Going native

Even before coming to India, I knew that I would want to wear Indian dress while travelling. I thought that it would be a mark of respect for the Indian culture and its people, that it would be good for the heat and because several travel sources recommended this for women travelling as it discourages excessive staring and potential "Eve teasing" (basically, harrassment) by locals. In addition to this, the women's clothing is beautiful, with goregeous fabrics and patterns.

Because wearing a sari is just too complicated for a novice and especially a travelling novice, I settled on a Salwaar Kameez, also called a Punjabi suit, which involves a 3/4 length tunic, loose pants and a shawl very useful for covering ones nose from diesel fumes and wiping hands dry after meals (we eat with our hands! Well, hand, right one). I have pictures on the camera but I mostly look a bit ass, as Indian women usuallly get SKs made to measure and off the rack ones tailored. My tailoring experiences have been ... less than stellar, and I have decided to cut my losses and just wear what I have so far, even if it is too loose. Clearly, unless I work with an English-speaking tailor, I will never get anywhere. Adrian is getting some suits made to measure, and the men's tailors here are awesome, with a long tradition of tailoring Western style clothing, so at least one of us is making out ok on that front.





In spite of this, I have really enjoyed wearing SKs. When I first arrived, they were my security blanket, I felt that I did not stand out as much, and that the gerenal message that I was presenting to India was "I come in peace". In Delhi there were plenty of tourists and Indian national in Western clothing, but as we moved away from cities and tourists, traditional garb dominated. Even in Delhi, I would say that only 5% of the women were wearing Western clothing in the areas that we visited (probably in wealthier areas this might be higher).

I don't have one quite so nice, but this is a Salwar Kameez as worn by many women in India.
As well as making me feel less conspicuous (nice try) the SKs also opened up avenues for interacting with other women, who were more likely to smile and waggle their heads at me when they saw what I was wearing. It seems to bridge the gap.

And speakin of the gap, my favourite store is definitely Fab India which is like an Indian Gap (no offense to Fab India). You can check it out at http://www.fabindia.com/ . There are of course plenty of other places to shop, but the self-serve mix and match ethos of this chain is a more familiar fashion experience for me. I also bought a kurti (kameez, the top part) at an emporium, which is basically a shop designed to rip off tourists, but I just walked out when I was told the price and the shop owner ran after me shouting "what do you want to pay?" and we finally settled on a fair price. This part of shopping in India is exhausting, always having to haggle and I won't miss it. It is as though every single thing is a small battle and it leaves you weary after a while, even though initially it might give you a charge. Adrian is surprisingly good at haggling, so I let him do most of it. We do a lot of walking away, at least he does.