We had a cultural function at our house; all excited I got dressed up in full Indian traditional dress with big glamorous jumka (Earrings) with an added clutch to accessorize. Walking from the parking lot to the venue I realised how awkward and weird it was to for a woman to get all dressed up. I mean a man doesn’t look weird any day. He wears a suit, a shirt and trousers and that’s it. He goes to party like that, to social functions and even at any cultural function. It is all the same for him.

But when a woman has to go to a cultural function in India, she wears a saree, lehnga, salwar and looks uniquely different. When she goes to a party she is in a dress or a gown and yet appears beautifully different. I have accustomed myself to wearing western dresses so much that wearing Indian attire seems a task. I love them but when I am in them it is like I am not the usual me and in them it is not fit to go to a restaurant or a regular place. It may be fit for someone else but I get uncomfortable.

I am not against western or eastern dresses, I love them all the same but it is a level of comfort which varies with the place. It all came to me while crossing the road from my car to the venue in a lehnga (A long embroidered skirt with a crop top) when roadside people were literally giving the glares.