Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): At a time when western outfits have become the preferred choice, some groups of women in the city are promoting sarees, especially handloom ones as India’s legacy and heritage.
On the eve of World Saree Day, which celebrates cultural richness and historical importance of traditional Indian sarees, Free Press talked with the key members of some groups. Excerpts:
Promote handloom sarees abroad too
Our group Shatika Granth was founded in 2021 with 35 members. We have now 150 members in the age group of 30-75 years. Shatika means saree in Sanskrit. My personal wardrobe has around 1,000 sarees. Even when I go abroad, I make it a point to wear sarees. During my visit to the US, I visited Akshar Dham Temple in New Jersey wearing a traditional Gujarati saree. As a group, we mainly promote handloom sarees. We hold five events every year. On the eve of Saree Day, we visited Sanchi. We shot many photographs and videos. - Shalini Gupta, founder-member, Shatika Granth
Not aunties
For new generation, a woman who wears saree is an aunty. We want to change this perception by associating the younger generation with saree. Our group has around 200 members in age group of 30- 80 years. We want to preserve the legacy of saree. We believe that fashion can also have a cause. We organise storytelling sessions on sarees. We also try to persuade women not to bargain with weavers while, reminding them about the hard work that goes into weaving saree. I am a fashion designer and I try to promote sarees from MP at national and international fashion shows. Sapna Sigh Parmar, core member, Sari Speak Group, Bhopal Chapter
Heritage walks, walkathon
Our group’s journey began from Indore. Synthetic sarees are banned at our events - only handloom sarees are allowed. This time, we are organising a heritage walk along Maheshwar Ghat on Indigo linen saree theme. Earlier, we had organised walkathon in Rajwada in Indore. We don’t invite models, we ourselves walk the ramp. We have also held a show at Gandhi Bhavan, Bhopal. Recently, our members participated in a KBC episode as an audience. It was great fun. Sunila Dubey, founder, Saree Culture India
Talk shows
We launched our group in 2018 with five members. Now, we have 450 members from Bhopal, Ujjain, Indore, Gwalior and many other cities. They include doctors, professors and business women. Besides our annual event, we also organise talk shows on sarees in which unknown and little known facts about the drape are presented in an interesting manner. We also organise saas-bahu and maa-beti ramp walks to send message that sarees are for all age groups. Rashmi Golya, Saree Speak, MP Chapter
