris that adorn the mannenquins around us.. i point to one of those.. but its deemed too heavy for the kid sis of the bride.. dont wanna upstage my sister now do i??
meanwhile.. the assistants come back with an assortment of materials and colours perched on their shoulders..(i'm using rather flowery language aren't i?) n proudly spread out the wares.. soft chiffons and flowing georgettes and even a coupla silks n stuff... lovely shades of blue and green and pink and orange.. ON EVERY ^#& *#!*^#!ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!! there was a chiffon sari in a gorgeous shade of blue.. flowing into a palla of pink... WITH YELLOW AND RED STONEWORK on it!!! i mean.. REALLYYYYY!!!!!!!!! then there were the so called 'designer' saris.. a red n black with red flowers on it.. AND the flowers were bigger than my entire HEAD! and there were black sequins outlining the flowers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n that wasn't the worst of them... the ABSOLUTE WORST i saw was a brown n orange chiffon sari... all flowy and lovely to touch.. with a geometrical parallel line pattern on it... and there were HUGE BLACK SQUARE STONES on it!!! I wanted to throw up right there!!!!!!!!!!! n my kid brother seemed to delight in pointing out the weirdest shades and designs n telling me to get those... n it was practically the same thing at 3 other shops we went to... the humid n hot weather, plus my age makes it rather impractical to wear heavy silks which seem to be practically the only things that are NOT full of stones..
3 hours, four shops, and countless thoughts of murder later, i found ONE sari that i loved at first sight... thank god...
the only problem is.. the wedding is 3 DAYS of ceremonies.... siiiiiiggghhhhhh.....
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