Is it necessary for the bride to wear pattu saree on her wedding day? That kind of limits my choices. What if I find pattu less appealing and prefer a different material yet it would still look grand as any wedding saree? Is that unaceptable? Please help.

Perhaps we should update the sari..

Anyways. OK so Tharoor loves sarees and wants to see sarees everywhere . Nothing wrong with that. And he laments on the emergence of “western clothing” and salwar suits. Now I have something to say about the western clothing part. Pants for women shouln’t be called western clothing. Rather it should be called modern clothing. Mind you even 80 years back western women wore something like this http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/images/20027580-r%20copy.jpg . They rode horses (dangerously) side-straddled(2 legs on one side). Then came the bicycles making things easier for transport those days and the long flowing gowns HAD to go. For the sake of times. The world wars made it obligated for women to work in factories(devoid of men as they went to war) and pants became more and more common. Now I am a housewife living in the outskirts of the city and have to ride a scooter for commuting(no bus-stops here). I have rode the scooter with saree once and had difficulty braking and was cautioned by fellow motorists how the pallu is getting dangerously closer to the rear wheel. Now even 80 years back there weren’t scooters for Indian women. Neither did they have to commute long distances for necessities(the men did that and the closed village systems were self sufficient). So women here just gotta wear the pants and salwars. Its not exactly about rebelling or fashion. Lifestyles has changed a lot in the past 100 years. Modes of transport has changed a lot. There are machines(different forms) everywhere. Clothing had to adapt to it. I’m sure in another 100 years clothing is going to change even more suiting the lifestyle changes of the times then. Why even WITHIN our generation you see small changes not present 10 years back. Bags and Pants are having the ipod/mobile pockets. People couldn’t have imagine that in early 90s really. Tharoor should have looked at the bigger picture before accusing the “young women” for abandoning the age-old attire. And theres no use of wearing a dhoti in the swearing-in ceremony[like he did] to make a point. It makes no sense.

As a career woman who’s been living in India for the past 3 years, I just had to comment. Sarees are very much alive and kicking today, at least in the part of India I’m from (south India). Like someone said earlier, as little girls we couldn’t wait to be old enough to wear sarees. I did my graduation in South India, where sarees are still considered formal wear. We wore sarees to our graduation party, and yes, the guys’ faces were pretty much as Shaad said!

I have to agree with Tharoor on this one, the saree suits every woman, of any size and shape, as any figure defect you have can be concealed by the saree. And you can drape it to be as revealing, (or not!) as you choose; the entire spectrum of styles from sexy to demure is open to you. C’mon, both film stars and nuns wear sarees, that’s got to tell you something. Having said all this, I personally opt to wear sarees for special occasions only, (and stick to salwar kameezes for work), as I am not exactly an expert in wearing one, and I hate badly draped sarees. But my sister wears one to college and is as comfortable wearing a saree as anything else. Heck, I’ve even seen women in sarees riding bicycles! It’s all about your personal comfort level and expertise.

Side note: someone mentioned that it’s indicative of our culture of repressed sexuality to “swathe women in yards of cloth”, which conceal their figures, and mentioned salwars as a case in point. Dude! Have you seen said salwars? When you want to look hot, but can’t be bothered with the baggage of a saree, there is nothing more sexy than a well cut, figure hugging salwar suit. I don’t know how it is overseas- maybe you get less variety?- but in India, you get a rangee of styles for every occassion- casual, formal, can’t-be-bothered, night out, yada yada yada, for every body type. (I’m starting to sound like a sales girl, amn’t I? ) For example, the sleeves of Anna’s blouse in that picture is waaay out of fashion on this side of the ocean. (Sorry, Anna. Other than that, you look simply gorgeous ) Anyone under 35 opts for itsy-bitsy sleeves, which are just on the right side of sleevelessness. At the risk of making sweeping generalizations, some of my N. Indian girl friends even opt for spaghetti straps!

So, coming back on-topic after that sartorial outburst, I didn’t find anything offensive at all in Tharoor’s article. (except that bit about the Punjabi naming trends, WTF was that?) Give the poor guy a break, he was just indulging in a bit of nostalgia IMO, the saree’ll never go out of style.

Just my two cents..

If south indians are having a problem trying to get their women to wear a saree, don’t blame the salwar kameez cuz it’s indian too. Try to find a solution as to how a saree can be made easier to handle so that your women can wear it everyday and still manage to comfortably go about their business. Like someone said evolve and adapt.

And to all the “feminists” out there – you ARE wearing what you do to cover your BODY now, isn’t it? So where does the question of “sexist” come in the picture, here? If you are really all feminists, including the men who write, then why bother covering you body, people?

Pathetic.

Point taken.