I am not very religious. Nor are my in-laws. But, i have to wear a 9 yards sari for my seemantham. That gets interesting when,
First : The function is divided into 2 parts, and both the times i have to wear it.
Second: I, the innocent, once-upon-a-time-thin-err-healthy-girl has to wear, when she is pregnant and bursting from every conceivable part of the body!
So, my not-so-religious mom-in-law (from now MIL) did not exactly know the procedure how to tie the sari. We managed it somehow in the marriage, when there were lots of mami’s and pati’s, but now, was just both of us. So, diligently, as we modern age ppl do, we searched out a youtube video to do the same. Some mami posted it with her grand daughter being the victim. We laughed it off, thought the procedure was pretty simple.
The 1st function starts at 5 in the evening. As always, i was ready with my shirt and tights (yeah u wear tights, else everything is seen! ) carried my sari into her room. The wrapping up started. But we just coudlnt wrap it up!
Note: We perfectly followed the mami in the video. Not our mistake!
1 : Make 10 steps in the sari. They come at the back. I tucked that into my tights.
2 : Go around me with sari in hand. Tie starting of sari with where ever your hand is. Done. <my already bulged tummy bulged more> < This point, my tights was beginning to skid down. > So go back to step 1, remove the tuck in, just wrap the saree, after you’ve tied down, pin the steps to sari. Wow. something is stable.
3 : She gave me a lump in the front to tuck in. a lump on the side to tuck in. Obviously i look fat. I am not though. Promise.
4 : Then rest of it, bring it down between the legs, and ..oh. i forgot. one more point. After 1.
1.5 : Open your legs as wide as possible, else you wont be able to walk, once the sari is tied up. Put right foot on the bottom of sari , so that it dsnt tighten up.
4 cont. : rest of the sari between my legs, and then i dont know what she did behind me. All i know is the knot became tighter. She wouldav tucked a lump of some more of it.
5. then get the sari in the front, from whichever side you want to wear your pallu. Since in 9 yards, your pallu should come back to front and u tuck the lump in, it should be long. Mine wasnt. Remove everything. Go back to step 1. Instead of 10 steps, make 7. <Auspicious numbers u see> .
Continue the above procedure 1-5 till u have enough pallu to make a 2nd wrap.
6. no pleets required. the pallu has to be a lump. Get it front and tuck it in.
7. Now adjust the sari everywhere so that the borders are seen.
8. Your tights might be seen here n there, so keep pulling the sari down from the dhoti side.
9, Your 9 yards sari is ready.
Few points to be noted here are:
You need not iron the sari. Anyways its a lump. You look like a lump..ah well. An elegant lump. Remember: chachi 420?
You better go to the bathroom before hand. I think all people who wear this sari wil have to remove the entire thing to pee. No idea how they manage. I ask MIL this concern, she says..you are not supposed to go to bathroom in this sari. Thats y its called ‘madi’ . Will write a post on that sometime 😐
No matter how thin you are, you look fat in this. So fat ppl, not a bad choice of shaadi wear. U look elegant, and no one will comment 😛
All in all, i wore this sari twice. In a way, i loved it. Not because of how i looked. Because of how people said I respect the culture. I hope when i have daughters and daughter-in-laws, i would be able to propagate the same. 🙂
World..through my eyes! 