One single piece of cloth that trails behind like a toy train,

No zip, no buttons, yet a fashion statement since centuries bygone,

The nine yards of pure style and elegance that wafts regal air

Perfect for all times - dawn, dusk and in the middle.

Sometimes a cape that dons political prowess,

Sometimes a drape that embodies feminine shyness.

An Indian style tradition that has stood the test of time;

For it hides the right amount and reveals the right amount.

The life after death of a cocoon.

The work before dusk of a weaver.

The joy of an Indian bride.

The smile of a curious tourist.

From Kanchipuram to Banaras via Mysore,

From Sakunthala to M.S.Subbulakshmi, from Trisha to Vidya Balan,

Covering their beauty in layers of a single cloth,

The women of India refuse to let sari retire as an attire.

Cheers to the women of India who still wear saris.

Cheers to that beautiful Italian whom I saw in a sari.

Cheers to men who love their women in saris.

Cheers to that stranger who designed the art of wearing a sari!

The "sari" or "saree" is the Indian rendition of  a global fashion statement. Yes, it is a global fashion statement. Anything we Indians adopt from the west alone is not a fashion statement, anything which they adopt from us is also. The sari has been making waves of texture ad style across borders since a very long time. From the days of Raja Ravi Verma's paintings to M.S.Subbulakshmi's musical genius, it has come a long way till today, into the limelight, with clicks of models posing with the latest combinations of silk embroidery and jerry work.

A regular wear to marriages and family functions, I remember the days when I used to sit on my mother's lap shifting around causing much discomfort for myself and to her, when beyond sometime she makes me sit on to the next chair and says, "Idhu pattu da kanna, kasakka koodathu!".  Like  her own child, silk is for a woman, a love, that she can never tolerate getting damaged.

And such deep love for silk is justified. Weaved with traces of gold and hard labor of a weaver, a silk sari is just not a piece of cloth. It’s a piece of life, that is immortal,  which will be handed down generation after generation, for Old is Gold, and when it comes to Silk, old is much more than gold or platinum put together.