What stood out - beautifully dressed women

One thing that makes India as distinctive as it is, for me,  has to be the beautiful women made so by the garments they wear. 

Although the younger generation (especially further south) are embracing our scruffy western attire many of the women still adopt the traditional Sari, Punjabi/Salwar Kameez or a Lehenga. 

The traditional SARI or SAREE is a full 5m strip of fabric woven to have a border around the both ends of the fabric. For everyday wear this could be made from cotton, or for special occasions from silk which may be heavily adorned with sparkles, beads etc.

With careful pleating and folds the fabric is wound round and across the body with the loose end falling off the shoulder toward the back (generally the left but women from Gudjarati pull it over the tight shoulder towards the front. )

Underneath the woman wears a short fitting top. In many cases this leaves an uncovered strip around the womans middle where the midrift shows. I have asked the reasons:

1. It is to expose the women’s childbearing parts (actually no where near the childbearing bits unless she has the children in her stomach)
2. It is the latest fashion. Equally unbelievable as most women with midrift exposed are older and not likely to be doing it for fashion
3. Thats the way the Sari sits and to cover it up you get a big safety pin, attach it to the sari and haul it up to cover your tum and pin it on to your bra. 
4. So then I googled and Mr Google gave me many responses but this one made sense “The reason why the navel or midriff is left bare in many sari styles is due to the belief that this is the location from which comes life and creativity. This area is to be left uncovered in order to pay homage to this belief.”  Sort of like the first response I got. 

The sari can be simple or elaborate, sombre or bright, but always colour coordinated with the wee top underneath. Just beautiful and so elegant. 

Another popular form of dress is the Punjabi/Salwar Kameez originating from the Punjab. A long top over trousers. 

The top can be anything from hip length to ankle length, simple cotton or ornate silk, loose fitting or beautifully tailored. It is sometimes called a Kurta. 

The matching (or contrasting) trousers also come in a variety of shapes and styles; 

- the churidar is like very long tight leggings worn and bunched up around the lower leg, 

- the patiala salwar which are pleated round the waist and taper down to the ankle, - they come in many styles

- harem pants - baggy, with elasticated ankles to add more volume and often worn with a kurta and vest. 

The pants and top are teamed with a dupatta (matching/toning long scarf). 

For special occasions many women choose lavish fabrics made into a lehenga. A short tight fitting top, waisted but very flared full length skirt and matching dupatta. Many Indian brides wear heavily embellished dupattas symbolizing their modesty and enhancing their beauty. 

And that gets on to wedding attire. I haven’t sussed that but suffice to say it is very elaborate and there are many days of weddinging meaning a change for each occasion. 

Pre wedding they have many festivities and I have been lucky to see a few of them. The Haldi Ceremony (also known as Turmeric Ceremony) is lavish party held the day before the wedding. Everything is decorated in yellow and orange and the couple and their guests wear those colours too. 

Indian women almost exclusively have long dark silken locks, often tied back and usually oiled to keep it smooth and in condition. The long hair is partly tradition and partly to demonstrate femininity but there is a trend towards women breaking the tradition and going short. 

In Varanasi there were many women with shaven heads who had done so as part of their pilgrimage to Varanasi. It has some sort of a spiritual meaning. 

The majority of women, regardless of age, have very dark black hair often through the use if product.   Grey hair is only for the very old and the poor. Given that life expectancy is only around high-sixties there are not many very old ladies to be seen. 
And as for the men. Occasionally I saw a man in breeches and every now and then a man wearing a colourful turban but for the main they wore T Shirts and trousers. Very boring actually.