Last Friday, the 22nd of October, we were requested by our Unit HR at work, to come dressed in "Ethnic Wear" to the office. Such requests do happen once a month or once in two months and this one was pretty much the first one by our Unit folks in a long time.
I usually don't take part in these events, because I don't have that many options of "Ethnic Wear" at my disposal. I have one Sherwani that I last wore for such an event in Jan 2007 and it is lying inside my cupboard ever since. The only other option is to wear a vaeshti (dhoti), but I am always under a constant fear that when I wear it, the Fall season would start because (a) I would trip and fall or worse, (b) The vaeshti would fall off.
When this "Ethnic Wear" request came up this time, I decided to let the Sherwani see the light of the day, since it has been lying inside my cupboard, wrapped in the very bag that the Dry Cleaners had returned it to me, in Jan 2007. However, I was afraid if I would fit into it and so checked it the previous night. Thankfully, I did fit into it. But I anticipated issues in me being able to stay in it for the whole day at work, because the material was not 100% cotton. So, I packed a spare set of regular clothing in the form of my Jeans and a T-Shirt.
On Friday, I went to the office in the Sherwani, and I must admit that when I went to the Food Court for breakfast, I did get more than my usual share of stares from the members of the opposite sex. At one point I even heard some cat calls, but I quickly realized that it was the ring tone in someone's mobile.
When I went towards my cubicle, a couple of my team members who were standing elsewhere, actually came up to me to see if it really was me! And I got quite a few compliments that it looked good. Some of them were slightly smarter enough to say that I looked very good in it. Someone else first almost guffawed, but quickly recovered himself and said that I looked some 5 years younger! So, he basically complimented me once and ridiculed me twice in a span of 5 seconds (If you are keeping count, the compliment was that I looked younger and the ridicule was the near-guffaw and the fact that he thinks that I am actually old!). My boss even said that I looked like a Groom and I told him that I am treating this as my dress-rehearsal.
But all these compliments aside, there are somethings absolutely uncomfortable in a Sherwani. First of all, the dupatta/Stole or whatever it is called. While it certainly adds some color to the costume, maintaining it one the body is quite difficult. You have to ensure that it is hanging equally on both sides of your shoulder. Or, it should be properly wrapped once around your neck without strangling you. And in any case, irrespective of how you place it, once you sit down, one of its ends somehow manages to find its way into the casters of the chair and you would likely be strangled when you turn around or when you move the chair.
You can overcome the problem with the casters, by placing it on the table while sitting. But, the sitting itself is the next problem. You see, the way the Sherwani is designed, the leg portion of it is rather tight to avoid making it look like a pyjama. And yet, the upper portion of it is pretty much at the same shape and patter as the regular pyjama. This design, my friends, makes it extremely difficult to sit. Because, the tighter portion of the costume, actually starts around the knees. And due to the "tightness", there is way too much pressure on the slightly looser upper segment of the same piece of clothing. This means that you cannot simply plonk yourself onto a chair and have to gracefully ease yourself into that piece of furniture. If you sit down in any other fashion, those around you may hear a Big Rip!
BUT, the real big problem with the Sherwani, is the sheer inconvenience it brings to the wearer, when the wearer has to make use of a restroom. Irrespective of whether you are inside for minor reasons or major, the sheer number of pieces of garments that need to be aligned properly, makes it imperative that you reach the venue slightly earlier than your regular routine. In fact, you need to strategise what you eat and how much of liquid you drink, so that the trips to the restroom can be well regulated and planned out as well.
So, in my opinion, this costume must be worn when you know for sure that it would not be on you for more than say 2 hours and also, when you don't have to sit that much. Its purpose is to make you look good and it sure does. So, my suggestion would be to go with a friend to a shop that sells costly Sherwanis. Try out one of them and get your friend to take pictures when you come out of the changing room. Then tell the shop guys that you didn't like it!
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