Saris and Such

Well, my sari saga has been going on nearly the entire time I’ve been in India, and for nearly that whole time, it’s been the same story over and over. But over the weekend, a new twist developed.

As a Christmas gift to myself, I purchased a beautiful new sari. It’s white with sparkly purple, pink, and yellow flowers all over it – absolutely gorgeous. I sent the blouse piece in to get stitched a week ago, picked it up on Saturday, and decided to make another attempt at putting myself together on Sunday morning.

I woke up early that morning, and I was excited. After showering and fixing my hair, I took a deep breath and began the morning’s project of wrapping that beautiful sari around me. It took close to half an hour, as it normally does, and it wasn’t perfect when I was finished; but, unlike every previous attempt, I knew it was on correctly. I had the pleats facing the right way and the shoulder piece falling down like it should. Tucked in and pinned up, I smiled at my reflection.

With about 10 minutes to spare before a quick breakfast and a mad dash to church, I made my way into the kitchen, where I figured one of those sweet servants would kindly fix whatever needed fixing on my latest sari-wrapping attempt. When I got there, I found Rimyea and Iby. I stood before them and let them look me over; neither of them made a move toward me. After answering their questions about when and where I’d gotten this new sari and how much I’d paid for it, I tentatively asked, “So, is it ok? Do you need to fix it?”

They both just looked at me and said, “Beautiful.” I couldn’t believe it; I still can’t. You, who have more faith in me, probably knew this day would come, but since that moment, I’ve just had to keep repeating it over and over: I wrapped my own sari! I wrapped my own sari!