The Tradition before Marriage By now you know that I am in Mumbai... enjoying life with the new found friends (most of them Gujarati and few Delhiites) and doing some work as well (considering thats what I had been sent here for from Kolkata).
Well, this is the first time that I had come in such close contact with the Gujjus (as the Gujaratis are fondly called). And hey, you know what they are nice people to spend time with. Ravi is the guy I gelled with specially. There are plenty more whom you will hopefully meet in the forthcoming issues.........
Two months back Ravi suddenly announced his engagement and in the midst of our running project. All of us gave him our heartiest congratulations. He went home for the grand affair and came back in a couple of days. Things have come a long way since then and now, we are really very close. I am the only prankster in our group and though I dont play pranks on these friends, some bit of taunting and teasing on the hot topic of marriage (which was only on the cards) was always on. Then one fine morning he revealed that he is going to be married.
Days passed by... the time came to stich something special for his marriage. They traditionally wear Sherwanis or Suits for their marriage, so the hunt is always on for the best of both worlds... 'quality' and 'low cost'. He readily asked me to be with him for the marketing, and, naturally I had to agree.
For those conversant about Mumbai, we went to Borivli to start with. The Sherwanis looked so disastrously (disastrous.. to money) beautiful, all of them looked so ready for marriage!! I myself was getting confused and wary of selection, the confusion in Ravi was so easily justified. For information of those getting married recently, this small info may help:
Prices of Sherwani starts from Rs.4500
I had no idea till now about the cost of these clothings as I never had any.
Anyway, we spent the whole day in Borivli estimating the prices of the Sherwanis. The next day, we went to Malad, another place which Ravi suggested. (Later I realized the reason for his being there for shopping... Gujjus thrive in these places; most of the shops belong to them.) Malad showed us something different.. Kurtas that they call semi-Sherwanis. The designs on these Kurtas were fantastic as well, traditional, yet chic, complete with fine embroidery work.
These Kurtas' price start from Rs.1500, including the dupatta and the embroidered shoe.
At the fag end of the shopping day at Malad, he zeroed on (hold your breath) a Suit... yes, in his
confusion, he went for a Suit, not a Sherwani.
Suits can well be made with Rs.3000 to Rs.500 excess
However, the suit looked really good, simple and finished with some amount of stylish embroidery work. Needless to say, the delivery is still pending, but by trial, both looked good....... the Suit, and Ravi.
At the end of the day, when I introspected at out shopping stint, I realized at the end of it all...
India is still the old traditional place as it was a couple of decades back. Yes, the mindset and taste of people has changed for good, but we still are people deeply rooted to our culture, be we Marathis, Gujaratis or we Bengalis. Tradition is the reason for which we still like to deck up for the auspicious affair as wedding, with dresses as Sherwanis which really has no worth in normal life.
I won't write anything more, but voice out the cliched but true statement... PROUD TO BE INDIAN.
Anyway, we spent the whole day in Borivli estimating the prices of the Sherwanis. The next day, we went to Malad, another place which Ravi suggested. (Later I realized the reason for his being there for shopping... Gujjus thrive in these places; most of the shops belong to them.) Malad showed us something different.. Kurtas that they call semi-Sherwanis. The designs on these Kurtas were fantastic as well, traditional, yet chic, complete with fine embroidery work.
These Kurtas' price start from Rs.1500, including the dupatta and the embroidered shoe.
At the fag end of the shopping day at Malad, he zeroed on (hold your breath) a Suit... yes, in his
confusion, he went for a Suit, not a Sherwani.
Suits can well be made with Rs.3000 to Rs.500 excess
However, the suit looked really good, simple and finished with some amount of stylish embroidery work. Needless to say, the delivery is still pending, but by trial, both looked good....... the Suit, and Ravi.
At the end of the day, when I introspected at out shopping stint, I realized at the end of it all...
India is still the old traditional place as it was a couple of decades back. Yes, the mindset and taste of people has changed for good, but we still are people deeply rooted to our culture, be we Marathis, Gujaratis or we Bengalis. Tradition is the reason for which we still like to deck up for the auspicious affair as wedding, with dresses as Sherwanis which really has no worth in normal life.
I won't write anything more, but voice out the cliched but true statement... PROUD TO BE INDIAN.
