the dhwani project
i've spent the last few days of my life on costume design for 25 members of dhwani. i have no one to blame for this time, energy, and effort lost, since i came up with the madness myself, completely uninitiated. before i give the wrong impression, i must confess, it has been an entirely exciting (though agonizing) experience. not one i would give up for the world, as things stand.
day 0: the idea
the process of freeing myself from the clutches of a deadly viral injected me with inordinate elation. when the brainwave struck, i cannot quite remember, but i soon found myself suggesting the idea to n. the response was enthusiastic, and i mailed the group (trying not to sound too insane). more ays trickled in than nays, and the decision was made.
day 1: the right white
on mail, we'd narrowed down the options to a b/w combination for the girls, with colorful silk dupattas, and color-coordinated kurtas for the guys, with black jeans. mom and i spent all of 4 hours hunting down the right fabric for the girls' kurtas. after having scanned every textile shop in the lajpat nagar main market, we found a side gali which had what i was looking for - an off-white semi-crepe with self-design. ah, bliss! since the shop (monolisa!) didn't have enough fabric then (we needed 21m), they promised to bring it home by 10pm. they did.
and we thought the worst was over.
day 2: to the tailor
all off-white was too boring, of course. i brainstormed with mom to agree on a design that had some elegance and character. after considering borders, laces, and what have you, i decided on semi-brocade pieces to add at the neck, sleeves, and slits. to get these pieces, we headed back to lajpat nagar. mom had just mentioned in the morning that the day-before had been especially stressful, being a weekend and an evening. as long as we went at 11am or on a weekday, she'd be fine. of course, life isn't perfect, and this never happened. we headed to lajpat right at 2pm.
we figured finding the semi-brocades wouldn't take long, since we knew the shops to hit. nothing could possibly be as bad as trudging all over lajpat nagar looking for off-white crepe, we were sure. well. although there were just five shops really, i visited these three times each, also visiting others along the way, so as to coordinate each of the semi-brocade pieces. on average, each meter took me 1/2 an hour to purchase. and of course, i only bought from two shops in the end.
what was most troublesome really, was the mind and the games it played on me. i would've taken less time perhaps, if only i didn't think and re-think "what if i ended up with this kurta? would i feel like i got a raw deal? would anyone else feel that way?", etc. my mom was quite on the verge of disowning me. (incidentally, should you be interested in doing similar shopping in delhi - ram ji & sons and vastra are the best places to hit first.)
i wrapped up at vastra and left quickly. now for the dupattas. for 11 kurtas, i needed 11. these needed to match six semi-brocade pieces. i asked mom to wait outside 'cos i knew my decision-making process, and scanning each dupatta's colors in detail, would annoy her no end. while she waited, i decided on the style i wanted (that and no other), scanned every dupatta in the store that fit the style, and found 11 unique dupattas i could color-coordinate. as i decided on the 11th, i called out to mom to step inside the shop, only to get told off. poor mom, i'd been keeping her waiting an hour outside. she asked me when (if ever) i had stood outside a shop an hour for her, when she had work to do. "if ever" is right :(. i quickly asked her to return to the car, so she could be free from the madding crowd. and the extreme, humid heat.
i spent another hour there, in peace. checked, re-checked, and finally purchased. couldn't quite manage much price negotiation, only 10 rupees. lajpat isn't such a great place for bargaining anyway - the prices are low enough to begin with.
dupattas and fabric all bought, we headed to the tailor. i only had measurements for five of 11 people (those five totally rock, btw!). i gave those anyway, promising the others in a couple of days. much discussion ensued at the tailor's, gosh. the measurements seemed half-wrong, and since i'd shown my mom pictures of some of us in dhwani, she insisted on smaller measurements, while i insisted that we kept the measurements i'd received. oh well.
having given five measurements, i had to pick combinations for each of them. so far, i've tried to assign colors according to individual preferences (those that have been stated anyway). the rest, i'm leaving to god.
