Sari

Sundays are always special, but more so now when I get to read a fresh column by Shashi Tharoor every Sunday. So I was elated to read Save the sari from a sorry fate as sari remains my favourite garment. It was a double feast – Shashi Tharoor and his endorsement of my favourite attire. But by any stretch of imagination, I could have never foreseen the kind of response it evoked from the feminists. So much so that he had to come up with a rejoinder asking – “Where did I go wrong?”
 
My date with sari goes back to the time when I was just a twelve year old. Would wear  it to any fancy dress competition in school, festivals or in the parties thrown by the ambassador where different nationals would come. Their admiring looks said so much about the beauty of the Sari. But not for our feminists . They cry hoarse about anyone who pleads to arrest the declining interest of Indian ladies in Sari.
 
For starters, I would agree with the fact that Sari is not really a very comfortable piece of clothing but then neither are stilettos in the office or cut sleeves in the chilly winter winds. Yet many Indians women don them. Denim is anytime thicker on hot and sultry summer months than a cool cotton sari.
 
Aqua Genius calls it a tent behind which mountains of flab can be concealed though his models adorn it with panache.
 
However, passions do not always spring from rational grounds. I really cannot give you too many good reasons why we Indian women should not part with the elegance of sari. But there is something which I find ridiculous about the feminists who jump with daggers in their hands at anyone who speaks about perpetuating any traits exclusively feminine.
 
Does feminism mean the “man-ization” , if any such term exists, of woman? I guess not. Besides having equal rights, for me feminism means that a woman should have her own space to grow as a woman and not as a man. Therein comes my case for sari. Sari with myriad vibrant colours, textures and designs is epitome of everything feminine. It compliments a woman’s body as no other garment can ever do. It enhances the inherent beauty of any woman which nature has so generously bestowed on women.
 

So Mr. Tharoor, I am all for this six yards of beauty and there was nothing sexist about your appeal to Indian women to adorn this attire.

9.4.07 20:37