Shopping on the Internet is Dangerous!

Shopping on the Internet is dangerous!

With Diwali fast approaching its time to treat my self to a new saree, or
two. After attending Navratri again on the 9th night I wore my Bollywood
saree to the temple. I call it Bollywood because it is simply outrageous. It
is heavy with sequins arranged in a flower design and its bright, bright
green. It was one of my first on line purchases, my second saree, and I got
it pre stitched. What a disaster.

The ad told me that it was olive green, not Florissant green, the colour
disclaimer was inwardly digested and I did not have a leg to stand on.

With it being Pre stitched there is nothing I can do about the length of the
saree, I can make it shorter, which is great, however I can't get it longer.
Since last trying this item on I must of grown 2 inches as the backs of my
ankles were showing! It was touching the floor at the front, so I fear that
my rear must have gotten bigger!

So with my feet showing and the bright colour clashing against my pale skin
I braved the stick dance once more!

The important thing it stayed on, and even came home with some sequins still
left on it, and I'm sure it would be great if I had a bit of a tan.

There is a huge choice of sarees on the internet, overwhelming in fact. I
love looking but every now and then I have to clear out my wish list! I have
ordered 3! One of them a very cheep one just to see what that colour looks
on me before I make the biggest buy of my life (can't go into too much
detail there I'm afraid) and the other two are serious buys. One of them the
boyfriends choose it's very bright and busy and will be fantastic for next
years Navratri. The other one a bit of a contemporary design, more of an
evening dress, and if it gets here in time I should be wearing it to the
companies Christmas dinner. Can't wait!



(please note that I do not lay around in a saree like this at home....Only in my PJ's!)

2nd Night of Navratri

Last night was the 2^nd night of Navratri and I was kindly invited to the local temple to join in with events. What a night. The temple is a small community based establishment but what a turn out! There had to be around 1000 people in dazzling sarees and Lengha Cholies.

 I opted for recently purchased Lengha which was red green and gold but predominately black, I was a bit worried about my choice of colour but glad to see that there was more of the same colour there. Loving boyfriend came with a bit of a push, he was worried he would be the only white man there, and as predicted he was!

 When we arrived we were hit by a wall of colour and dance going around in circles in the sports hall, a most beautiful sight. We made a bee line for my work college who showed us where to sit. His daughter came immediately to the rescue as I had made the ultimate school girl error, no safety pin. It was my first time wearing a Lengha and I had no Idea how to drape wear the Dupatta! What a disaster! I had tucked in in to my waist and just thrown it over my shoulder as I would a saree. She managed to pleat the folds for me and pin it to my shoulder. I was then immediately taken on to the dance floor where I circled in a complicated three step movement which was clumsy and awkward for me for the first two rounds but by the third and fourth I was getting in to it when I realized I still had my ballet shoes on! A run back to my seat in embarrassment threw them off and realized how out of breath I was and how much I was sweating!  A bit of a rest was had at this point.  

Music was provided by two extremely young, still in primary school, boys on the tabla another young boy on the harmonium which sadly I struggled to hear and a handful of singers. The PA system had been expertly arranged so it was nice and loud but not too loud and distorted that it couldn’t be enjoyed which is sadly the case with events with small PA systems like this. All were very talented and I felt very humble. I used to play in an orchestra and we would have a huge range of instruments playing synchronised with sheet music and a conductor. I was extremely naive to think that a small hand full of instruments could provide such a sea of noise. It certainly put me in my place…Again!

The three steps circling and spinning dancing gave way to the Atri dedicated to the temporary temple erected in the middle of the sports hall. It was beautifully decorated with flowers and lights and had an amazing selection of darsham arranged in front of it. The Atri song I recognised as being extremely similar to Jai Sadguru Swami however had different names arranged in it and of course went on for a lot longer, I’m guessing to depict the 9 nights of Navratri. If anyone can explain more it would be most appreciated!

After this, more dancing this is where the sticks came out and this is where I was totally out my depth. I was taken out of my seat by a fire warden in a bright orange jacket to a small free space where I would present no danger to those around me. It was here he kindly taught me the moves, a superb teacher; it was minutes before he introduced me to a small crowd of women where we all danced. I can’t believe how quickly I picked it up! Of course I would get lost now and then but it was Awesome!

The last dance consisted of stepping forward and stepping back, I could not get the hang of that one sadly, but there is another 7 nights to perfect!

The boyfriend is sacked, didn’t get any photos of me!

At half eleven it was all over and we exited in to the well-earned cool air out side, I was buzzing, such an amazing night

A night at the Theatre

Last night my wonderful organza saree lost its virginity and saw the light of day out side of the house. I went to see the Peoples Romeo at a local Theatre and my loving boyfriend presresaded me to wear it out.

I wasn’t too confident at first, it is a fantastic saree however my diet has slowed down and I have only lost a pound in the past 2 weeks. My baby belly is there, (as it has been for the past 5 years!) and on show as Organza is such a transparent material.

If you had read previous posts you are well aware of the trauma I had buying it that day! I have never heard of organza before, its soft and stiff at the same time it doesn’t fold well and does not make for the best fantastic saree making material but there you go.

I later learnt that organza sarees are fantastic for those who have a super slim complexion as it puffs out a little bit and insinuates curves. Me already being a bit overweight could do without this.  Boyfriend and I spent an entire night folding the saree, ironing in the pleats and sewing them at the waist line. This stopped the puffiness however did not stop me tucking the pre sewed pleats in the wrong direction. N.B. it took my boyfriend to point this out!

Despite having to total of 10 minutes of putting it on it stayed on all night even after stepping on it twice.

As feared, I was only one in the audience in a saree. And if it wasn’t for the fact coach loads of students showed up boyfriend and I would have been the only ones in the audience!

I have not been to may theatres; this one was smaller than expected. No need for PA’s or miniature binoculars, it was all in a tiny room and they were right in front of you.

The peoples Romeo was an interesting show. With a total of 3 actors playing a total of 11 roles, despite the same costumes only changing the scarf colours to symbolise if they were Montague or Capulet I managed to keep up with the plot. The script roughly followed Shakes spears however missing some scenes and using props of only ribbon and rope and a stuffed toy dog (didn’t get that one) was very effective. Most of the show was in English however the actor playing Romeo/Juliet’s Mother/Priest spoke in his Bangladesh tongue with a few sentences of English.

Backing the 3 actors up were two musicians one very talented tabla player and haunting Harmonium player with an amazing and beautiful voice. Very loud and strong. It was my first time seeing a Harmonium close up, I know little about them except for what I ascendency saw on X factor channel surfing one day. During the course of the play there was a sitar drone constantly going, sadly this was reproduced by an i pod going to a speaker, the harmonium would play at one point I thought that the girl was humming, and I thought to myself how perfectly defined and in tune she was to hum like that, but then I discovered it was the Harmonium. It made many sounds the hum was my favrioute, it made a choir type noise and an electric piano which I wasn’t too keen on as it sounded a bit sloppy and ill fitting.

I am mad on music and I have more instruments than I have room for, piano, sax, clarinet, flute, guitar, bass guitar and even a sitar. I’m now very keen to have a closer look at the harmonium and perhaps even a go!

The show was good and in true Bollywood fashion of course there was singing, dancing and good old fashioned slap stick.

And more importantly I got to wear my saree.