Say Grace to Saree

Every time my life companion has to step out of the house, she has a long searching look at her open wardrobe, always fully stacked, following which a "all too familiar" grumble emanates from her rosy lips : "I have nothing new to wear".

Usually I have no objection to my better half purchasing new clothes - except that her insatiable need for them bears no logical relation to the large wardrobe and several suitcases full of seldom worn clothes in perfectly good condition that are already in her possession.

Sarees are magnificent sartorial obsession of majority of Indian women. I call this obsession as sartorial madness. "I've got to have a new chiffon saree", my spouse would say with a note of desperation in her voice. "But you already are in possession of many chiffon sarees", I would reply meekly. "Yes", agrees my wife, "but I don't have one to go with my new bandhani blouse". I am tempted to ask her as to why in blazes did she not buy a new bandhani blouse to go with one of her many chiffon sarees, but I check myself knowing fully well the futility of attempting to counter female logic.

Buying one article of clothing in order to fulfill/match another article of clothing is a gambit passed on from mother to daughter, generation after generation !

It is generally of little consequence to women whether their clothes indicate good taste in color, pattern, design, or even whether they fit/cover the body properly. I have come across women wearing shocking pink saree in bright sunlight. The paramount consideration for women is that the clothes must be trendy or in other words must be of this year's style and better still of this month's style. When I suggested to my adamant spouse to wear an out-of-fashion dress because it was looking nice/graceful and has been worn only a few times before, she blurted out saying : "Are you mad". Well maybe I am !

Bottom line :

The best way, ofcourse, is to give in and buy such clothing as your wife demands. Just think how happy this will make not only your wife but also the local shopkeepers/vendors. If more husbands similarly give in, it might even stimulate the flagging economy and reduce the national debt, even as your own debt increases !

Final word & Final assault :

I once suggested to my "bitter half" that she could buy as many clothes as she wanted by selling some of her seldom-used jewelry. Not surprisingly she EXPLODED *******

I am still experiencing the aftershocks !