kaaronwarren

If you want to feel like the world's biggest heffalump capable of shattering tiles and causing earthquakes, go into a shop looking for a salwar kameez.

These are the beautiful outfits worn by women mostly in India and Pakistan. The Indo-Fijians in Fiji wear them also. This site has some pics: I'm not sending you there to buy one!

http://www.salwarkameezindia.com/


The thing is, of course, that many Indian women are tall and very, very slim. So when I go into a shop and say, "Do you have any salwar kameez for my size?" they take me past the beautiful two-tone material, the glorious reds, the magnificent embroidered greens, the azure blues. They take me up the back, where there is one rack of the most garish, revolting colours you can imagine.

They say, "These are all we have in extra large."

Now, they aren't being rude, or mean, at all. These are extra large. I'm not extra large; I'll accept large, but not extra large. But these are the ones which will fit me. The pants are really bulky around the stomach, which, as you can imagine, is not a slimming look.

I tried three shops and was just about to give up ("Oh, Madam, that looks lovely!" about a bilious green, pink and orange thing which made me look like an exploded boiled sweet with jaundice) when I found this. Yes, it's size enormous, but the pants are quite sheer and bright red with stitching.



I bought it. I was happy; we were supposed to go to a Bollywood party, and I wanted to look the part.

After all that, J was sick, as was the 6 year old, so I didn't get to go. I wonder if I can wear it to something at Conflux in Canberra?