Mystical Mehendi - The Secrets of Indian Henna Art - Part 1

Mehendi (Indian Henna) has been a traditional symbol of India for the ages. The beauty in its colour, its fragrance and mystical feeling attached to it have ensured that this art has been passed on from generation to generation. Not to mention the herbal benefits of this naturally available plant.

Henna Plant

Over the centuries, henna has been used for various medicinal purposes. Although I do not know all of it's medicinal purposes, I do know that henna is good for hair treatment, and for skin treatment. It's cooling property also makes it a great herb in the Indian sub continent where in certain part of the country, temperature could go very high. One thing is sure, if there is some herb being used by Indians, it will have direct or indirect medicinal benefits. However, today, many people use mehendi as fashion element. Be it fashion or medicinal, henna will remain a part of the Indian culture.

Before I write about how to go about creating your art, I'd like to brief a bit about the traditional aspect of mehendi in various parts of India. I remember that when my children were young, I used to collect henna leaves from the henna shrub in our front yard, grind them to a soft paste and keep them in their tiny palms. My idea was to cool down their body temperature as the place we used to live in got extremely hot during summers. The kids liked the colour of the henna and the smell of it and it solved two purposes, to keep the kids entertained and to ensure their body temperature was maintained. The fragrance was good too. I always used them during summer and never applied henna during at winter as it could lead to lowered body temperature. But in many parts of the country, there are rich traditions and legends tied to the application of mehendi (henna). In most parts of northern India, mehendi plays a significant role during weddings. Bride-to-be is made to sit in a beautiful stage and ladies adorn the bride's hand and feet with henna a day before the wedding. The henna application is done amidst lively music and singing and the singing sometimes goes on throughout the night. In some parts of the northern India, legend has that if the colour left behind by the henna on the bride's palm is dark and deep, the groom will take good care of the bride and the bride will be loved by her in-laws. Thus all types of tricks are done to get the colour deep and dark, and believe me, they always get it dark and deep :). In few parts of the country, the grooms names is intricately hidden with the complex henna patterns drawn in the brides palm. After the wedding, the groom is asked to find the hidden name from the bride's palm, with bride's sisters teasing the groom. If he finds it, he wins and doesn't have to pay the bride's sisters. If he loses, he gets to pay out a huge sum of money as a ransom to be with his bride. By the way, these are just fun traditions to keep the wedding lively.

Bride's feet being adorned

North Indian Bride showing of her deep henna colour

In my next post, I will write about how you can get your henna art done, a DIY. Till then, Namaste!

All About the Gorgeous Saree - Part 3

Let's get straight to the continuation of my previous post in this series....

Border and Pallu

The border and pallu of the saree play a significant role in making the saree look perfect for any given occasion. If you plan to wear the pallu un-pleated, make sure you've got a great pallu. If there is little or no design on the pallu, you may consider wearing it pleated, although it cannot be considered a rule-of-thumb. The photo below shows a pallu with minimal design and this looks great with a perfect pleat at near the shoulder.

However, if you've got a great pallu design, then as a rule-of-thumb, leave the pallu unpleated. The dramatic pallu in the below photo looks great because it's left un-pleated. Had this been pleated, the beautiful artwork in the pallu would have gone unnoticed.

So those are pretty much the 3 most important tips while picking up your saree. Now let's quickly touch the subject of Saree Care.

Caring for Your Beautiful Silk Saree

Traditionally, most Indian women own atleast a couple of silk sarees. In the southern part of India, no wedding is complete without a silk saree as most south Indian brides clad themselves in costly silk sarees for their D-Day. Having said that, it is critical to care for their high cost saree, especially if it is their wedding silk.  In India, the wedding dress of the bride is a gift from the groom, that means a lot more sentiment is attached to the saree. Thus traditionally, women have cared for their sentimental saree. Here are quick and easy ways to take care of your saree.

Indian Bride in Traditional Silk Saree

• Never wash your silk saree on a machine or by hand. If you must clean your silk saree, go to a dry cleaner who knows how to clean a silk saree. 
• If you hardly wear your silk saree, remember to at least open the silk saree fully and change the folds the next time you store. When you keep folding the silk saree the same way and keep in storage for a long time, the folded area of the silk become weak increasing the chances of a tear. Unfolding and folding the silk differently ensures that the entire saree is equally strong. Unfolding and folding can be done once in 3 or 6 months. 
• If you do not plan on dry cleaning due to a short period of wear, spread the saree in a dry place for 3 to 4 hours and then store in a clean dry place. This ensures that any water/sweat in the saree dries before being stored. 

