Today is International Women’s Day. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation, and love towards women to a celebration for women’s economic, political, and social achievements. 

On this occasion we had a campaign for our Saree Love @ Crave Cook Click Facebook group members where they write on: “How wearing a Saree makes you celebrate Womanhood?” 

I got some really heartwarming, inspiring and sweet stories from the members which I have mentioned in this blog post in their own words!

1. Sneha Airani

Hello, my name is Sneha and I have always loved to wear sarees, no matter what my age, atmosphere, or the crowd.
I always believe saree makes a woman look her best and brings out the best in her.

I was always athletic and had a decent built. With my first pregnancy I put on 80 lbs, to weigh 245 lbs at delivery. I went on to put on 20 more pounds, weighing 265 lbs, although never gave up wearing sarees, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with life, I felt so helpless and directionless. I was and am a dancer – performer, and was always on stage.

I took it as the biggest challenge of my life to get back to my pre pregnancy weight in 2 years, I started a special diet and exercise routine, which took me to 145 lbs in 2 years that is 20 lbs below my previous pregnancy weight!
I have maintained at that weight and have walked ramp for some of the designers in the bay area in ethnic clothes! I went back to dancing and gave 4 rocking stage performances in front of a huge crowd!

Well I’m pregnant now again and have gained 20 lbs already in the past 5 months. And it’s a promise to myself to get back to 145 lbs within 6 months after delivery.
Well, I know I’ll do it, and the stage beckons!

Thank you CCC for giving the opportunity to talk about my story!!!

2. Preeti Jadhav

Women- the real architects of society!
A lady is an epitome of beauty, confidence and success. Her forever infectious smile through all walks of life is a true inspiration for one and all. On the other hand ..A Saree says that I’m a long 6 yard trail of cloth, one straight single length with no stitch or zip. . I cover and expose the right amount- I’m a teaser n I like teasing

When I drape a saree I feel beautiful! True confidence of the high standards of elegance and strength bestow on me.That humble drape of feminity makes me look sexy yet graceful at the same time

Moreover when I am in a saree the one person whose smile enlightens me and also for the endless shower of compliments to keep coming is from my mom!
Hence, I conclude saying that a woman in a saree is nothing less to a beautiful perfection!

3. Meena Narkar Banik

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size   

But when I start to tell them,

They think I’m telling lies.

I say,

It’s in the reach of my arms,

The span of my hips,   

The stride of my step,   

The curl of my lips.   

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,   

That’s me.

Maya Angelou, “Phenomenal Woman” from And Still I Rise

I love this poem. What a beautiful way to define womanhood :). As we celebrate our womanhood, Anita got me thinking, How does wearing a Saree always makes every woman look beautiful.

Then I realized it’s not the attire but the confidence, the attitude the pride and the heritage that reflects in the personality after draping that Saree. That’s what makes you look beautiful.

For me my first saree introduced me to my womanhood.
I was quite a tom boy in my school and college days. I was always in so called comfortable clothes and that was shirt and jeans/pants. I did not even had dresses with dupatta. Then for a college festival for which i was an organizer, we had to wear Saree. That’s when my Mom bought me my very first Saree.Purple chanderi with gold butti. It was such a beautiful Saree but for me, I was just worried about how do i carry it. And then on the ‘The Day’ I was there draped in that Saree, walking around. At first started with an awkward walk, a shy and conscious walk. Worried about all the looks judging me. But then I got comfortable and then confident and then got my own walk. 🙂

 I still remember one of the boy from our group said to me, “Ohh wow Dude, you are a girl” and smiled. 

 I said “Congrats, you got your vision back” and gave my friend a Hi Fi and that’s when he said “Naa she is still the same.” lol

 And frankly that was a compliment. I was somewhere happy to hear that I am still the same 🙂

After all these year, we all have really come a long way. Ending with an appropriate quote. “We have become the Men who we wanted to Marry”-Gloria effing Steinem

Happy Woman’s Day 🙂

4. Dipashri Bardhan

She was beautiful. Full of life. The only daughter of her parents. Pampered as much as every other kid.

Her parents Rich. Aristocratic. Cultured. No wonder why everybody in that area knew about them. And, their daughter off course.

Her wardrobe used to possess neatly embroidered clothes. Diamond earrings for that crafted face. And who doesn’t love flowers ? She is no different. Jasmine being her favourite, sometimes marigold too to wrap around those long curls.

