Nalli - The Ultimate Silk Sari Store!

A girl’s biggest day is definitely her wedding day! And this calls for her to look the most beautiful on her big day…

24^th 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!

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)

Please refer to the official website for more details: http://www.nallisilks.com/

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.