By Tanya Manglik
My nanimaa has complained about aches in her joint for years and years, and her doctor has told her to go exercise. But what is my Nanimaa’s biggest fear? “Doctor, I’m so old, I can’t wear what these young girls wear and go jogging! Haye rabba, our neighbours will point and make fun,” she says. Luckily for her, she doesn’t have to worry about what her neighbours will say if they see her in ‘tight’ trackpants, because actor and model Milind Soman plans to launch running sarees — sarees built for exercise.
Soman is the face of Pinkathon (here’s what we think about pink), and wants to make a saree that’ll be light enough to allow women to run, stretch, do yoga, or go to the market or a kitty party. Soman says, “Women should be able to say, ‘I want a running Banarasi or Chanderi’.” All this even though women already go to work and to the market or do housework wearing their Banarasis and cottons — my mother runs, cooks, and dances in her sari — so we’d rather encourage more women to take part in sports, because there’s tons of stigma around that already.
But here’s a list of the things women do in saris that we thought we should remind Soman about:
1. 61-year-old Lata Kare overtook every participant to win a marathon in Baramati, while wearing a navari (9 yard) sari.
2. Being a badass like Sridevi and beating up gundas.
3. Meenakshiamma, 76, did Kalaripayattu and brilliantly defeated her opponent.
4. Performing aasanas, like 97-year-old Nannamal from Coimbatore, who does all these complicated aasanas we wouldn’t dream of doing.
5. And say what you want, but you can’t beat this woman’s dancing skills.