Nine yards of woe

I've worn a Sari today because I have to go for a formal dinner today after work. My sari is a silk grey and black pochampalli and I've worn it with a black silk blouse. I normally avoid wearing saris because it is exremely tedious to drape them well. It takes me all of 20 minutes just to get my front pleats right and I need my maid (or someone else - on various occassions its been my sister, my mother, a friend, my brother) to pat them down. I'm also taller and wider than the average Indian woman, so the average length of a sari is not too good for me because I can't get the proper number of pleats in the front.

I am very comfortable in Saris and they make me feel nice and feminine. However the Sari has clearly not been designed for feminine comfort. If you are in a hurry to visit the ladies' room, the sari is a serious impediment to quick relief. With trousers, you just wiggle out of them in a hurry, a tinkle here, a tinkle there and you are done. In a sari, you need to be careful about not crushing it or letting it dangle in dirty, disgusting places. Once you are done you need to waste another ten minutes in fixing up your sari again. I have yet to discover how sari-clad women do their business in a jiffy and am so much more appreciative of women who wear saris everyday to work.

For those of you who want to learn how to drape a sari, just Click Here!