Doning the Sauri..

When I was younger, I loved going to my grandmother's house and pulling out the exotic piece of fabric (5 yards long) that was stored in the dresser, I now own. She was given it many years bfore by a woman who traveled to India. I would admire the print and colors agast by the length and that it some how was transformed into a beautiful dress. All these years later, I am enveloped in my first. A black sauri, a new type, of gold sequins is slowly wrapped around me. The top is a black "blouse" reminisent in cropping and tightness of a dallas cowboy cheerleader. The slip that follows is tied corest tight around my waist and double knotted.. This the foundation of the whole sauri.. if it fails, all is exposed. The fabric is tucked and wound around me one complete time in a counterclockwise direction and tucked into the top of skirt to my height. After the first wrap, the the end of the sauri is measured so that it goes up and over my left shoulder. The excess is folded back and forth on itself creating pleating and tighted on each side of my waist. This pleat is tucked i n the front undernieght the portion that travels up and over my shoulder covering my waist line in the front but exposing my back on the back. Safety pins secure the fabric to my left shoulder. I feel like royality and a bit more feminine than perhaps I have ever been as I stand for pictures, my arms and hands adorned with henna and glass bangle bracelts and a bindie on my forhead. The only thing that would make me more "indian" would be a better tan!