Shopping for saris and it’s therapeutic value
There are many suggestions given to drive out mental
depression, such as seeing a comedy
movie or scenes in the television, reading comics, joining a friend’s group for
some activity or getting out of the home or listening to music etc., But of
late shopping is suggested as an activity with higher therapeutic value. Even
window shopping is considered as helping to fight depression. We indulge in
shopping for acquiring household items, dresses, jewelry, accessories, furniture,
latest gadgets, art pieces etc. But as far as women are concerned ,shopping for
personal wardrobe is considered as an activity which would instantly drive out
mental depression. I have heard many women supporting this idea. It is highly true
in the case of Indian women because in no other country the weavers, the
designers, the printers of handloom and mill made clothes are glorifying women with
such variety of dresses through their creations. All the states in India
specialise in a particular type of women dresses especially in weaving of the saris.
The minute a woman decides to buy a sari to get out of
depression, she would be indulging in an urgent plan that includes allotment of
budget for the purchase, the locality to visit, the shops to enter and a rough
idea of the material and color of the of the sari, so that there should not be
a repetition of any sari which they already have or their friends and relatives have,
because women get immense satisfaction in wearing exclusive saris which no
other women should be seen wearing. (Vanity, thy name is woman)
Then, after entering the shop they hop from counter to
counter to see all the available variety of saris even if they are remotely
connected to their budget. The excuse for this behavior is to get knowledge
regarding the latest designs and prices so that they can use that knowledge
during the next available opportunity. This stage in the shopping
has dramatic effect on their mental condition. The mind is a so refreshed after
seeing such variety of saris decorated with gold and silver colour zari , beads , stone work , hand woven borders
with breath taking designs with vegetable dyes, machine prints and hand woven
saris with vast types of color combinations arrived from north, south, east and
west of India
Most of the women have the tendency to stop and look at the
saris unfolded by the sales men for others, even after selection their saris
for comparison sake. This comparison attitude continues until the bill is
settled since, even at that stage saris
selected by others are casualty surveyed
to check whether their saris remain
exclusive still. Women prefer
to go to boutiques in spite of untouchable prices for the sake of selecting an unique, latest ,and
beautiful saris because, they do not
like to possess a sari 100 other women would be wearing .They hate to buy any
sari in their opinion is “too common” in design and colour combination . It is true
that only those women who have husbands who do not micro manage the family expenses
and only those working women with
financial independence can resort to
sari shopping to tackle mental depression . Others resort to window shopping because
even that activity helps in relaxing the mind through visual
effects of a huge sari collection and its beautiful display.
I have a friend who has one full size steel cupboard filled
with “depression saris” as she calls them. I noticed that it was very unique
and breadth taking collection. I was
wondering whether she would be getting into fresh bout of depression if she
doesn’t get chances to display them for long time . Many women would agree that sari shopping indeed
has higher therapeutic value because , all the steps involved in it are
interesting and relaxing to the affected
mind. Men do not understand the complexities and technicalities involved
in sari selection. Those men who accompany women for sari shopping wonder at
the time consumed in selection and the pity the sales men who untiringly unfold
hundreds of saris for each woman customer in their effort to guess the
particular taste of a customer. I often wonder why do men accompany women to sari shops because
women like to have total freedom in sari selection. If they are forced to
select sari to please their husbands who
give a suggestion in selection , they are sure to exchange it the next day
under some pretext. Moreover, sari shopping is therapeutic only when it is done
with leisure and patience and it is
better husbands stay way from it because
, quite often they are the source of
mental depression of their wives.
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