My first sari

Well, I've been needing to buy a sari, because adult women in Lucknow at nice functions like weddings, parties, dinners, and engagements wear saris. Often, I have been the only woman in the room that was not wearing a sari and while I usually feel horribly socially awkward anyway (with the limited language skills and general cultural confusion) the lack of a sari has been something that I've been meaning to rectify and had not until this week.

This week, I was invited to a very posh dinner get-together at a woman's home and knowing that it would be a big event with all the women in fancy saris, I set out to buy a sari. I went to a rather nice store where the prices are fixed (no bargaining) and the sales staff are very pleasant. They showed me a variety of saris and I was generally unable to tell what made a sari nice and had minor worries that the sari I would choose would not be nice enough or would be too fancy. There were two very nice Indian women also shopping in the store (one of whom grew up in Lucknow but now lives in Las Vegas) and after noticing my confusion, they graciously offered to help me pick out a sari. I am happy with what we chose. After buying the sari, the store kept the bulk of the material to hem the edges and put a netting so that the sari falls better. I took the material for the blouse to the tailor to make the blouse. After a few days, my entire sari was ready. After 3 different people helping me properly put on the sari, I wore it to the party. The gathering was nice and one lady, whom I much admire, complimented the sari on me, so I guess it worked out pretty well.