I wonder who brought about this false idea that the ideal formal dress for girls is a sari. We wore saris for ring ceremony [for those who think it to be synonymous to engagement , scroll down please], and there were hardly any who looked 'formal'. We looked like socialites attending a party, girls attending a friend's wedding, even the bride's family members, but not engineers about to graduate.
A lot of thought was put into the color of the sari and everyone had begun sari preparations 3 months in advance. Then, a month before, almost everyone could be seen at the small tailors' shops at Surathkal, getting their blouses stitched or getting their mum's blouses altered. Some went to Mangalore to buy matching jewelery for their saris. And after every new addition to their sari, the sari was tried out with all the accessories collected so far.
If anyone thought that preparations to wear a sari involved only buying stuff from shops , they were so wrong. People turned weight conscious exactly a month before and suddenly, everyone could be seen feeling their tummies daily to check for any changes in the size. A fortnight before the slated day, some went on crash diets so as to look thin that day. However, all these intense preparations had to be carried on for a little longer as the ring ceremony itself got advanced. Apparently the rings hadn't arrived.
Some early birds, anticipating a crowd on the days near the ceremony date, visited the parlor well in advance only to realise the ceremony was again advanced. So as the third date approached, everyone was quite done with their preparations and GB 3rd floor wore a peaceful look.
The day of the ring ceremony, everyone had a good afternoon nap and whole floor was up by 4 pm taking bath. Since very few knew how to drape a sari, schedules had been fixed beforehand, as i was told when i went asking people to help me with my sari.
And after all the makeup and perfect hairstyles, we sat listening to speeches and afterwards, wore the ring given by our HOD, had dinner, took many pics in all permutations and came back.
I never understood the reason behind wearing a sari and not salwar. The efforts that were put into wearing the sari dint seem worth it.
PS1: The ring ceremony is a formal occasion organised by the institute wherein the students take a pledge of working honestly and sincerely and being worthy of the institute, the profession and the country.
PS2: i wonder if anyone can guess which para refers to me... [:)]
No comments:
Post a Comment