A girl’s biggest day is definitely her wedding day!
And this calls for her to look the most beautiful on her big day…
There were predominantly in two sizes – the six meters and the 9 meters size. Since, the typical Tamilian bride had to drape herself in the nine-yard sari and the Coorgi sari went over the shoulder, being the six-meter one, I had to make a choice of one 9-yard sari for the main muhurtam and 6 – 7 saris of the normal styles. What I didn’t know was that the heavy silk saris were embroidered with real gold or silver.
Please refer to the official website for more details:
http://www.nallisilks.com/
24th April 2011 I got married to my love of 8 years and thus started a journey of togetherness. The
wedding was a Coorgi – Tamilian combo ;) (since my roots are in Coorg and his in Lalgudi, Tamil Nadu) and the rituals were performed at the ISCON temple in
Bengaluru (yup! A destination chosen keeping in mind people flying in from
Mumbai, Chennai, Mysore and Coorg).
The Tam Brahm tradition called for 4 sari
changes and the Coorgi tradition another 2 sari changes in the entire ceremony
that lasted 9 hours! 
However this wasn’t a big deal. The bigger deal was to
shop for these supremely grand Kanjeevaram Silk Saris. Families got together,
excited mothers, aunts, grandmothers, sisters and the entire women folklore
assembled to discuss the most important aspect of the wedding - the bridal wear!
And one unanimous decision was made – Nalli!
3 months before D Day, my mom and
mom-in-law drove me to the 'always' busy and buzzing Tamilian hub of Mumbai – Matunga and enter Nalli`s
Silks Sari Centre! Not even five steps into the shop, and we were greeted by
this very friendly man draped in a white lungi ushering us to the ‘Pure Zari’ sari
section as if reading our minds.
Yes, a pure zari sari is way more expensive
than a tested zari sari. My mother-in-law came to my rescue explaining to me
the difference in the two – the pure zari is made using a silk thread and twisted over it is a silver wire and the same is dipped in gold while a tested
zari is one in which a copper wire is electroplated with silver and then gold
plated. Thus a tested zari is cheaper than a pure zari. You can instantly know
the difference when you see the gaudy golden color of the tested zari in
comparison to the subtle gold color of a pure zari. The bigger the zari, the
more expensive the sari – somewhat meant to define the status of people in
Tamil Nadu!
Yes, a pure zari sari is way more expensive
than a tested zari sari. My mother-in-law came to my rescue explaining to me
the difference in the two – the pure zari is made using a silk thread and twisted over it is a silver wire and the same is dipped in gold while a tested
zari is one in which a copper wire is electroplated with silver and then gold
plated. Thus a tested zari is cheaper than a pure zari. You can instantly know
the difference when you see the gaudy golden color of the tested zari in
comparison to the subtle gold color of a pure zari. The bigger the zari, the
more expensive the sari – somewhat meant to define the status of people in
Tamil Nadu!
The shop was stacked with all kinds of saris in
vibrant colors – the blues, greens, reds, oranges, yellows and purples being
the traditional color palette and the green-blue, violet, burgundy, beige,
black with temple border designs being the contemporary color palette suiting
most of the hip youngsters! These were one of the finest silk saris I had ever
seen in my life! No wonder both my mom and mother-in-law always dazzled at any
occasion! :)
There were predominantly in two sizes – the six meters and the 9 meters size. Since, the typical Tamilian bride had to drape herself in the nine-yard sari and the Coorgi sari went over the shoulder, being the six-meter one, I had to make a choice of one 9-yard sari for the main muhurtam and 6 – 7 saris of the normal styles. What I didn’t know was that the heavy silk saris were embroidered with real gold or silver.
The most striking part
was the pallu (the part of the sari that is thrown over the shoulder) and the
borders are the ones that had more designs and variation in colors compared to
the rest of the saris. These saris were very very heavy :( poor lanky and puny
I couldn’t decide which one to opt! And much to my surprise, seeing my saddened
face the salesguy offered me a way lighter sari that reflected the richness in
it, offered by its subtle gold color with a dash of peach and red. However, it
is known that the heavier the silk in the sari, the more expensive the sari.
Also, there were various other types of saris
available also – hand woven ones and the machine-woven ones. Additionally, cotton
, crepe chiffon and designer saris were
also available. And so were available silk lungis (price range Rs. 800 – 900)
and cotton lungis (price range Rs. 200 – 300) for Siddharth. They also have a private-label collection of costume
jewelry and accessories, stoles and dupattas.
It took me 3 good hours at the store, however I didn’t
regret the time spent. I finally bought a light cream with white gold sari for
my grandma, a peach – brick red sari for mom and a fluorescent green and yellow
sari for my fair-skinned mother-in-law and around 6 saris for me.
I felt
contented and satisfied while walking out of the store, whilst thinking of the
best day of my life. I had to come back again in a month's time and add a few more rich silk sarees to my family and extended family's collection! It was worth it :)
About Nalli
Nalli is predominantly an Indian wardrobe store and a silk
sari emporium based in Chennai. This store was founded in 1928 by Nalli
Chinnasamy Chetti
- Number of locations: Chennai, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, India, U. S. A., Singapore
- Prices range from Rs. 1000 to Rs. 30,000 (for the ones I bought specifically. Not sure for the other types available)
For the various outlets and addresses, please visit: http://www.nallisilks.com/nallib2c/outlets.do
Kindly note that
this was the experience stated from my wedding preparations 2 years back. Now
the sari line in Nalli also includes ‘Nalli Next’ which is their new trendy
designer line available at most outlets.