Years passed by. The little girl is now a lady. An attractive one. Marriage proposals  started pouring in. The parents chose a guy. He is tall, fair, handsome, rich, nice family background and obviously belongs to the same caste.

D-Day arrived. They got married. Everybody is happy. The bride, bridegroom, parents n relatives of both sides. Also, the invited ones who enjoyed the grand meal. Each n every preparation were lip smacking, they said with a big grin.

11 years passed by. No good news. Everybody worried. The girl too. Though nobody knew the actual reason behind the delay.

Another year spent. Everybody happy. The good news, finally. Now, it’s time to wait for another few months.

A strenuous labour pain. And, it’s a boy. Very cute, big eyes, curly hair just like his father. She held her cub around those weak arms and kissed in his little forehead.

Physically exhausted, she fell asleep soon. Next morning arrived. One of her relative arrived too. To give her the news.

Her husband left her. And, her newborn son. Why ? She doesn’t know. Asked the lady. She told her about his new agenda. Neither she, nor her baby fits into that agenda. That’s why this decision.

She didn’t cry. Became silent. For that day and for the following days also. Being offered help by relatives, she gently refused. Not to forget, she was still young and pretty. Some men proposed to marry, kind enough to accept her with the child, but she refused them as well.

She started wearing a single coloured cloth only. Light colour. Cotton. Discarded her jewelleries. Reduced her  meal to once a day only. Raised her son properly.

One day, the son left her too. Joined his father. By that time, his father got well established in his domain.

She became alone, again. Till death.

Her name is Yashodhara. Some relatives used to call her Gopa too.

Her son is Rahul.

Her husband is Siddhartha. People lovingly address him as Gautam Buddha, till date.

If I get inspired by any woman other than my mother, then Yashodhara is that personality. Everybody is curious about her husband. And, why not ? He got fame, he served for humanity, struggled to make people aware of the very concept of ‘Nirvana’. He is extraordinary.

And, nobody wants to know about the ordinary. Yashodhara was an ordinary girl, with some ordinary desires. Some ordinary expectations. Some ordinary dreams. Some ordinary disappointments.

Still in my eyes, she is extraordinary. For what she has to bear. Silently. She didn’t complain. Because she loved. Truly.

This Women’s Day (8th March), my tribute to this forgotten lady, whose sacrifice was (may be, still is) taken for granted.

5. Aishwarya Kalley

Thank you Anita for this opportunity to share our thoughts on Saree. 

Saree – The symbol of feminism. The moment you drape a saree you start feeling beautiful. It is the only garment which is size agnostic, meaning no matter what size you are you will look beautiful and ‘Yes’ sexy in a saree. Saree is most sensuous garment to wear. I am an avid saree girl, but I know that to impress my man I wore saree and till date whenever I wear saree I feel beautiful, graceful, and sensuous and sense the power of feminism within. I thank God for making me a girl so that I can enjoy the beauty of saree. It is one attire that you can never go wrong with and rely on it to make you look pretty no matter what way, style or type of saree you wear. 🙂 Also it is an attire that you can wear confidently to any classy, formal, international, non-Indian events. 🙂

Let me share my story- I was new in US and one of my American colleague invited me to his sister’s wedding. I had no gown or dress to wear. The only heavy, party wear I had was a designer trendy saree. I was very nervous to wear but had no choice (I did not want to buy expensive dress and didn’t have time either to search for one) I took my chance and wore saree. It was a net saree with zardosi work. I knew I looked beautiful in it but was little nervous. The moment I entered the wedding I got compliments and I could see people admiring my saree. I was so happy and felt confident after that. I got compliments after the party for many days 🙂

Thanks to Bollywood and fashion industry, saree is now one of the most beautiful attire anywhere. No matter we might not wear saree often here, as we don’t get that many occasions but the Desi girl in all of us craves for wearing saree and knows deep inside that saree makes us look beautiful and gives the powerful feeling of being woman.

I feel lucky today to be in US and be part of crave cook click who’s Saree love branch has not just brought back saree love but given us a platform to showcase, wear and celebrate womanhood by wearing saree. Three cheers to us ‘The women”. <3

6. Varalakshmi Ganesh

Nothing makes a women so beautiful as SAREE does …
Being born and brought up in India I have grown up seeing my mom, grandma, aunties zest for the saree..

