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Testing fashion sense
in rustic Nepal

My friend Alli and I were traveling through Nepal, and to be respectful of the culture, we had been wearing modest clothing, usually an ankle-length skirt or a "salwar kameez," baggy pants covered by a pajama-like dress.

But after a week, Alli was antsy for her good old American jeans and tank top. A description of Alli is in order, as she happens to be a tall, thin, blue-eyed white woman -- conspicuous by all accounts. Moreover, we were the only foreigners in the quaint Bhaktapur district all week.

I was sympathetic to Alli's primal urge to wear American clothes, but I was still reveling in the novelty of Nepali culture.

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COURTESY OF RASA FOURNIER The writer wears her sari in Durbar Square in Bhaktapur, Nepal.

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As I stood at the door waiting for Alli in my Nepali sari, out walked a pair of long legs in tight, low-cut jeans. As I looked up I was also bombarded by an abundant vision of cleavage. The pièce de résistance was a shiny belly button ring proudly calling attention to an exotic, slender and very bare waist.

"Uh-uh, there's no way I'm walking out there with you dressed like that," I scolded. But Alli is no pushover, and out we ventured, down the street, into the town square.

We had barely walked 10 steps when shopkeepers and home dwellers who lined the street stopped dead in their activities and turned their full attention in our direction. It was not just a few people, but the entire bustling morning marketplace that had focused their shocked gaze on us. I prayed that I could melt into the ground. Alli grabbed my arm and agreed, "That's it, I'm going back to change immediately!"

We turned to leave but were encircled by a throng of interested locals. Several elderly ladies reached out their hands -- not toward Alli, but toward me. Alli was left on the sidelines as the ladies began running their hands approvingly along my sari.

I smiled awkwardly. The crowd responded with broad smiles and broke into favorable nods and comments of approval. "Deri deri ram rocha," the ladies cooed, telling me how beautiful I looked in my sari. Some young men innocently added in English, "Nepali style, very nice." I was the celebrated village oddity, and they were proud that I was partaking in their culture. Through their expressions and words, they showed that they were pleased that I had donned their style of clothing.

Inspired by all of the attention I was receiving, Alli stepped into the first sari shop she could find.

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