Wedding Vignettes: A Non-Fashionista

She is 27, but I can still tell her what to do.

“Go clean your room,” I say. The Why? look freezes on my daughter’s face as she sees the Or Else! look on mine.

An hour later, she comes out with two garbage bags full of clothes. I thought I said Clean, not Clean Out.

“Give these to the poor in India,” she says. The poor? You know who’s poor? Me, after buying her those sackful of clothes. I peer inside. The Ann Taylor shirt still has the tag on it. The rag-pickers may not get enough food, but at least they can qualify for Make Me a Supermodel. I have no idea how she comes up with the “I have nothing to wear” -whine.

She picks out a conveniently-placed one from the top of the pile. “Mom! This is from 9th grade!”

It sure is. But she’s not wearing it. I am. I try on some of her rejects and lo and behold! they fit. Fine, no need to go to the mall. Another upside is that I get a lot of compliments for dressing trendily (or at the minimum not looking my age).

Trendy, except for when I wear a scrunchie in my hair. I am absolutely forbidden to wear a scrunchie. Apparently carrying the stigma of a Ba, an episode from SATC clinched her conviction that no (self-respecting) women, except oldies ... and hicks from the Mid-West ... would be caught dead in one. It is, however, my sine qua non on my daily walks and is cleverly hidden in the glove compartment of my car and removed from my hair upon entering the house. One hour on the windy trail and I would give Jimi Hendrix a run for his afro.

The older I get, the less I care about fashion. My daughter? The fancier she gets, the less my wallet weighs.

Her sunglasses are from Prada. Mine are ten bucks from TJ Maxx. She goes to Bloomingdales to buy her shoes. I go to the pavements in Bandra. Her wedding jewelry cost as much as I got for selling my apartment in Bombay (many eons ago, but still true story). My watch is a freebie from signing up for a checking account at Citibank (also many eons ago, when they had money to spare).

But now it’s wedding time and time for a Mommy Makeover. Awww ... my little girl, still believing in miracles.

We hit a few boutiques in Ahmedabad. The first was Elan in Gulbai Tekra. The ground floor had some nice kurtis and I picked up a fancy one. Yes, but that’s something you can wear to work, she says authoritatively.

I follow her downstairs meekly and she picks out an outfit. Ooooh, Mom, look!

But I can’t. I am blinded by the bling. They will be able to see me from the moon, I say and heave it back on the shelf, using two hands as the weight is like pathra ... and the price is like gold. Like I am ready to fork out $ 400 for something I will wear for a couple of hours, and for something I will never, EVER! wear again (except in my nightmares).





We move on. Next was a small boutique called Essence. We found it by mistake, looking for Shyamlal Bhumika, which is right next door. Excellent service by the sweet young owner Shaini. Aaah, this was more my style (and my wallet). Cute, funky clothes. Darling, chunky jewelry. I picked out an outfit.

MOM! You can’t wear that. It’s my reception, not the Masai Ball. Well, it did look kinda Afrikaani, but it was so cute. I bought it anyway, and maybe ...

Don’t even think about it, she says, as we leave the store.

Sheesh! I wonder, where did she get those bossy genes?









Shopping Information:

Essence Boutique: 5 & 6 Akik Complex, Opp. Lemon Tree Hotel, Mithakali Six Roads, Ahmedabad. Tel: 79 3251 8155. Contact Shaini Shah.

Elan: Hill Plaza, Opp Sears Towers, Gulbai Tekra, Ahmedabad. Tel: 792656 9699

Jagruti: 37 Nutan Society, Suvidha Shopping Center, Paldi, Ahmedabad. Tel: 79 2665 1501

Gunthan: 1 Sunrise Ave., Commerce 6 Road, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad. Tel: 79 2640 3119

Wedding Vignettes: Banglemania

Bangles and handbags. My two obsessions. I collect them like Carrie Bradshaw collects Manolo Blahniks. What is really weird is that with safe deposits and drawers full of them, I rarely change either.

A few years ago, I switched from wearing the traditional gold bangles seen on quasi every Indian woman’s hands, to wearing silver bangles bought in bygone days. While in college, I received an allowance of twenty rupees, half of which was spent at Chida Kashi, conveniently located across the street from Elphinstone. Now ten rupees in Bombay wouldn’t buy you a grain of rice and beggars will throw the note back at you in disgust (true story).

My handbags I rarely change because I am just too lazy to go ferret them out of the cavernous drawers in my closet. Plus I am petrified at what petrified remains of a granola bar or Starburst I may find at the bottom.

But back to bangles, or bracelets as we call them here. Apparently the ones in the safe deposit are not fancy enough for today’s youth, and since I was not prepared to sell the house to buy real ones, off we went to the highly-recommended Ambica Bangles at Shivranjani Crossroads.

The owner Munish is a delightful young man who helped find the right bangles for two people who were stupid enough not to bring the outfits to match. The salesman Bharat patiently pulled out box after box for two people who were also ignorant enough not to know what size they wore.

While we were trying on the bangles, we chattered away as I am wont to do with anyone who breathes (and at times even with anything that doesn’t). I expressed an interest on Gujarat ‘kahevat’ and mentioned it was absolutely impossible to find a book on the same. They suggested going to this Crossroad and that Crossroad and even the bookstore Crosswords (who are way too focused on Western literature).

After a week, when we returned to the store to buy the rest of the bangles (since we were now smart enough to know what outfits we were going to wear) we had a pleasant surprise ... that touched me deeply.

Bharat said he had something for me from Munish, reached under the counter and ... there was a book on Gujarati kahevat. I cannot guarantee he will give all those who go there this book, but he will give you the best darn service and the most beautiful bangles ever.

Address:

AMBICA Bangles
110, Silicon Valley, Shivranjani Cross Road, Satellite, Ahmedabad, 380015

Tel: 79 2676 7351