Saree is a lovely dress it drapes over you as a symbol of confidence.
After coming over to US decade ago my paroxysm for saree increased
I love to collect them every time I go back to India because they are so timeless and effortless. No matter what size you are, no matter what event it is – its instant glam. Not to mention…so comfortable. Especially the silk ones. My favorite place to get sarees is of course in India itself.
It is something I not only wanted to accomplish for myself, but it is something I want to teach my daughter one day.

Saree is not a dress as per se but a piece of cloth that can be converted magically into outfit that will leave you stunned .

7. Kabi Prasi

Yes I am proud to be a woman.

We r super special in each & everything we do & one among them s draping a 6 yard saree around us & flaunting as a fairy around this world. Well initially I was not a saree freak & I wear saree only for special occasions.

Being a professor in India during my initial days of my job I would skip wearing saree by compensating with chudidar. Then seeing my fellow peeps I started collecting different shades of sarees & filling my wardrobe with it.

My hubby’s favorite attire of mine will be a saree. For every occasion like anniversary, birthday, etc. I used to have a gifts checklist & he selects among few & gift me. This was our gift logic & it went for more than 5 yrs. of our oneness

Honestly I love surprises & of course all gals are fond of surprises by our soulmate. But this year during Valentine’s Day I got a parcel of a saree & I wondered when did I order??? & I was told by my love that he was peeping in my iPad for a bit in messenger & he got to know that I enquired about this saree to a retailer & then he proceeded to give me a surprise.

I was totally flattered that day. Yes I did get a surprise saree gift this Valentine’s Day & it did show my love for him in this saree

8. Kaavya Jayram

When I was a young child, my mother and her mom used to dress me up in beautiful indian clothes, such as readymade sarees and salwar suits. I loved showing them off to the family. But then I went through a tomboy phase, and I disliked dressing up. When we went to the temple or desi functions, it was a struggle for my mom to get me to wear anything that wasn’t jeans and a t-shirt. And so even though I would see my mom wearing sarees for festivals, I never really wanted to wear them as well, and settled for salwar suits.

As I grew older, though, I began to appreciate dressing up. Choosing clothing that looked fashionable yet felt comfortable is almost an art form, and it was one that I got very good at. It was then that I felt a longing to wear sarees too, to connect to this gorgeous part of my own culture.

Growing up in the US, it’s been hard to remain connected to my desi roots. One of my biggest fears was the possibility that by the time I had children of my own, I would be so disconnected from my culture that I would have nothing left to share with them. So wearing sarees became about more than looking beautiful-it became about hearing stories from my mother about her childhood and our shared history, learning about the various significances of different drapes, colors, fashions.

I love wearing sarees now. And I hope that one day I will be able to share this love with my own children.

9. Anita Mokashi

Finally about me ☺

Frankly speaking I was never keen on wearing sarees since beginning. I used to wear them but I was never super excited or interested in learning about history, background or varieties of sarees.

But whenever I wore them I made sure that I accessorize them well as I am an ardent jewelry collector.

The craze started after moving to US. I realized the true meaning of the quote “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” While in India I used to get chance to wear sarees now and then due to some or other functions but after coming here I never got that chance frequently. I started missing wearing sarees terribly.

You won’t believe I started celebrating each and every festival in US just to have a chance to wear a saree..hehehe

Now I am crazy Saree lover…whichever place I visit in India, I look for saree specialty of that region. For e.g. Bandhani from Gujarat, Irkal from Maharashtra or Kerala Saree. I want to know the head, tail, history, geography and anything everything about saree. I make sure to get apt accessories as per the kind of sarees.

And now after starting this group of you wonderful ladies who motivate me every day to wear sarees..my love for sarees have tripled zillion times.

I have made so many friends who have same passion for sarees and in general celebration of life.

Now about Womanhood…Whenever I wear a Saree, I feel complete. It’s something which I can’t explain in words ☺

I look in the mirror and and memories start a play in front of my eyes..important women in my life (aai, aaji, my close friends, my atyas, cousins, etc) and their love for sarees. Me wearing it for my engagement, haladi, wedding, brother’s wedding, niece’s name keeping, celebration of festivals. I have draped it for all the most important occasions of my life. I love to walk, run, sit, play and do almost everything in saree. I feel I am more comfy wearing a saree than any other attire today.

