saree shopping with a friend

I must confess that i am not much of a saree shopper. I would gladly delegate it to anyone who cares to do it. So far it has been my sister who relishes this portfolio and readily plunges into the act with great gusto and i should say with great success.She is our official "saree selector".Amma is also an avid shopper and when we go shopping for silk sarees her eyes have a brightness and eager anticipation.Both of them take very little time for zeroing in on the final selection.
So it was a new experience for me to go saree shopping with a friend, kalpa.She has an amazing taste in buying sarees which i have admired for very nearly 30 years now.So, when she called up to say, that she is in town and would i care to catch up with her while she does her saree shopping in radha silk emporium!I jumped at the offer.
I have admired her ability to buy a whole heap of sarees many years back, gifts for her numerous nieces and other relatives.
So this time i was ready for some good fun and also good learning; yes, the art of saree selection.She was already there when i landed in the shop.I learnt there are these parameters in selecting a saree, after you have zoomed in on the basic choice of kanjeevaram (in chennai you dont shop for anything else!)
length of zari(she wanted a very thin one)
zari has to be authentic and not synthetic
colour has to be bright(not for her pastels, and whites and creams;I dont think they are colours first of all she said)
colour has to be unusual(now, how does one get that, when she must have worn every bright colour made by God and man!)
it has to have blouse attached to the saree
But it should not be an extension of the saree but of a contrast colour and pattern!
It should not have Butta
It should not have checks or stripes(yes, she wanted it plain, but did not say it right away!)
She was faintly interested in embroidered sarees but none of them caught her fancy(failed on any one or more of the earlier stipulations)
she looked at all yelllows, though she said she has worn enough yellows in her life, it was obvious she was partial to them.But none of them made it to even pre selection.
Finally she zeroed in one 4 sarees and was going to select one;
First one was a mustard with black border; too sober, does not make a bold statement she said and out it went.
Second was a very good deep blue with a modern maroon border; she was going back and forth over it and stood in front of all mirrors in the shop.Finally she did not select it as she already has a saree in the same colour and border, but it is a narayanpet saree(what is that again!!)Why should one have two sarees in same colour?
third was what i had heavily recommeded, a sneha colour saree with orange border.She said though it is modern and looks good, did not feel attracted to it in the first instance, so it failed the test.
Last was a deep red colour with a self border in embroidery; she kept looking at it for long and finally decided against it as it is dull(deep red and dull!!)
So after 45 minutes of intense learning, i came out of the shop with her,and i could see that she got as much fun out of not buying as she would have if she had bought one. It is for her an intensely creative process.
Enjoyed myself immensely.This is what we call, learning the fun way!!