It is my understanding that unless I wear a sari, I will not be able to go into some of the places that are on the itinerary for the trip to India I will be joining. “Just think of it as playing dress-up,” suggested my sister when I told her the idea of wearing a sari perturbs me. It is not just feeling strange in foreign dress and having to expose that vulnerable fold of flesh at the waist (I have never even owned a bikini because of my discomfort in exposing my waist). What is unsettling me is that to witness what the men can witness while wearing comfortable clothing, the women must agree to wear confining, complicated, and cumbersome clothes. And the sari has come for centuries with the expectation that the woman demurely follows behind doing what she is told by the designated man.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Are you sure you can’t get by wearing salwar kameez? That would be a lot like things you already wear, and more modest and secure than a sari.
I found wearing a sari to be incredibly comfortable. They don’t have to be particularly revealing, depending on how they are draped. Also, I’m not sure what the men are wearing is “comfortable” for them — they have to be shirtless in the temples, which not all men would prefer, and in a doti, which is essentially a skirt. Yes, the sari wrapping is somewhat cumbersome, but I found the sari far more comfortable than the salwar kameez, and in fact, preferred wearing them during my trip last year.
You’ll have a wonderful trip. Don’t let the outfit take away from your experience!