Among all Indian attire, wearing the saree holds a special place for most women. The tradition of draping the saree has changed by leaps and bounds. The culture of wearing a saree is now limited to farewell, ethnic days in the office or sometimes weddings. With this fast moving life, wearing a saree is somewhere left behind in closets or restricted to only teachers or few professions, which demand these as a dress code. Saree has that beauty to make every woman beautiful. It has no prerequisites to be slim, fat, tall, short, long hairs, angled BOB, fair or dark. The simplicity and tradition to carry these sarees suit every woman and makes them more beautiful. Ekta tells us about the beauty and grace of saree, in this article, exclusively for Different Truths.

Being in India will automatically tune you to the myriad of cultures, costumes, and religions. On the contrary, there is no denying the fact that crime against women and children is touching its own height. They are equally unsafe even after so much of development and the graph of crime are nowhere going down. Indeed the situation is getting better with technology and not leaving aside the criminals who are equally getting more equipped with their ideas and weapons.

The very first thought that strikes to everyone in every situation are women’s dress. Is she was wearing crime-provoking dress? Sounds weird, right?

Anyhow, this article is not all about the crime rate and safety of and about women or what a woman needs to wear. I know whether it’s Indian or western dress, a woman has the liberty to wear clothes of her types. One cannot say that those who wear traditional Indian outfits are not modern or that they were never targeted for crime against women.

Still, those who love to wear and carry those traditions are no Behanjis. An outfit can never describe a person, in the same manner as you can never judge a book by its cover.

Dressing up with what you like is all about the positivity around us in small forms which we sometimes don’t realise often. It’s not necessary that happiness always comes with big Dhamaka or with materialistic things.  It’s completely up to us how we find happiness in those small joy giving things, which might normal for others.

I am sure, for all of us dressing up to the best is one of its own kinds of happiness. We feel special, more confident and happy too whenever we put some extra effort to get ready. Well,  dressing up special is nowhere related to any marriage, function or big occasion. It’s completely for you and you have a complete liberty to decide for yourself as when you want to dress up and what you want to wear.

Among all Indian attire, I am still very much enamored with wearing the nine-yard saree^*. I know the tradition of draping this nine-yard has changed by leaps and bounds. The culture of wearing a saree is now limited to farewell, ethnic days in the office or sometimes weddings. With this fast moving life, wearing a saree is somewhere left behind in closets or restricted to only teachers or few professions, which demand these as a dress code. Those women who buy sarees with great enthusiasm to flaunt it post their marriage, end up with just filling up their wardrobe.

Not leaving behind my story too and I can brag this that I was too in the same category. Wearing a saree was indeed a big task for me. Even though many times I tried my best to avoid Indian formals and switching to trousers and blazer during my school, college and office days.

Apparently, I also realised that you really need to put few extra hours to understand the beauty of certain things. Until and unless you work on them, mold them as per your own persona, enjoy them with every aspect you will always have different notions for that particular change.

Soon after marriage, I relocated to Bengaluru, a city of silk and Kanjeevaram. A place where you will see silk sarees clad women all around even in their routine day and you yourself will find yourself an outdated version. With the same zeal to look similar like them, I mustered my courage and bought one Kanjeevaram from one of the famous outlets on MG road. That was a different happiness for me that day or I can say I was just trying out a new stuff or a style in a jiffy. Anyways, I tried my best to wear it but it was too heavy to drape and I was a little imperfect that time to carry this beautiful Indian attire. For me, saree is no lesser than a designer wear, which we need to wear after our marriage or it is restricted to few special events. But, I kept trying and buying it, and became little perfect.

I know the recent invention of many hassle free dresses has made our life easy. We have salwar kameez, then churidaar. A few years back that was also taken over by stretchable leggings and now air free palazzos. Fashion for women keep changing every year or may be with the just drop of the hat. Slowly with the time and age, even I learned how to drape a saree beautifully and started getting lots of comments for added glamour with these nine-yard. All thanks to YouTube availability for all the problems. You ask your problem and there is the solution within a fraction of seconds.

My passion and love for silk, handloom, and handmade sarees are just getting bigger day by day. I don’t hesitate to wear it and carry it with a pride even in North Indian functions, where you will look no lesser than an alien in a midst of jazzy outfits.

I understood the feel and pride to carry a saree. It has that beauty to make every woman beautiful. It has no prerequisites to be slim, fat, tall, short, long hairs, angled bob, fair or dark. The simplicity and tradition to carry the sarees suit every woman and makes them more beautiful.

Now, I take a gig why it took so many long years for me to understand the beauty of this nine-yard of honor and why it has taken a back seat in most of our lives. Why we just can’t wear a Saree without any occasion and just for ourselves. Why we need a farewell and defined dress code to look back into our wardrobe and take out some old piece of saree. It’s such a charm and elegance to wear a saree and the simplicity which gives us a feel to be as a woman.

I think we really need to relook on our tradition sometimes which still holds that power of dressing up with simplicity and elegance.

©Ekta Shah

Photos from the Internet.

^{*Traditionally Saree length range between 6 and 9 yards. The 9 yards saree is known as Nawari and is worn in traditional Maharashtrian style.}

Ekta Shah

Ekta Shah is a stay at home mother (SAHM), by choice. She is an avid blogger. She has taken to writing for almost a year and contributes to several blogs and online sites. She stays in Bangalore.

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