What is it between Girls and Sarees ???

I am a hassled working mom. That is the most practical definition that I can ascribe to myself. My personal life revolves round the fact that I am a "MOM"..... all other relations are rather incidental, pushed to the periphery of my existence by the "little angels' " demands on my time, my space, my resources and of course my patience, mind you though not necessarily in that order!
Whatever remains of me beyond that I marshall, so that I don't fail to deliver on the professional front. The reader will find it difficult to believe ( I find it terribly difficult too!) that a decade ago I was quite ambitious to climb the corporate ladder ... you know the ropes ... executive to sr. executive to officer to manager, in fact I had made it to the Group Manager level before I was blessed with my little tyke. After ayear and a half of sabbatical when I landed again on the shores of " the employed", my entire perspective of proper utilization of my time and resources had changed! Phew, so much for being an emancipated woman..... with the little one occupying the major portion of my mind and motive.
Well, I have been droning along, and you have been wondering where the saree part fits but please bear with me my friends, I am getting to it...... by and by....
Well last Saturday, was one of those days when I had my own moral sanction to go out with my better half for an evening of shopping, eating and literally stealing a couple of hours of life as it was a decade back. So now you get the drift..... shopping for Pujas and sarees are inexorably bound together isn't it?
The saree shop was teeming with women of all shapes and sizes and choices, some with kids and some with husbands in tow( they make decision taking easier you know!). I and my better half gallantly landed in the central hall well laid out with low sitting stools and the middle of the hall littered with sarees of all exhilarating hues and designs.
My better half always tells me that "I come alive" when I step into a saree shop or a jewellery shop. I dont entirely disagree, but I tell him that he's forgetting to mention " the book shop"......
Anyway, it is a wonderful game that unfolds in the saree shop, you have to have a quick eye and spot "your saree" and without drawing too much attention either snap it up yourself or get your hubby to do it or make proper eye contact with the salesperson and make him separate the " unique" piece and offer it to you. Right at the beginning I lost out on a dreamy moss green with a violet / golden leaf embroidered number, because I couldnt control myself and screamed out, "get me that", immediately the woman nearest to it, snapped it up and looked at me cooly and told me she had got it first. .... well I retreated and changed tactics. I started casually pointing out this and that saree along with "that special saree" everytime I came across a saree that I wanted desperately for Goddess Durga, my mom, my mom-in-law, my sis-in law, my pishi....I was adamant not to buy any saree for myself......!!!! HonestlyI dont have the time nor the energy to dress myself up in a saree on a normal working day....what remains are some parties, some special celebrations and some Puja days, I have hoarded up sarees with the penchant of an antique collector who simply has to have "that antique" on which is mind is set. I have a collection which is represented by pieces from all parts and regions of India. I still have some more ground to cover.... but if you speak of national integration from the saree point of view.....I have almost made it!!!
So, well then, this being recession time, let me not waste money on a thing which I am not likely to use in the nearest future, I grandiloquently thought. The thought went right out of the window the moment my eyes caught sight of an off white , hand woven no. with embossed golden paisley patterns running the length of it. Rs. 1140/- the tag said,.... quite reasonable my mind said..... put it down this instant, my better mind said. I gingerly put it down, braved a look at my better half who was smiling benignly.....I heard a woman across the hall scream... hey show me that off white no, Pllllllllllllllllllllllllllssssss....... the next instant I saw dazedly, my right arm swoop out and lift the magical piece and put it on my better half's lap. I turned to him with a smile and said..... after all I am sure you would have bought me something for the Pujas???? I saw him bravely attempt to wipe the smile from his face and reply in all seriousness, " Of course! I was just about to ask you to go for the off white saree, I like it a lot, you know". Well then there sure is that something unidentifiable but magnetic between the feminine clan and the wonderful thing called "saree" which gives them a wonderful affinity like fire and oxygen, No?????