Women are shopaholics. Shopping is the best therapy to lift up a woman’s mood. Well, absolutely! My younger sister is getting married and we had an absolute blast shopping for her trousseau. A quick trip to Mumbai over a weekend was necessary in order to check out the saris at Nalli’s. The sweltering heat of Mumbai wasn’t going to deter a few determined women on a mission. So we went, six women of different ages and opinions, united in our goal of finding beautiful and ‘unique’ saris for a bride.
Nalli is famous for its typical south Indian designs and colours. We were pretty hopeful of getting a good hoard. If you know how the wedding fever works in India, you would know that shopping for saris is the most important part of any wedding. The colours, designs and every element of the saris have to be different and spectacular than any guest attending the wedding.
So after a hearty lunch to sustain us through the rigorous task and depositing the kids with the respective husbands, we braved the scorching afternoon sun and got into a local train to Mahalaxmi and then into a taxi to Nalli’s. All the while were counting how many saris we could safely buy (apart from the trousseau). The husbands had sent us off with warnings about going overboard (not your wedding.....keep that in mind before ogling at any sari!).
Well, no matter how many saris one has, entering a sari shop is like entering into the land of magic.
All the colours, textures and designs begin to mesmerize you....clamouring for your attention and preference! We were lost in yards and yards of silk, confused when we couldn’t make up our minds and delighted when we found something beautiful.
All this is pretty entertaining and exhilarating......and extremely tiring. So at the end of four hours the result was ten saris, aching feet and tired minds. After a necessary snack break, we returned triumphant with our purchases.....though much to the dismay of our dear husbands, we weren’t through with the shopping list yet!!
