Clothing

October 25, 2011

Women in Nepal still predominantly wear traditional attire—either a full sari or a kurta and salwar with a scarf. Younger women (less than 20) will sometimes wear Western clothing, and women about my age sometimes wear jeans and a kurti (a short kurta). Men’s attire varies depending on the area of Nepal and the age of the man. Sometimes they wear jeans and a t-shirt, sometimes a button down, kakhis and the topi (a little hat). And sometimes they wear the full kurta, salwar, vest and topi. I’m not exactly sure why so many more men where Western clothing than women, but one explanation I’ve received that seems plausible is that men are more likely to interact with Westerners in the workplace, so they have Westernized faster.

Last week, my host mom Sita, my neighbor Gita and three women who work with Sita took me to buy some Nepali clothing. It was a fun experience, mostly because Gita was the only one who spoke English so I had no idea what was going on most of the time, and because we went to this shopping area near New Road that I would never have been able to go on my own. All the shops look identical, and when I asked Gita how they know which to go in, she said that Sita does all the shopping for the joint family that I live with, so she knows the shop owners some places and can get good deals. After buying my kurta-salwar, we went to a bunch of other stores to buy presents for Tihar.

Yesterday was my first day in my kurta-salwar. Nepali women wear their saris or kurta-salwar for everything. Traveling around you see yak herders in saris and porters in kurta-salwar, so in typical Nepali fashion I went for a hike my first day in my kurta-salwar. In typical Elena fashion, this was unintentional—I got lost on my way to Gorkha Durbar. 

Kurta's first hike

I definitely still don’t blend in, but the attention I receive seems to be a bit different. Instead of blank stares, I got a lot of double takes. And people assume that I know my way around and speak Nepali (which I should by now, but it turns out that the one thing that has stayed the same since age 17 is that I am not good at foreign languages). Of course, it is impossible for me to do an adequate controlled comparison because I will not be going back to the places I had a hard time in Western clothing and I am indeed more competent in Nepal now than three weeks ago. The elastic waisted salwar pants are much more comfortable for 7-hour bus rides, though, and I like that my money pouch is more hidden under a long top, so I think this outfit will get a lot of use in my remaining time here.