This series on Sarees comes to an end here. There are a whole lot of other things about sarees but they aren't something we need to know for a rare use of sarees. If you need to know anything more about sarees, leave a comment here and I will be sure to clarify it for you. My next series of post will be titled Mystical Mehendi - a series on Henna art. Till we meet again - Vanakkam!

All About the Gorgeous Saree - Part 2

In part 1 of this series, I wrote about how to wear a saree and how a saree can be of different types and styles. The saree can be worn in more than one way and each has it's unique aspect. Of course, this may cause a bit of panic to a first time saree user but trust me, the trick is to pick the one that you feel most comfortable in and suits you the best. Not every Indian woman knows how to wear the sarees in different ways. Most women know the common way of wearing a saree and they stick with it except on certain special occasions. I explained the easiest way to wear the saree in my previous post. Now onto the next important step, picking the best saree for you. It is as important as how to wear the saree. Sometimes, people wear it right but they don't just pick the right saree for them. Here are few tips on how to pick the best one for you. Of course, you can add your own flavour to it and make it more personalized to your style. This post covers two aspects of picking the right saree. The rest will be covered in the next part.

Colour Matters

As any other attire, the saree needs to be picked up based on ones skin complexion. Indian women range through fair to wheetish brown to darker brown. Understanding their complexion leads to better selection of saree.

For women who are on the darker side of the complexion, subtle colours usually do not bring out the beauty of the saree or their skin. They should go with darker colours like maroon, dim red, peacock green, peacock blue. It would be better for them to stay away from colours like cream, baby pink or white as it might end up dominating their dark skin complexion, thereby showing their skin darker.

If you are a westerner, trying out saree for the first time, go for bold colours as the complexion of must westeners are fair and colours like red, blue, dark green, pink, enhance their skin tone. They give a balance to their fair complexion and bring out the beauty in both the saree and the skin. Important point to remember, Indian Saree is most popular for their colour so dare to go bold. Subtle English colours and pastels may look great on western dress but doesn't really bring out the beauty in an Indian Saree. Of the two, I prefer the second one better. The first one is definitely elegant but not traditionally Indian. You decide which one you would choose. There is no right or wrong.

 

If you really want to try out the colours of India, go for a Saree with many colours instead of a monotone saree. Sarees with contrasting colours bring out the real spirit of India. In some sarees, the border and/or pallu contrasts with the main body of the saree (as in the below photograph). Most traditional South Indian Sarees are fashioned this way and they add a tint of tradition to the already beautiful Saree.

Choose the Right Fabric

In Part 1, I listed the various fabric you can go for while choosing a saree. Knowing which fabric suits you the most is important before you pick. This is especially important if you are picking a saree just for the kick of it. If you are not going to wear a saree too often, don't spend a fortune on it. A traditional Indian saree can cost from anywhere between 300 Indian Rupees (5 USD) to 40 lacs Indian Rupees (100,000 USD - a world record). You read it right, 100,000 USD! The cost factor is based on the fabric, the way by which the fabric is dyed, how the saree is embellished, precious stones/metals (if any) added to the design, and of course the amount of manual labour put in creating a saree. The cheapest sarees are usually machine produced. The 100,000 USD saree is embellished with 12 precious stone encased in platinum, gold and silver, includes 11 woven painting replicas of legendary Raja Ravi Varma's painting and a group of 50 weavers worked to produce one saree. That justifies the cost but I don't think I will ever buy it. My point, pick the right material, and you can get away with a great saree with a low cost.

The 100,000 USD (40 lac) Saree

If you are only going to wear the saree once or very rarely, you may want to ignore silk. Silk sarees are usually priced at a higher rate than other materials and maintenance of silk saree isn't an easy affair. You may want to choose between cotton, or other synthetic fabric.

If you are trying the saree for the first time, I would go for synthetic fabric. They are easy to manage when compared to Silk or Cotton. Silk and cotton have the tendency to get creased quickly if you do not manage the saree well. Synthetic lets you be yourself and feel comfortable in this foreign attire.

If you are picking a saree for a special occasion, chuck cotton. Go for silk or synthetic fabric embellished with crystals and shiny metals. They add shimmer to the occasion and you get brighter colours in silk and synthetic.

Silk saree with woven golden thread

 Plain & Simple - Cotton Saree

           

 Low cost synthetic machine design sarees

  

 Synthetic saree with manual crystal and metal patterns

My personal favourite is silk is silk saree with gorgeous jari (woven golden thread). It's traditional, colourful, glorious and elegant. Ofcourse, it comes with a little additional cost and maintenance effort.

In the next part I will write about few more tips to choose the perfect saree and how to care for your saree. Until next time... Namaste!