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for being such an important part of this never ending love for Sarees

10.Rupali Deshmukh

Sarees, as an Indian girl who wouldn’t love to drape saree weather you grew up in India or abroad, you always come across a lady wearing the most graceful attire in the world. 

As a child I was always amazed how my Mom used to drape a saree, it was so facinating. But I never tried one for some reason 🙁 My first encounter for draping a saree was in school for sankranti celebration. I wore one of my Mom’s best sarees. I wish I could find that photo 🙁 I looked very tiny in saree but was pleasantly surprised to get lot of compliments. 

While growing up I was very shy to wear a saree. During my college days I came across friends who were big fan of sarees, occasionally they would drape sarees and carry it so gracefully, that made a lot of impression on me and since then I started liking sarees. During one of the Anual functions in college I draped a saree and adored it confidently while presenting on stage 🙂 After that there was no stopping, I draped saree on many occasions. During cousin’s wedding I wore it first time in my family, my parents were happily surprised to see me in Saree since I never displayed any inclination wearing traditional attires while growing up 🙁 That moment they realized that their little daughter was turning into a lady.  

My mom had a beautiful banarasi silk shalu in bottle green color from her wedding. It was so beautiful, I always wanted to have similar saree for my wedding but could not have it for some reason. I still remember that saree. My Mom preserved it for long, then my elder sister got to wear it on many occasions. Since then I was crazy for green sarees. Another saree made impression on me was my Nani’s Shela, which is actually pure silk saree with pure jari work. It is in deep magenta color with silver jari work all over. My nani wore that during her wedding and she preserved it so long. She passed it on to her daughter-in-law now. I never got a chance to wear it ever, but my elder sister and cousins got a chance to drape it. I am trying to get photos for this family treasure, hope to post it soon 🙂

When I started working, I bought my first saree which was green 🙂 I draped that one for my cousins wedding. Then many other occasions. It was beautiful lush green colored. If I find photo will post one. For my sisters wedding I bought my first ever Paithani. Before wedding I used to wear lots of cotton, tussar silk sarees but after my marriage I started liking pure silk sarees. My favorite is of course Paithani. How lucky I am to have my in-laws live very close to Paithani town of Yeola. So every India trip during Gauri-Ganapati I go there to shop Paithanis. Second saree I am eyeing now is Kanjeevaram, I love these beautiful and rich silk from south 🙂 Hope to get many more of these in my collection. Along these I also love Irkal, Tussar Silk, Chanderi, Khadi Silk, Narayan Peth, Bengali Cotton sarees, Bhagalpuri, Maheshwari and Bandhej 🙂 So many to collect 🙂

India is so rich and culturally diverse country, we are so lucky to be born/affiliated with India. Every region and state have their own signature hand-loom saree.  There are lot of emotions and hard work spent on making one piece of this 6/9 yards of sarees. Every weaver has its own signature. 

I encourage all my friends to buy hand loom sarees. This will make sure to keep this tradition alive and passed on to generations to adore it. Whenever you get a chance please do visit them and see how much efforts they put into making only one saree. 

On these occasion of International Women Day, treat yourself with beautiful saree and adore it with Pride !

Happy Womens Day ! you are worth of every bit of happiness in life 🙂

11. Pranaya Kudanekar

My name is Pranaya K Mandsorwale. I moved to US four years back after getting married. Since childhood I am a very emotional and family person who like to celebrate all festivals with great energy and enthusiasm; getting dressed up is a favorite hobby of any girl and then getting clicked is like a cherry on the top.

I still remember my mom told me that just for me my dad bought his first camera which is still working after more than 25 years☺. After getting married and moving to US, it was really a tough time for me to adjust in totally new place without anyone, no friends nothing, but thanks to my extrovert nature, I like to talk and meet new people. That’s, how I got connected to a wonderful group “ Crave Cook Click” owned by a very sweet gal “ Anita Mokashi” ….(we share our bday same day…isn’t that so awesome ☺ ) I got to meet new friends , learn new things from recipes to Ganapati making to shopping to gala event… everything is here.  We celebrate every festival with double the zest and energy from previous one and spread happiness.

Being an Indian, I love to flaunt my 6 yard dress material. Since childhood, my mom is a working lady. I have grown up seeing her wearing it almost every day and I used to think that I also want to wear it.