day 3: (breather)
k mails to say she's interested too. although she hadn't been an active dhwani member of late, she was on the mailing list. and who knows, she might have wished to join in coming quarters. i now had 12 girls on the list, but only 11 kurtas. after much deliberation on whether it was worth the effort to hunt down the fabric again, in addition to the semi-brocade and dupatta, i wrote to her that it would be significantly easier for her to simply borrow someone's kurta - we don't always all perform together anyway. (after writing that, of course, i went and purchased fabric for her as well, and gave it for tailoring - on day 4.)
day 4: now for the guys
janmashthami. holiday again. daytime again. it was time to shop for the guys. this should be easy, we thought. no tailoring required, we thought. we first headed to fab india in gk-1. we had planned this to be the beginning and end of our search. ha. i did find kurtas i liked, yay! only to realize however, that the quantity was not nearly adequate, and the prices twice as high as we were (or i was) willing to afford. i also found kurtas i didn't like, that were within our range. but then, i didn't like them. after picking out 13 kurtas in the right sizes, i put them all back and left, much to my mom's dismay, though she did agree with my decision.
we headed to shopper's stop in ansal plaza. i'd bought a kurta from here in december. but then, the difference between 1 and a 100, or even 13, is not to be ignored. after much looking, and feeling increasingly disappointed, i had my next brainwave - called to ask dad if we could get the kurtas tailored. he called his tailor, called back, and said that was indeed possible. yippee!
now all we needed was to go through the entire process we had just completed for the girls. yippee indeed (sigh). so we headed to lajpat again. thought we'd head to the shop that was the answer to our prayers three days ago. unfortunately, they didn't have anything i wanted or liked (but i was able to get the extra fabric for k). back to the main market. after surveying a couple of shops (ram ji's and vastra), decided on matka silk, then went through a painstaking process of selecting 13 shades out of 100. 2.5m each. this hadn't been all too bad i thought, as i readied myself to pay by card.
the credit card machine was broken. mom had a pnb card. the shopkeeper told us that if we walked 1/2 a km to the main road, and further down to roxy drycleaners, we'd find three atm machines. he didn't promise a pnb atm though, and we didn't find one. after walking 1/2 an hour in the sun, heat, and failure, we got in the car and went to moolchand. found an atm, returned to lajpat. (incidentally, the state of traffic in lajpat is so horrific, it takes 1/2 an hour to go from one point in lajpat to another.)
having bought the pieces, we headed home for an uber-late lunch. it was 4pm. dad had been home alone all this time, and eaten at 3 after waiting forever :(.
then to the guys' tailor. luckily, we only had to go until km. after arguing some more on measurements, we found we needed 0.75m more of fabric. oh boy! back to lajpat, back to vastra. after constant reiteration of my request and silent prevention of other customers from cutting the line before me, the attendant agreed to hunt down the fabric i'd bought earlier. interestingly, the pile had grown by two feet since i was there last. to fold and put away everything in that pile while customers were crowding in the store would have been a marathon task. so in one swoop, he pushed the pile down to the floor. just like that. brilliant and shocking at the same time. the shopkeeper asked the guy what happened, and he said "oh, i don't know, the pile just toppled over." ha ha ha ha. this tells you what happens to the fabric before it is sewn into clothing you purchase in the belief that it is 'brand new'.
i paid and returned to the car, dodging much people (and vehicular) traffic along the way. now back to the girls' tailor to give the remaining measurements and the 12th kurta. only one set of measurements had arrived since my last trip to the tailor, so mom and i approximated somehow. we told the tailor to do a good job. he (rightly) argued it wasn't fair that we'd given estimates for sizes and wanted every wearer to be satisfied. we'll just have to wait and see.
then there was another trip to km to give the 0.75m fabric for tailoring. and finally, we were home. the day was over - it was so hard to believe. and now, since i know you're tired of reading, as i am tired of writing, i'll settle for an abrupt end. timely updates will be provided.
day 0: the idea
the process of freeing myself from the clutches of a deadly viral injected me with inordinate elation. when the brainwave struck, i cannot quite remember, but i soon found myself suggesting the idea to n. the response was enthusiastic, and i mailed the group (trying not to sound too insane). more ays trickled in than nays, and the decision was made.
