Sush, where’s your pocket?

Chennai, Feb. 24: All you people hooked to the telly’s tearjerker soaps, take a simple fast-forward test: say, five years from now, where would you expect the ubiquitous mother-in-law to stash her bunch of keys?

At the sari waist as she has been doing for donkey’s years, did you say?

Uhmmm… no.

You might find it unbelievable yet, but the ultimate symbol of power in Indian households could soon head to a new nesting place: the sari pocket!

In what is being touted as a “world first”, a leading retail chain in Chennai has recently come out with a specially designed “pure silk sari with a pocket”.

In case you are wondering how that is possible, here’s how: the intricately embroidered pocket is woven onto the sari fabric in such a way that it will sit high on the left hip once the magical six yards are draped.

The contraption in silk is the brainwave of Sri Kumaran Stores, one of Chennai’s leading silk handloom goods manufacturers, and is exclusively hand-woven. It was launched some time last year.

“It is purely an in-house product and is available only in silk. It is specially designed to suit women’s needs,” says P.J. Ravi, a partner of the store.

So into that pocket — possibly the sari’s answer to the 24x7 jeans — can go cellphones and car keys, lip gloss and glimmersticks, wads of tissues and wallets. In short, most of the stuff carried by gizmo-friendly women.

Ravi says the pocket (in picture above) has been designed to save the trendy types the bother of carrying handbags. But for those who don’t think it is such a bother, there are Kancheepuram saris with pockets and a matching embroidered handbag to boot.

“Women may not like to go in jeans for certain occasions. In such cases, the sari with pocket comes in handy as it blends tradition with convenience,” says Maya, a housewife.

With several others like Maya snapping up the saris to wear to weddings and traditional dos, the innovation has been an “instant hit” at home, Ravi says. Not only that, “it has been hugely popular with our overseas customers in Singapore and UK, and NRIs who come visiting close relatives on short vacations”.

The store in T. Nagar sells about 10 such saris daily, irrespective of the price that ranges between Rs 4,500 and Rs 7,000. The saris are woven on handlooms owned by the store in Kancheepuram and come in 10 colours.