A day before National Handloom Day, on August 6, about 500 women will walk the streets of London wearing sarees. The women will walk past some historical landmarks while wearing sarees from different states of India to celebrate National Handloom Day, which falls on August 7. The walk has been organised by the British Women In Sarees group and is supported by the Inspiring Indian Women group.
The walkathon will begin from Trafalgar Square, from where they will head to No.10 Downing Street and move to the historic Parliament Square in Westminster.
Deepti Jain, one of the organisers of the event had also organised an event at the Ladies Day Royal Ascot Races on June 16, 2022 in Berkshire, where several women from the Indian subcontinent turned up in sarees. The proceeds of the event were given to a weaver community in Nanoor, West Bengal. The British Women in Sarees group is a not-for-profit organisation which likes to organise events to promote India's national heritage.
At the upcoming event, 30 women from Kerala will wear the traditional Kerala saree bought directly from the weavers.
National Handloom Day came to be observed in solidarity with the Swadeshi Movement, an integral part of the Freedom Movement in Kolkata, which was then known as Calcutta.
“The modern Indian woman of today believes in traversing the world beyond her cocoon and she does all that and more, in a saree while redefining the codes of power dressing. The British Women in Sarees group was formed out of this idea,” Jain told ukmalayalee.com.
