These summer days the market is filled with fresh jasmine and the smell is slight and feminine, at times strong. I don't buy the flowers, because they are meant to be stringed together and worn on the hair. I am impatient to do that, the malaise of the urban Indian woman.

When I see women wearing stringed flowers, I just think how feminine. Most Indian women are not fashionable, most of her dressing is for comfort and the rest are essentials. But once in a while there will be an added accessory - the flowers in her hair. For Indian brides the bridal corsage is a must.



For long Indian women, have taken pride in the long black hair. They oil it regularly, wash it with shikakai (soap nuts)/shampoo,braid it or tie it in ribbons if they are little girls. Of course now we have hair in highlights/various hues/styled/non-greasy oils/gels etc. But the one hairstyle that will always endure to us, Indians, especially the men, is the long plait. Better still if it has flowers in it. It means she is traditional and holds the Indian women ideal.

Hair, is considered one of the most beautiful and erotic part of a woman.It also reveals personality. Primitive and ancient cultures have loved hair with flowers in it. Hair has always been part of human evolution and adorning it became a part of human evolutionary culture. So when I see that that some Indian women, more from the South still follow that ritual, I think we Indians do have a beauty culture of our own. Even Thai and Hawaiian women wear flowers in their hair!

Flowers have been worn for personal adornment throughout recorded history. Their purpose has been for both beautification and ceremony. Earliest uses in ancient Greece varied from single flowers worn in the hair as a personal touch to crowns of flowers and foliage for the head of both men and women as a symbol of achievement. The practice is also observed in very diverse cultures, as in the centuries-old wearing of leis and hair flowers by South Pacific women. At other times in history the wearing of flowers was as much or more for fragrance as visual beauty in the belief the fragrance would help ward off disease. Today the emphasis is specifically on personal beauty as the flowers enhance the appearance of the wearer and the apparel, with the bonus of an uplift for the wearer's spirit and inner beauty.