Desi girl - part 2. (And no rolling Rs please!)

After my previous post, I may seem like someone who has been left with a bitter taste in the mouth after a shopping escapade. Well all is not bad in bunny land - I have a decent wardrobe ; maybe not excessive and one-time-wear kind of stuff but enough to tide me over. I think a part of this stems from the fact that I really don't care if I'm not wearing something that's "in" or worse (for some) repeating clothes to a party. Comfort is top priority and I feel happier in my battered tshirts and only pair of jeans than wear something I am tugging at and evidently uncomfortable in.

In reference to this I would like to quote from (and digress, in the process) today's The Hindu's OP-ED titled 'Sarkozy and the burqas':

'.. our wants and desires are determined by society. By those lights, a western fashion victim is as much as a sartorial prisoner as a woman in a burqa.'

Now that I've made it clear that I am not a fashion victim, I'll tell you why I'm the Desi girl..

Through college, I never thought the dress code of salwaar kameez was a problem. If you look at it beyond the whole they-cant-order-us-how-to-dress argument, salwaar kameez is a good choice considering hot hot days. I've been pro-cotton for as long as I can remember because more than anything, they make sense in hot weather. One cannot argue, if you have visited Jaipur, that the Rajahs were wise in choosing cottons (and creating those lovely Sanganeri prints) as the choice of fabric for their royal clothing. But silk? Silk seemed highly insensible...

So now that I'm moving base to LA and going to live very near fashion HQ for two odd years, you'd assume I was headed for a make-over. People sometimes loose their minds when they actually need it the most. A very conservative cousin of mine, for instance, insisted pants and sleeveless clothing was the way to go now that she was going to "America". Why, I ask. Why change what/who you were all because you're going to a "Western" country. Why be forced into living like them, when they've already had you say miles rather than kilometers, had you say freeway,dollarrrrs and what not. I'd say, stay Desi. OK not practical to wear salwaar kameez and all but please don't abandon Indian clothing altogether - cottons are still good and tell you what? I'm taking a whole bunch of my favorite vegetable dyed, block-printed cotton tops to Los Angeles!! I don't care if my fellow Desis think I'm over-doing it, but I care about beating the Californian heat, so being the Desi cotton wearing girl is the way to go! Go cottonsssss!!