I survived Nalli

Actually, I want to make it clear up front that I have nothing against Nalli, other than the fact that it is located in T.Nagar. This post and the title would have resulted even if I'd visited any Saree selling shop. And if I'd probably visited Pothy's or some such enterprise, nothing would be left of me to post anything ever again.

It all started because I sold my Maruti 800 last month. This meant that for the 2009 Deepavali shopping in my family, I had to do the driver duty. And the day selected to formally initiate the shopping was today.

When the weather forecast indicated that I was to drive to T.Nagar, I made a deal with my parents that we should go in the morning itself to avoid the rush. Things went according to plan and we were there at Nalli by 10 AM. Surprisingly, I got a parking space within the premises of the shop itself.

A point to be noted here is that I haven't gone to Nalli for many years now. I wont be surprised if it is a decade in fact. I am, of course, referring to the Nalli at Panagal Park.

But the minute I entered, I realised that this place hadn't changed much. I was proven wrong once we entered the upper levels of this shop. First of all, I have only vague memories of going upstairs. And the vague became vaguer once we were pointed to some side entrances and additional floor space. It was like a Universe within a Universe.

The floor layout of the shop may have changed. But its customers don't seem to have changed much. There were clearly, more women than men and I can classify them thus:

Women:
1. Excited young girls getting their first Saree
2. Youngsters trying to get a Saree to wear on very special family functions
3. Office-going young-to-middle-ageing women buying Saree to wear on special office functions
4. Middle-aged aunties in jeans and t-shirt (with eyeglasses above the forehead) trying to buy something to prove that they are still Indians
5. Middle-aged women going through the ritual of buying stuff for festivals
6. Older women doing the same

Men:
1. Bored husbands
2. Bored sons
3. Bored brothers
4. Bored drivers
5. Bored cousins
6. You can repeat the above set by replacing "Bored" with "Exhausted", "Confused", "Frustrated" and "Scared".

Seriously, the only happy men inside the shop would be the owners. No one else.

And the women! My goodness. The Saree shop seems to be a level-playing field for all types of women because they all want do the same thing - nudging each other to catch a good spot near a pile of Sarees; Playing small mind games on each other by passing bad remarks on some Saree; Asking for something and then saying that they asked for something else altogether; Using complicated technical analysis on the Saree material; Asking their male accomplices for an opinion that they are anyway going to ignore; Yet, making the male accomplice feel as if he had a say in the whole decision!!!

Yikes! If there is one thing that is really great about being a grown-up single man, it is the fact that one doesn't have to frequent Saree shops that often. Once a year and you are all set.

I am sure that most men have experienced such exasperating moments in their lives. But at least you have to go through this pain a few times a year. Spare a thought for the salesperson at the shop who has to do this for literally every day of his adult life! And the people at Nalli seem to be hardened professionals. Some of them actually indulged in banter with the customers! God save them!

I request the reader to also go through this post from Raghu.