Last night my host family and I attended a wedding reception of a distant relative of my host mother's. My host mother and I were at home, waiting for my host father to pick us up when, out of the blue my host mother looks over at me in my fading blue jeans and salwaar top and says "Madi, do you want to wear a sari?" Of course!
Over the next twenty minutes, my host mother wrapped and tied, wrapped and tied, folded, tucked, wrapped and tied until I was draped in a beautiful hot pink sari with beautiful embroidery work along the seems. She worked easily and quickly, as though she had done it many times, which, she has! She then proceeded to decorate me- she placed a pearl necklace around my neck, dangling pearl earrings in my ears, two sets of bangles (gold and pink) on my wrists, and a pink bindi in the middle of my forehead. When I was done I felt beautiful! I had never worn so much jewelry in my life, and I felt like a princess walking in my high heels and flowing sheer pink sari.
When my host father came home, he was very surprised to see me all dressed up- "wow!" was all he could manage, and throughout the night, when I saw people I knew, the reactions were mostly of shock and awe. The little girl next door started screaming in Tamil about it when we stepped off of the elevator coming home!
At the reception we chatted with relatives of my host mother, took some photos with the soon to be married couple (above) and then ate our dinner on giant green palm leaves! Weddings and receptions are always filled with lots of good food! The room that we ate in had several long white tables, with plastic chairs. At each place there was an empty palm leaf, and as we sat in our places, a line of servers would file past- first came the water to clean off the palm leaf, then the sweet, then all of the wonderful dinner after that! The food is stored in big silver buckets, and I had to be careful, because even by just looking at one of the waiters I would suddenly receive another big scoop of what they were carrying!
I had a fun night becoming an Indian, and finally getting a chance to be a part of the crowd of colorful clothes I've been wanting to join- I think I might like to wear sari's more often! They are very comfortable and VERY beautiful!
3 comments:
Wow! You not only felt beautiful, you looked beautiful, too!
I own a lovely silk sari in turquoise and royal blue — but I still need someone to dress me! I gotta learn to do the pleats...
A friend came to our hotel room to dress me in a sari for a wedding once, and the first thing she said to Rob, was (pointing to the ceiling), "Off the fan!" Even the expert couldn't dress me in fabric that was billowing all over. :D
So, we get to the marriage hall, and have to go up a looooong flight of stairs. I sorta spoiled my elegant image by, halfway up, stepping on my hem and lurching. My friend said, "Don't worry. I put in plenty of safety pins." :)
After getting back to the hotel and (reluctantly, despite the heat) stripping off my sari, I realized she'd put in so many safety pins I coulda set off a metal detector.
A few hours later, she and I were in a shop, and I saw her looking at my head funny.
"What's that in your hair?" she asked, reaching over to inspect. And pulled out the stick-on bindi I'd been wearing with my sari.
Somehow, in all the sweating, face-wiping and sari-removal, my bindi had migrated to the side of my head. Ack!
So much for feeling elegant... hahaha
I bet you did waaaaay better than I did in your "maiden voyage" in a sari. ;)
I know what you mean about the feasts on a banana-leaf, and the guys with the buckets of food.
One of my first survival lessons was to fold the leaf in half, the long way, with the fold toward me, as soon as my stomach was satisfied. That signaled that I was finished. Then I could look anywhere, at anyone, safely. :D
Sara
Yea- I can't say that I had that exciting of a night!! Although, I did trip over the pleats at the front once or twice which was embarrassing....
I think you are, basically, just waaaaay more coordinated and graceful than I've ever been. :D
Rob, on the other hand, was a champion gymnast. Sigh....
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