Dreary London was delivered to life on Sunday by a sea of vibrant colors when 700 Indian-origin British girls, wearing Sarees, walked previous iconic landmarks from Trafalgar Sq. to Parliament Sq. to mark the Nationwide Handloom Day in India.

The ladies, every dressed within the conventional sarees from their state, danced to the favored Bollywood track, “Kashmir Main, Tu Kanyakumari”, outdoors Downing Road. Escorted by visitors marshalls, they handed a guitar busker who was stunned to see a whole lot of Saree-clad girls stopping to bounce to his music.
Two astonished passersby from Dresden, Laura (14) and her mom Luna, informed TOI that that they had by no means witnessed something like this in Germany. “It is beautiful and cool. It’s woman power. They look strong and full of self-respect,” Luna mentioned.

The intention of the saree walkathon was to honour the artisans throughout India who can spend weeks making one saree and have fun the completely different kinds and weaves from throughout India. The ladies carried out folks dances from their state on the Gandhi statue the place the stroll resulted in Parliament Sq..
Sulekha Davda, carrying a sequin-covered saree from Gujarat, mentioned, “We are proud to be Indian and British. We still live with our Indian culture here and we want to promote the artisans in India.”
Alka Sehgal Rahulkar was within the Delhi and Haryana contingent, carrying a phulkari chunni, parandi, and maangtika. She mentioned: “Sarees represent my culture and I feel I belong. We are part of London but still carrying our roots with us.”
Chanda Jha from Bihar was in a tussar silk saree from Madhubani. “We want to preserve the tradition of wearing sarees and protect the handloom industry from going extinct, so the next generation knows about it,” she mentioned, mentioning that many Indian girls now put on western put on and discover sarees tough to drape.
“In India, our cousins started wearing jeans and we were concerned the next generation would not be used to sarees,” mentioned Rinna Dutta, who was donning a handwoven saree from Murshidabad, West Bengal.
Keralites have been showcasing the normal cream settu mundu, whereas women from Uttarakhand have been of their conventional naths (nostril rings). The ladies representing Maharashtra have been in nauvari sarees and people from Himachal Pradesh have been in kullu print pashmina and Himachali topi (cap) with bling on.
Dr Dipti Jain, the organiser of the occasion, mentioned: “The whole atmosphere was amazing.”
Watch Watch: London radiates with vibrant saree parade; 700 British girls of Indian origin stroll in sarees to Parliament Sq.