Unbothered by NSA talks, they pick up the threads at an India-Pakistan fair

For this is exclusive ‘lawn’, the special cotton that is made in Pakistan, much sought after by women on this side of the border, and right now flying off the shelves at a small private sale, even as New Delhi and Islamabad are locked in a verbal duel over the NSA-level talks.

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The women of Chandigarh at least are not waiting with bated breath for the leadership of the two countries to find a way to come to the table. They are already at the table at their own three-day India-Pakistan engagement in a quiet sector of the city. Here there is no Gurdaspur overhang, no Udhampur cloud, only a profusion of pink and blue, grey and red, beige and green, brocade, phulkari and plain print.

“I only think about two things when I buy clothes — comfort and design,” says a young dentist, waving off mention of the India-Pakistan tensions, as she pays for three sets of Gul Ahmed, one of Pakistan’s most famous fabric houses, known for its high-quality lawn. Walking off happy with her purchase, she adds, “Pakistani lawn is really comfortable and the designs are very nice.”

In India, laments a middle-aged woman, they mix the cotton with synthetic yarn. “Lawn is pure cotton, it is very similar to the cambric we used to get in India in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Now they’ve stopped making it. Pakistani lawn is also not as expensive as Indian pure cotton,” she says.

Married to a former high-ranking paramilitary officer, she recalls fondly a trip to Lahore with her husband. “The shopping is really good there,” she says. She met up with her mother’s college friend, and still remembers the food. “There is no problem with the people there,” she adds.

A tall woman walks in, looks through the heaps inside, and decides she wants the fabric draped on the mannequin first. “There is lawn from Pakistan available in shops also, but it’s not exclusive,” she adds. Revealing that she is related to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal through her husband, she adds, “You know how the kitty circuit is, everybody turns up wearing the same suit. But this stuff is exclusive and there is variety.”

In her book, lawn from Pakistan gets full marks because “the fabric is really good, it’s dressy also, you can wear it to formal occasions”.

The woman behind the sale, Harsimran, says she has been organising one every year for three years. “It’s just amazing how much demand there is,” she says. “The first time I organised this, I was taken aback.”

Chandigarh is not the only consumer of Pakistani lawn. Pradeep Sehgal, vice-president of the Amritsar-based Indian Importers’ Association, says he imports two lakh metres of lawn annually from Pakistan, and sells to markets across north India, including Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi and also as far away as Mumbai.

Lawn is manufactured primarily in Faisalabad and Karachi. The fabric from Pakistan, Sehgal says, “is 100 per cent cotton with a very fine yarn count”, unlike the cotton available in India which is mixed with synthetic yarn.

For her sales, Harsimran makes trips to Pakistan, sourcing directly from the manufacturer. For this one, she brought 400 suit sets. She is fortunate her consignment came in just before the Dinanagar attacks in Punjab, she adds, or she might have faced difficulties with Customs. “It’s so volatile with Pakistan, one day it can be up there, the next, it’s down here,” she says.

But this Saturday, neither she nor her customers have any complaints. It’s only the second day of the sale, and the best has already gone.