Sharing a small childhood incident–   I was so crazy for wearing it my mom’s sarees that after coming from school, I used to set up a class keeping all my books as different students and I being a teacher. I used to drape her ironed sarees somehow without anybody knowing about it and used to play teacher teacher.. lol. Resulting to this, my mom is also very peculiar about her sarees and when founded it , she was so surprised and crazy that she started to lock her wardrobe just to avoid me spoiling her ironed clothes like this and preserving her sarees…. Hahahah (she still sometime do it :p) I would like to share few pics of my wearing this wonderful dress which I absolutely love it and thanks to my crazy group and friends that we make events to flaunt more and more this 6 yard beautiful piece ”Sari”

                                                     “Elegance is the only beauty that never fades”

12. Subadra Jayram

Sarees to me are a reminder of my loving Mom, who is the epitome of womanhood I try hard to emulate and live by. Having come from a conservative, Tamil speaking Brahman family in Chennai, she was artistic, graceful, sophisticated, ambitious, intelligent, witty, spiritual, kind, generous, highly educated, strong minded, and career-minded while still family oriented, all of which I consider to be part of womanhood.

She continued her higher studies along with me while I pursued my masters. However, there was a big difference: she was also working long hours in a government high school, trying hard to educate kids from poor economic backgrounds, along with caring for the household, and being a great neighbor by taking care of the neighborhood kids in the evening for a couple of hours while their parents were given a break from long day. She also tutored school kids from poor economic backgrounds for free, on the terrace in the late evenings. And, continued to be a great student, while my only job was to be a grad student 🙂 We both graduated with first rank in our fields :).

She loved watching and reading Tamil literature-based shows and programs, while continuing to read widely. I still remember her getting ready for work-putting up a lovely pinned bun, and putting on a neatly pleated colorful saree. She was not a fashionista by any means, and did not keep up with the latest trendy designs. Her choices were more for comfort than for style. And yet, she was the most beautifully dressed woman ready to get to work in her simple

Saree choices. I never saw her in any other outfit other than in sarees, despite living in a city where there were enough access to other outfits; she chose soft cotton sarees for nightwear too.

When I moved to the US years ago, I brought some of those sarees with me as a fond memory of my Mom whom I missed dearly, but also as a means of growing into all those fine qualities of a woman that I saw in my Mom growing up.

Each of the sarees in my closet has a special memory behind them. Each tells a unique story. Some are of childhood memories of Mom and/or Aunt, some I stole from Mom’s cupboard even before she got a chance to wear them, some are loving hubby’s gifts that manifested after arguments or fights or complaints from me about no gifts (:)), some are purchases made by me because it was love at first sight in the store, a couple are special because of my wedding, engagement and reception, some are gifts from MIL, some are hand-me-downs, and so on.Each of these stories are known mostly only to me, but sometimes shared with my Mom or Aunt or whomever was part of that particular saree’s appearance in my wardrobe.

When my daughter came along, as a 4 1/2 year old, she wore her first green silk saree that my mom had bought for her. It was a delight to watch my daughter parade around the home, tripping, and running around in her new outfit, with her anklets and bangles adding to her musical laughter. And as she entered her teens, she grew more and more fond of the sarees that I was wearing and decided to be part of the tradition to drape this beautiful fabric.

Now, I get to share those memories of not just my Mom and other women in my life who helped to shape me, but also all the values of what makes me the Woman I always wanted to be: strong, independent, cultured, sophisticated, educated, well read, intelligent, kind, graceful, and beautiful, inside and out. I get to share all of this with my beautiful daughter, who lovingly embraces this rich cultural heritage and finds joy in draping a saree and expressing her womanhood along with me. We are making special memories in this process, and I do not know what the future holds, but the present is so mesmerizingly beautiful. I have gained a friend in my child, and sarees bind us together and help us to celebrate us even more.

With my Mom gone, I feel so blessed to be able to share this little journey of my love for sarees, India and the culture I originate from, and my womanhood with this amazing soul, my daughter.

13. Ritu Srivastava

Womanhood.!!!

