Here I am in my new salwaar khameez, which I ordered from the good people at eShakti. (Click on the picture for a larger version.)
I'm sure it looks better on the model but I like it anyhow.
Some technical terms: salwaar khameez (सलवार क़मीज़ in devanagari) more or less just means pants-shirt. "salwaar" doesn't really mean pants, it really just means "salwaar," a particular type of pants, baggy, comfy, and drawstringed. The bunched-up fabric down at my ankles identifies this salwaar as a "churidar," traditionally a punjabi style, and now widely worn because it just looks cool.
If "khameez" reminds one of latinate words like the French "chemise," I think that is because traces its roots to a borrowing from Portuguese. (I'll check that in my Oxford Hindi dictionary later today and post a correction if necessary.) The khameez part is also sometimes referred to as a kurta, which is just another Hindi word for "shirt" or "tunic." Shorter ones are sometimes called "kurti," which may be a diminutive or feminine form.
What you can just barely see draped around my neck is the third piece of any salwaar khameez ensemble, the "dupatta," Hindi for "scarf." A dupatta is normally a very generous and graceful piece of fabric, and there are nearly as many ways to drape one as there are people who wear them. The dupatta I am wearing here is quite long - the ends of it hang all the way to the hem of my kurta - and quite wide too; I have folded it twice before draping it in a fairly mundane and practical over-the-shoulders style.
At any rate, I'd had my eye on this particular set for a long time, and finally ordered it only with the encouragement of my erstwhile friend. I wear it joyfully and with steely insistence not to allow sadness and bitterness to ruin my appreciation for lovely things, which in a sense is what created that friendship in the first place.
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