We decided to spend a day shopping for Sarees at the very famous Ushnakmal in Varanasi. It was to be a day out for all of us and we would probably also squeeze in a very delicious lunch of the famous Kachori and Aaloo. I was really looking forward to this day as I had decided it was time to buy myself a contemporary Saree, one for everyday wear if required.
After a rather uneventful journey, we reached the very crowded, and often a very dirty city of Varanasi. As you may all know, Varanasi (also known as Kashi or Banaras) is a rather favourite tourist destination, specially for those not residing in India. It is one of the oldest cities in the world and has a lot to offer to everyone that visits it. It is a city steeped in culture, religion, heritage and throngs of people that hint at what the "real India" is. If you have not been to Varanasi, I strongly recommend a visit, specially into the old city. Walk through the narrow streets, visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple, go for a boat ride on the Ganga and stop over to watch the evening aarti. In contrast to the hustle and bustle of the old city is the very peaceful Sarnath, which is a Buddhist place of pilgrimage. It is another site that you must visit if you are in the city of Varanasi. And when you tire of it all, Varanasi also offers a variety of places to eat and drink in in various price ranges, starting from street food and going onto some lovely high end hotels.
However, sightseeing was not our objective on this day. Being a set of very goal oriented women (shopping being the goal of course) we headed straight into the old city and to our first stop at the Ushnakmal fabric shop. This shop is a later addition to the very popular markets of Banaras and offers a very wide variety of fabrics and dress materials for sale. From silk to cotton, from embroidery to brocade work, this shop meets almost everyone's taste in traditional shopping. You can purchase material for salwar kameez, cloth for Kurtas and even just Dupattas in a variety of colours and designs.
This too was not our final destination. After purchasing various fabric pieces from here, we set of walking to the original and most famous Ushnakmal shop - for traditional Indian sarees. This is one of the very old shops in Varanasi, and is famous in many parts of the country for the exquisite sarees they sell. Whether you are looking for traditional sarees or contemporary designs, in Crepe, Georgette, Tusser silk or cotton, this is the place to go to if you want quality work. We managed to spend about three hours just looking at their wares. The people who own this shop are consummate sales people. The lady tending to us could, within a matter of minutes, assess each of our tastes and showed us sarees accordingly. By the end of the trip we had all managed to exceed our budgets and were very proud owners of several beautiful sarees. To add to the entire experience, they treated us to a very sumptuous meal of kachori, aaloo and jalebis.
Thoroughly stated with all the food and all the shopping we set out to go back home. I was dying to show my family all that I had purchased. I went to bed that night dreaming of what other mouth watering sarees I could have purchased and hoping there would soon be an occasion for me to return to Ushnakmal!
