The pleats were forced behind

#100sareepact 6/10

People like me with mixed heritages are always the luckiest: we have more than one history, custom, collective memory and very often these are from diversely different cultures and value systems. I grew up with the influences of 5 different streams of influence in my family.

My primary source of influence was my mother, who is from Coorg. Everything about Coorg is uniquely different: the language, the food, how women are treated in society, history, family values, education, and certainly the clothes.

As I skipped (literally) through my Sunday it occured to that there are several women whom I know who spend their whole days in this kind of drape — for instance I have only known my paediatrician Dr Subiah ever wear the saree this way.

Legend (at least what I remember from bedtime stories) goes that the reverred Goddess Cauvery so wanted to serve the people of Coorg that she gushed forth from a pot that her husband Sage Agastya had trapped her in. When he tried to stop her the strength of her cascade was so strong that the saree pleats were forced behind. To this day the women of Coorg honour her memory and wear the saree in this style.

As enthralling as the story is it did strike me that it is an easier drape to “manage” — easier to skip about, lift things, it reminded me of my mother, grandmother and her sisters. I felt at times like I was wearing a ball gown and I think I consciously sat straighter than I’m used to. But what is evident is that, legend aside, this is a drape for a woman who is constantly active and really must have come into vogue with this in mind. I’m tempted to tell everyone to try it — at home, work and play because to my mind women of leisure are an urban legend, all women, everywhere are always doing things!