Back to the Roots




Going back to my roots seems to have become a thing of now.
First it was my book BEYOND DIAMOND RINGS which revisited my matriarchal Sindhi roots and the evolution of Sindhi women since the Partition, although I was born post partition.
Suddenly last week, I found myself wearing what would a today version of the traditional dress of my grandmothers “paro chadar”.  Their paro was a full skirt, could be poplin, bosky, silk, satin, velvet , whatever; topped with a kurti, the length of which was obviously dictated by fashion.
The whole would be topped by a chadar, sindhi adaption of the odhni or the muslim ‘chador’ that all enveloping cover all. Once again, that could be plain white fabric, poplin or mull, net or silk, depending on the ocasison, the time and circumstances etc.  jewelry was obviously a must.
My adaption was a cotton printed skirt made from the salwar fabric of a salwar kameez set.  And my kurti was a T shirt to match. Odhni dispensed with in this sticky heat…….  But still back to the roots, right!

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