Choodiyaan da chamak!


Any Indian traditional dress is incomplete without bangles. Sarees, salwar kameezes look best when bangles are used as accessories. And the clinking sound they make, makes heads turn aplenty! Of course, its not entirely about making head turn, but how you feel. I, for one, feel extremely feminine in traditional saree, complete with bangles and bindi. No make-up, no other accessories.

And bangles are widely available in India, anywhere. Bright lit shops with bright bangles, arranged in neat rows and some hanging over, with the shopkeeper beckoning the ladies around to try and buy bangles is common sight in almost all cities. And who can forget the bangle-seller who used to roam the streets with houses, shouting, "Choodiyaan le loooooo; laal hari neeli peeli choodiyaan le looooo"** In fact, back when I was a kid, I bought my first set of bangles (green, glass bangles) from one such bangle-seller...

So its no wonder that my tryst with bangles goes way back, and continues even today. I love wearing them. See my collection!


A close up. I've got marroon, green, pink (in many shades), blue, purple, black...

The pink ones you see on the floor are glass bangles. Lovely designs on them :-) We bought this tree-like wooden stand to keep my bangles, cuz I have so many!!

One more view .

But then, keeping the bangles-stand out would make sure that each one is covered with dust in no time, so I came up with the idea of making a lid kind of thing to cover the stand, out of a carton. We cut the big carton into required size, and then the husband covered it with a bright red paper with golden design. It looked very royal. See this pic!

I'm already lookign forward to wearing saree next!

** translated to English, it means, "Come and buy bangles; red, green, blue and yellow coloured bangles!"

1 Response to Choodiyaan da chamak!

  1. S* says:

    Oooh....can you post a pics of your sarees too?