Sounds so deep and big…. Actually it is… Woman- a mom, a sister, a wife, daughter and above all a friend… Thank god for having woman on this planet… Making the world grow and prosper… And of all the most being an Indian women…. One thing that significantly sets us apart from other women all over the world is the Saree we wear… 

Saree… I think the word firstly brings out fond memories of seeing your grand moms and moms adorning this beautiful attire in our growing years… I have always seen my both grand moms wearing Seedha Palu saree with their heads covered a bot over the bun. My mom always and still wears saree … That’s her staple dress. I in the beginning years of my life was not very confident and fond of saree… Mainly wore it for school and college functions and some cousins wedding.

Proper saree wearing started after I got married…. And although I was in US soon after my wedding and there was no pressure from anyone to wear a saree … But to my surprise found myself… Actually looking for opportunity to wear one…

I love wearing saree and make it a point to wear it whenever find a slightest opportunity. 

Recent inspiration has been the wonderful friends I made from Sareelove@Cravecookclick

Anita, Manasi and Subadra… U girls are such an inspiration…. I now wear saree more often and feel great about it. 

The elegant and beautiful ensemble of saree is important part of my wardrobe….Most importantly I have 2 boys of my own and this gives me a chance to pamper the girl in me..I love how the simple garment keeps me closer to my roots… My home… And most importantly the women in me☺

14. Neetu Tiwari

Saree is not just an attire, but it tells a story about every strong woman putting behind her efforts and cultural beliefs all at one place without loosing her identity.

I wonder if we find anything versatile than the saree to flaunt our beauty, our intelligence and talents at the same time. I see my mom gracefully carrying this 6 yards of elegance till today which tells it is not just about an outfit but it grew old with my mom.

Every saree she owns till date will have her own story, some might be as old as me and some may be as old as she is currently and if they can speak they will tell you number of prideful stories when a gal has tried to keep alive her beautiful tradition through this pure evergreen attire. No wonder we look our best in sarees and hence we always carry this attire at time of our wedding even though we moved on with lot of old memories including sarees as an important attire to just being a formal wear but still we cannot deny its significance, its existence in our most important ritual the wedding ritual or any festive ritual so far. I

have no idea when i started liking this graceful one piece cloth, but all i know is that this one piece cloth will always shine though and keep alive my old new memories whenever i will adorn it with motherly love and a women grace. Happy Women’s Day

15. Manasi Watve Ghate

Anita – thanks for initiating a wonderful topic on this WOMAN’s day!! 

How wearing a saree makes me celebrate WOMANHOOD???

I had to ponder a lot from where to begin :).  My love for sarees started from the time I was old enough to remember my mom wearing them. So SAREE & MOM go hand in hand for me :). However falling in love enough to drape them myself wasn’t right away.

I was a tom boy and hated wearing sarees for the school/college saree day’s. I still grin looking at the pics where I have more of a constipated expression  lol.  I wore it only becoz I didn’t want to be the odd one out. However I never got bored of accompanying mom during saree shopping. I eyed her sarees more for how I could reuse it to design a salwar suit out of it ;-). I loved my Mom’s collection and loved the patience with which she picked her sarees and draped it. Neat, crisp and elegant. The one thing I learnt since then was don’t buy just because you have to buy. Have patience till you are 100% sure and to this date, I follow that.

As I started working, somewhere I came up with this idea of buying my first saree. I guess even at that point in time. It was more a sense of pride to buy a saree with my salary then actually wear it. It was a yellow bhandani and I still have it with me. Mom was pleased to see her tom boy transition slowly :).

The interest in draping them actually began after coming to US :). Thanks to my Phoenix gang, I could see the change in me in terms of finding occasions to wear a saree, wear accessories that go with saree etc.  My mom was pleasantly surprised when I visited India the first time and asking her which was the current saree trend, blouse trend, jewelry etc.  My parents both laughed saying what did not happen in India, happened after going to US – “our tomboy isn’t a tomboy anymore”.

Since then I have added numerous sarees to my collection and have worn all of them at various occasions. Between mom, my sis and me – we have exchanged sarees as well 🙂 or what you can say “dhapofied”.  I can only be thankful to my mom for adding onto my collection coz I haven’t purchased a single saree without her. She keeps my wonderful collection up-to-date with the latest trends 🙂 Every saree has a special story behind it and I cherish them.  I can never imagine buying a saree, selecting a blouse pattern without her next to me.. The twinkle in her eye brings a smile and her approving looks make it a win-win purchase for me 🙂

I am outnumbered as I have a pack of boys at home. When I wear a saree, I don’t need to convince my little boy to wear his special dress!! So I love the way, I have been able to convey in action that we have to wear a special dress on special occasions to my little boy.  I am showered with cute comments, “Mamma you look nice, you look like princess!! :).