day 1: the right white
on mail, we'd narrowed down the options to a b/w combination for the girls, with colorful silk dupattas, and color-coordinated kurtas for the guys, with black jeans. mom and i spent all of 4 hours hunting down the right fabric for the girls' kurtas. after having scanned every textile shop in the lajpat nagar main market, we found a side gali which had what i was looking for - an off-white semi-crepe with self-design. ah, bliss! since the shop (monolisa!) didn't have enough fabric then (we needed 21m), they promised to bring it home by 10pm. they did.
and we thought the worst was over.
day 2: to the tailor
all off-white was too boring, of course. i brainstormed with mom to agree on a design that had some elegance and character. after considering borders, laces, and what have you, i decided on semi-brocade pieces to add at the neck, sleeves, and slits. to get these pieces, we headed back to lajpat nagar. mom had just mentioned in the morning that the day-before had been especially stressful, being a weekend and an evening. as long as we went at 11am or on a weekday, she'd be fine. of course, life isn't perfect, and this never happened. we headed to lajpat right at 2pm.
we figured finding the semi-brocades wouldn't take long, since we knew the shops to hit. nothing could possibly be as bad as trudging all over lajpat nagar looking for off-white crepe, we were sure. well. although there were just five shops really, i visited these three times each, also visiting others along the way, so as to coordinate each of the semi-brocade pieces. on average, each meter took me 1/2 an hour to purchase. and of course, i only bought from two shops in the end.
what was most troublesome really, was the mind and the games it played on me. i would've taken less time perhaps, if only i didn't think and re-think "what if i ended up with this kurta? would i feel like i got a raw deal? would anyone else feel that way?", etc. my mom was quite on the verge of disowning me. (incidentally, should you be interested in doing similar shopping in delhi - ram ji & sons and vastra are the best places to hit first.)
i wrapped up at vastra and left quickly. now for the dupattas. for 11 kurtas, i needed 11. these needed to match six semi-brocade pieces. i asked mom to wait outside 'cos i knew my decision-making process, and scanning each dupatta's colors in detail, would annoy her no end. while she waited, i decided on the style i wanted (that and no other), scanned every dupatta in the store that fit the style, and found 11 unique dupattas i could color-coordinate. as i decided on the 11th, i called out to mom to step inside the shop, only to get told off. poor mom, i'd been keeping her waiting an hour outside. she asked me when (if ever) i had stood outside a shop an hour for her, when she had work to do. "if ever" is right :(. i quickly asked her to return to the car, so she could be free from the madding crowd. and the extreme, humid heat.
i spent another hour there, in peace. checked, re-checked, and finally purchased. couldn't quite manage much price negotiation, only 10 rupees. lajpat isn't such a great place for bargaining anyway - the prices are low enough to begin with.
dupattas and fabric all bought, we headed to the tailor. i only had measurements for five of 11 people (those five totally rock, btw!). i gave those anyway, promising the others in a couple of days. much discussion ensued at the tailor's, gosh. the measurements seemed half-wrong, and since i'd shown my mom pictures of some of us in dhwani, she insisted on smaller measurements, while i insisted that we kept the measurements i'd received. oh well.
having given five measurements, i had to pick combinations for each of them. so far, i've tried to assign colors according to individual preferences (those that have been stated anyway). the rest, i'm leaving to god.
day 3: (breather)
k mails to say she's interested too. although she hadn't been an active dhwani member of late, she was on the mailing list. and who knows, she might have wished to join in coming quarters. i now had 12 girls on the list, but only 11 kurtas. after much deliberation on whether it was worth the effort to hunt down the fabric again, in addition to the semi-brocade and dupatta, i wrote to her that it would be significantly easier for her to simply borrow someone's kurta - we don't always all perform together anyway. (after writing that, of course, i went and purchased fabric for her as well, and gave it for tailoring - on day 4.)
day 4: now for the guys
janmashthami. holiday again. daytime again. it was time to shop for the guys. this should be easy, we thought. no tailoring required, we thought. we first headed to fab india in gk-1. we had planned this to be the beginning and end of our search. ha. i did find kurtas i liked, yay! only to realize however, that the quantity was not nearly adequate, and the prices twice as high as we were (or i was) willing to afford. i also found kurtas i didn't like, that were within our range. but then, i didn't like them. after picking out 13 kurtas in the right sizes, i put them all back and left, much to my mom's dismay, though she did agree with my decision.
