My sister is getting married in less than 2 months. All the ladies in my family including my grand mom has been busy shopping. I am the odd one out and find it difficult to enjoy it as much as they do. The traffic and heat and crowd is what looks larger than life and I have been very pessimistic about anything to do with shopping. I have been ducking out of all the plans they have made so far. But I had to go when it was my turn to buy sarees for the wedding. I was not really very enthusiastic about investing money in more sarees, Silk sarees!! It is not that I do not like them, it is just that I do not wear them and so I consider it a waste of time and money. But as it is always, my mom won the argument after 3 weeks of silent therapy and I had to give in. Silk saree shopping began one hot summer day. We went at 4 in the evening to T.Nagar on a Tuesday. The store was not too crowded but the roads were. And the traffic situation has only gotten worse after the beautifully constructed flyover. Good thing was the store had some minimum parking facility and I found a parking spot. We started looking for sarees and found a few to my liking. I settled with two and was glad that the nightmare was over. But little did I know that it had only begun! I had bought two sarees and I needed to buy another one for the reception and this had to be a netted saree with hordes of zardosi work on them. Being the sister of the bride, I was to look almost as grand as the bride itself. That was how my sister wanted it to be. So I had to take my car out of the nice little niche I found. The entire gang got into my car and we were off to another store on the otherside of T.Nagar. I think the next store was printing prices on sarees based on their whims and fancies. They were ridiculously priced. I could not believe that sarees stuck with some stones here and there could run into tens of thousands of Indian rupees. By the time I found one to my liking it was already more than an hour since we entered the store. My mom paid for it and we were out in a jiffy. I still am not very excited about the sarees, but I am happy that I was able to bury the differences my mom and I had. I guess it made her happy to spend money on me!!
But this just brings me to trying to understand why most women get excited about shopping. Atleast most of the women I know are very excited. What is it that makes women so excited about spending all this money on sarees that we might end up wearing for once in our lifetime? What makes us go around store after store looking for the perfect saree that has to cost some thousands of rupees to wear once? Is it because we find it most important to look the best on that one day? It is not just the sarees, we need to find the right matching accessories to go with it. I know women who start shopping for a marriage more than a few months ahead of it. I cannot understand how they do it in the Chennai heat and traffic. They do not mind going without food for a few hours.
I do not intend to hurt anyone's feelings through this post .May be Im just a very rare specimen who feels this way.
But this just brings me to trying to understand why most women get excited about shopping. Atleast most of the women I know are very excited. What is it that makes women so excited about spending all this money on sarees that we might end up wearing for once in our lifetime? What makes us go around store after store looking for the perfect saree that has to cost some thousands of rupees to wear once? Is it because we find it most important to look the best on that one day? It is not just the sarees, we need to find the right matching accessories to go with it. I know women who start shopping for a marriage more than a few months ahead of it. I cannot understand how they do it in the Chennai heat and traffic. They do not mind going without food for a few hours.
I do not intend to hurt anyone's feelings through this post .May be Im just a very rare specimen who feels this way.