When I wear SAREES, I celebrate the transition to WOMANHOOD and much more :). It’s a journey…!!!

16. Vandana Singh

I feel proud being an Indian origin American woman, that i was born in a country where ‘Sari’ is a such a graceful attire from ancient times.Being in USA I never have missed a chance to drape it whether its a pooja, party or a temple visit or any other occasions. Though nobody taught me how to 😛 . As you all know, Sari defines the very essence of womanhood since the time immemorial. It defines the ethnicity and rich and very colorful culture of India. Sari brings a lot of memories from generations to generations and the passion to own of your favorite kind for each woman. Now i can say that “Sari’ is a global word its not limited to only India or Its neighboring countries. It has crossed the borders and has touched the horizon of the world. No matter where you are living in the world and what you are doing, when an opportunity comes to wearing your favorite kind one, it automatically brings a graceful smile to our face, and makes you feel feminine, a womanlike. It also takes us to our memory lane of womanhood from a girl child. Sari word is itself an ethic feel of the womanhood.This is an international women’s day week and you (Anita) made me thinking back on the flash mob of my olden golden days when each year i used to celebrate women’s day with hundreds of women not about the sari but wearing it to celebrate the womanhood with our org ASHA.

The topic sure is taking me down to the memory-lane and making me think when was the first time that i wore sari..! or if  I have memory about any special moment when sari had drawn my attention and compel me to wear it. What I can remember is My Didi (older sister) is an govt officer so i have grew up seeing  her always wearing very elegantly/gracefully all revived charaked (Kadak) cotton to all kid of silk saris. My mom wear mostly cotton saris. But my sister has mostly classy ones. I remember that when she was not around (she is Hitler didi :p) so i will try her saris draping on me and didn’t like it at all as didn’t know how to and talk to my self huhh I don’t know how does she do it :p. And put them back nicely before she sees them :P.

My first attraction/love for sari started when i was a teen and we found out that our American born  cousin was getting married in Udaipur Rajasthan in Rajputana style and all three fort were booked for wedding ceremonies and rituals, including Umedh Palace and the Polo game. There was a dress color code for each event. And we were requested to come prepared to participate in each event color-wise. I was so bombed and supper exited then I realized  that i have to have my very own saris thus i have other family members to borrow from but i didn’t want to.I  shopped like crazy for the first time for me for my very own sari as my father gave me money to shop and i went on my own that’s when i bought 3 saris and there matching accessories. My favorite coffee color first silk sari and the off -white and pink chiffon saris the feather-some light chiffon sari. since then i have fell in love with chiffon, i love and love chiffon, and the light wait silk saris. I also like cotton saris.Some how i don’t like heavy saris in which i don’t carry my self well. I wore each of them for the wedding functions  and couldn’t take my eyes off from the mirror. It was amazing womanly feeling which is hard to describe I thought i was looking the best of me so far,  adoring my each ornament placed on me. :p i may have some pics to share.if I found them.

At the end i have to say Today’s women are keeping pace with fashion industry particularly Bollywood fashion, or say global fashion as being ‘online’ and learning from online has brought the revolutionary changes into today’s women’s lifestyle to make women more versatile in their look as well every aspect . Today women is more glamorous ‘Diva’, then yesterdays. She is her own star and i think by doing this we all celebrate our women-hood . Sari adds extra to the ordinary to it.  I always love wearing sari now, since i have developed the taste of liking them. Still learning as they are in so many kind. They make me look graceful and make me feel that i am a women, a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother. Now i have a little bit of all kind of collections as the desire of keeping them coming endless. I remember when i was first moving to USA, i was not married yet but i had brought few saris with me and i was told that i don’t need them to carry. But i didn’t wanna leave them, as they were my very own personnel belongings<3 🙂  I can say that I have seen women enjoying wearing sari here more then in India. May be that makes them feel close to the roots where they come from still feel different as pretty as it can be.Now a big thanks to you Anita for the #sareelove to give us another reason to wear it and share it. <3

Happy women’s day <3