I wonder if it is lack of dressing imagination of Indian tailors/designers or prejudiced mind of Indian males who prefer keeping their women folk hidden like the cave of Monte Cristo, that saree happens to be the only dress of Indian women . Thanks to the modernisation creeping into the society women have begun breaking the shackles of these six yards so that they can now be seen in some other dresses as well but even then it remains the major dress of the Indian sub-continent but for every possible occasion in life whether big or small,important or ordinary, happy or sad, saree is the only dress for them. They get married in saree, get pregnant in it, spend their pregnancy and even give birth in it. Some of them have even gone to war in them, remember Rani of Jhansi or Rani durgavati etc. etc? Rest every other occasion is but comparatively small.
Attending religious and cultural ceremonies, parties, social gatherings or any special occasion etc in saree makes a lot of sense but I don't think spending one's entire lifetime in it, going to sleep every night and waking up ( with the saree still intact on your body !!), going to the washroom for necessary daily rituals( how???), yes, you're right, in a saree, and accomplishing every domestic chore, is, if not impossible than is decidedly more inconveniencing and tiresome than you can possibly imagine.
First and the formost it is the most inconveniencing dress ever; it entails difficulties at every step and turn like obtaining matching falls, petticots and blouses, getting it piquot stitched, timetaking precision (and a fanless room) in wearing it correctly, securing it with pins if you can't do without them, keeping the pleats and the pallu in their asigned places while you walk, sit or stand or wash, starch, iron and fold it.
Furthermore, its disadvantages far greatly outweigh its advantages.
You cannot participate in any light sporting activity like biking, cycling, running, jumping etc. Those who do ride a twowheeler or a cycle wearing a saree look like aliens from Pluto. You can't bodily fight with anyone even in a jest - a single wrong move from your opponent can leave you more than redfaced !
About saree, it is said, it hides everything it should ( come on, we all know what you are talking about, ok? ) and reveals everything it should. Very true, until your pallu drops down suddenly ( and believe me, if you haven't pinned it down, it will drop more than 100 times in a minute) and your blouse is not a high neck like a nun's gown. Even if the blouse is moderately high necked it can still embarrass you.
You can't even sit on floor or squat or crawl - the six yards make sure you stay at limited places in limited postures.
Cooking in a saree is a great well known fire hazard and so is celebrating festivals like deepavali or any other festival where oil lamps are lit and you have to roam about dangerously near them.
It is neither winter and summer friendly nor rainy. I cannot imagine how women can tolerate it when atmospheric temperatures sore to 42 degrees. In winters no woolen apparal except the shawl and overcoat goes well with the dress; woolen scarves, caps, hats, mufflers, jackets, coats, pullovers, skivies, cardigans, sweaters, gloves even socks look incongruous if worn on a saree. That's why you will rarely see a lady in saree and woolens as well on special occasions or ceremonies no matter if its freezing outside. In rainy season, it is easier to get soaked completely even in short mild showers and then, believe me, every wet woman is not sexy.
If you can still attribute all these mishappenings to sheer chance and misfortune instead of blaming the lovely costume, it still remains to be reminded that women use their saree as a multi purpose cloth which not just covers their whole body and make them look beautiful but is terribly handy at all times as a hanky, duster and a kitchen/toilet/facial tissue paper. Most of them ( when not being watched by somebody ) happily wipe off or blow their nose, sneeze or caugh into it,clean their eyes, wipe their sweat or grime, brush clean with their pallu a dirty or dusty seat before sitting on it, while doing kitchen work will dry plates and spoons with it, or use it to hold a hot utensil, while in washroom or at the wash basin they dry their hands with it, touch up their make up, wipe off or adjust their lipstick/ liner, powder etc or brush away food crumbs from their lips and fingers after having a sumptuous meal. When they feel hot they even use it to fan themselves. They even use the same for their babies and kids too.
Some other more notorious uses are using it as a bath towel or a bathrobe, making it into a rope to hang from the dreaded ceiling fan, strangling a neck or climbing down 4 stories with its help to escape or elope.
I still haven't been able to figure out how women in saree manage the loo or the washroom. In India usually the washroom floors are all wet and dirty; putting two and two together, does it take much effort to imagine what must happen if just at the right time you forget or fail to gather up your saree properly? Wow ! How many a times men must have cuddled romantically in a beautiful pallu which had just brushed past a toilet seat or a dirty wet washroom floor !!!! That reminds me, I also wonder how men make love to their woman if she is in a saree.... I mean do they really take it off or just lift it up? And what happens if a man tries to take off a saree that is thoroughly pinned at 5-6 junctures? Well, of course, either the saree will tear or the man's hands will. Ha ha ha ha ha ha
Speaking thus must make you all think I am against the saree. No , not at all. I find it the most beautiful and sexiest dress in the world and would willingly wear if the occasion demands it but definitly I regard it a great "no no" on every other routine days when you need to be quick, rushy, comfortable and capable of doing everything inside the house as well as outside. The saree is rather like the peacock feathers - extremely beautiful but without much purpose or utility.
