… or Thambi land, as I like to call it…. is a hot & sultry experience. The city is filled with men in lungis, sarvabhavans, and people who can’t give decent directions.
We were trying to find our way by looking for the famous Kanchipuram Arch, I beg your pardon, its called arse in the local lingo. Cause when we were lost and kept asking ‘the tambis’ for the arch, they kept saying arse, and in response we said, “no no,arch”… Our so-called sophisticated accent caused us to waste half a tank of gas!
Finally we found the silk emporiums (or call them megastores) we wanted. And so began the shopping… On Day 1 we bought (only ;) ) 49 sarees and yes, I did have nightmares of being attacked by the sarees that night. All colors, all designs, all weaves, all patterns, and even price tags looked the same to me after seeing about 1 million of them. And it was hard to choose…especially when your shopping for friends and family who have a refined taste. If I thought that my cousin would like a particular saree, my sister thought otherwise.
But complaining aside, going to Kanchi is a wedding tradition. And it sure does save you the bucks when your buying 50+ sarees. I didn’t find my “exclusive” bridal sarees. Rather I found them, but wasn’t convinced. So I dragged my parents & in-laws to Chennai to the infamous Kumarans, Nalli, Tulsi, Sundari, etc. After visiting all of the above, I finally picked my sarees at one of the Kumarans. Did I come away happy – I think so. At the end of it all, you just hope that you look all bridal in what you perceived as bridal at the time.
So the total on Day 2 was 8 sarees. Day 1 + Day 2 = 58 kanchi sarees & 20 silk dhotis. And mind you, that’s only half of the collective shopping. I’m only counting what my parents bought. Double that and you get what the two sides of my family brought from Kanchi & Chennai.Booming industry you would think, but it’s a pity to see that such beautiful sarees are being replaced in the new-age Indian woman’s wardrobe by the shiffons and embroidery crapes. I like those sarees too, but these kanchi sarees tell a tale… of our heritage, our ethnicity, our royalty, our celebrations, and our south-Indian pride.
So yes, I will be dressed in kanchi sarees at my wedding, changing about 15 different expensive kanchi sarees in a span of 5-6 days. So help me god!
- Signing away as an excited bride-to-be (my family has already started calling me bridezilla, but they are just being mean)!
P.S: Pardon the picture quality. It was a gloomy day and that was the best I could do with my iPhone camera.