we headed to shopper's stop in ansal plaza. i'd bought a kurta from here in december. but then, the difference between 1 and a 100, or even 13, is not to be ignored. after much looking, and feeling increasingly disappointed, i had my next brainwave - called to ask dad if we could get the kurtas tailored. he called his tailor, called back, and said that was indeed possible. yippee!
now all we needed was to go through the entire process we had just completed for the girls. yippee indeed (sigh). so we headed to lajpat again. thought we'd head to the shop that was the answer to our prayers three days ago. unfortunately, they didn't have anything i wanted or liked (but i was able to get the extra fabric for k). back to the main market. after surveying a couple of shops (ram ji's and vastra), decided on matka silk, then went through a painstaking process of selecting 13 shades out of 100. 2.5m each. this hadn't been all too bad i thought, as i readied myself to pay by card.
the credit card machine was broken. mom had a pnb card. the shopkeeper told us that if we walked 1/2 a km to the main road, and further down to roxy drycleaners, we'd find three atm machines. he didn't promise a pnb atm though, and we didn't find one. after walking 1/2 an hour in the sun, heat, and failure, we got in the car and went to moolchand. found an atm, returned to lajpat. (incidentally, the state of traffic in lajpat is so horrific, it takes 1/2 an hour to go from one point in lajpat to another.)
having bought the pieces, we headed home for an uber-late lunch. it was 4pm. dad had been home alone all this time, and eaten at 3 after waiting forever :(.
then to the guys' tailor. luckily, we only had to go until km. after arguing some more on measurements, we found we needed 0.75m more of fabric. oh boy! back to lajpat, back to vastra. after constant reiteration of my request and silent prevention of other customers from cutting the line before me, the attendant agreed to hunt down the fabric i'd bought earlier. interestingly, the pile had grown by two feet since i was there last. to fold and put away everything in that pile while customers were crowding in the store would have been a marathon task. so in one swoop, he pushed the pile down to the floor. just like that. brilliant and shocking at the same time. the shopkeeper asked the guy what happened, and he said "oh, i don't know, the pile just toppled over." ha ha ha ha. this tells you what happens to the fabric before it is sewn into clothing you purchase in the belief that it is 'brand new'.
i paid and returned to the car, dodging much people (and vehicular) traffic along the way. now back to the girls' tailor to give the remaining measurements and the 12th kurta. only one set of measurements had arrived since my last trip to the tailor, so mom and i approximated somehow. we told the tailor to do a good job. he (rightly) argued it wasn't fair that we'd given estimates for sizes and wanted every wearer to be satisfied. we'll just have to wait and see.
then there was another trip to km to give the 0.75m fabric for tailoring. and finally, we were home. the day was over - it was so hard to believe. and now, since i know you're tired of reading, as i am tired of writing, i'll settle for an abrupt end. timely updates will be provided.
6 comments:
holy insanity! what an adventure :). i feel totally guilty now though.
i think dhwani needs to make it up to you and your mom somehow.
i agree with amrith!!!
thanks, sincerely.
cannot wait to see them!!!!!!!
i love the exclamation marks :).
to be honest, i've had a good time, though at the end of it i was glad it was over. i can't imagine having done it any other way, because i'm too picky in these matters for words, and especially when i'm responsible for 24 other people's happiness, in a way ;).
the high points, for me, were when people in these fabric shops would seek my advice on fabrics they were considering to buy. someone asked if i ran my own boutique. that made it up to me :).
jesus!!! may the good lord bless you and your mom!:) thank you!!!what patience!!!...i think i shall have more dreams of brocade and crepe now...
You certainly could run a boutique, now that you have designed and created (I think that is an appropriate verb here)for 25 people. hats off and I can't wait
And oh yes, thank you aunty :)
Thanks for taking the pains to make us look good (even if we don't sing in harmony, we'll at least "look" in harmony :P). But more than you, I feel really awful for your poor mom!! Do give her a big hug from me! :)
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