Himanshu Verma, a Delhi based art curator, has been wearing sarees for 12 years. For him, saree is the most beautiful piece of garment you can drape on your body. He is simply in love with the fluidity of the garment. He puts together festivals- exhibiting contemporary as well as traditional weaves. Meet this bearded saree man who has totally succumbed to the seduction of the sarees.
How did the idea came up to wear sarees? This idea came in my mind when I was doing exhibitions. I decided that I would wear sarees while organizing exhibitions. I started with this as an experiment. Slowly I started enjoying this. I started loving sarees as it is beautiful attire. This is not merely attire for ladies but it is a traditional dress which was worn by men and women both in different ways. Whether you call it a saree or a dhoti, it is one of the same things.
First time when you wore the saree, did you not feel hesitant? Why would I feel hesitant because I am not wearing a bikini or a dress which is meant for a girl? I was just trying to reclaim the idea of drapes and fluidity of Indian costumes.
What was the response of your parents, family, friends, colleagues and neighbours? It’s been quite fun because people really understand what I am trying to do as an artist with a saree in terms of reclaiming it as a main piece of clothing. It has been quite encouraging from various quarters. It generated good curiosity and people have been very supportive. I like to focus on positive aspects of saree.
You are a curator, promoter and you stress a lot upon wearing the saree, what more do you do to encourage people to adopt wearing sarees? We organize festivals and events to generate interest towards wearing sarees on daily basis. We try to promote it in a very artistic way.
It has been quite some time since you started promoting saree as a daily wear and a traditional attire do you think you have achieved success to some extent? Have you been able to reach the hearts and minds of people? Not really. We are a minority. The numbers of saree-wearers are very less especially in urban India. Like this. Our festival is a small but artistic festival. These days we are even going out of Delhi to other cities. But the quality of engagement is very enriching. Even if our festival reaches up to 600 people but the relationship we develop with those people through the means of saree is very important to us. It is important for us to touch people’s heart. The popular number of people is driven to a different direction. We can never compare ourselves with them but as an artist and saree-lover we try to leave some impact.
Why did you decide to promote saree? Dohti also is a traditional dress and at the same time is being forgotten by the people? There is a richer world of saree. There are many techniques of draping the saree. There are a lot of constraints in terms of styles in dhoti. We cannot experiment much with dhotis. Across India there is no designer working on designs of dhoti. We are aware about this gap but we have not been able to do much on this line. May be in coming years we will do something in this direction.
Besides the saree in what other way you try to promote art? I do exhibitions of visual art, designs which is basically different kind of mediums. Some of my other festivals are also based on traditional aesthetics like the monsoon or spring festival. Idea is to connect people to Indian aesthetics and bring them back into the urban context.
Don’t you think in today’s life one basically looks for comfort which people find in a pair of trousers or jeans? It is a matter of personal preferences. Most people tend to think so but I think the clothes you are talking about are not aesthetically pleasant, beautiful or relevant. I think saree is very comfortable and versatile piece of clothing. It is a wrong perception that wearing saree is a cumbersome affair.
Why do you think it is important to preserve the culture of Delhi? Acceleration of change we are seeing in our cities driven by popular culture or politics is very cruel. It is important for us to take an exit into traditional ideas and keep them alive in whatever ways possible
What else you prefer to wear if not a saree? Sarees and dhotis are my most comfortable clothing. I enjoy all kinds of clothing. I like kurta – pajama. I normally don’t wear western clothes. But the best feel I get when I wear a saree in a new style, I feel like a new person.
Has somebody really felt inspired seeing you wearing a saree or any incidences of people mocking at you? I am sure they must have mocked but I don’t really remember those things or pay attention to them but I like to focus on positive aspects of doing this. I haven’t been able to convince the men to wear a saree but a lot of women who are patron of our saree festivals have really felt inspired.