I am going back to Pakistan for a family wedding in January, and clothing remains a perpetual concern. At first, when it looked like I might make a fortnight’s trip home for work, i was relatively relaxed, as I have a suitcase full of clothing that I intended to dig through. I have the key – the spare is with my father but he has lost it. My plan was to take my wedding shirt and have a new pair of Dhaka pyjamas made with it. Done and done. Unfortunately, with my work trip cancelled I got my sister to force open the lock and try on the shirt on my behalf, and there is no way it’ll fit me as it’s snug even for her. Could I really have ballooned so in the past ten years? I suppose I must have. Anyway, my current clothing requirements are:
- 1 dholki that is basically a party. Will require either Western style party clothes or a slinky sari. I shall probably go with the sari.
- 1 set of formal wedding clothes for the main reception. This is what I was hoping to wear my own wedding shirt to – I wore the gharara at another relative’s wedding, so it seemed a good opportunity to wear the shirt. Now my backup plan is to wear my mother’s valima gharara with a new gold tissue shirt.
- 1 set of formal but non-wedding (think dinner party) clothes for the nikah. I have a colour block sari that I am hoping will do. Alternatively, my grandmother is maknig something for me, though her taste and mine are very divergent so who knows.
- 1 set of wedding clothes for the valima. I bought an antique grey sari via a friend a few weeks ago, hopefully it will do.
Such a hassle.