I was horrified when I realised the cause of this chaos. It was yet another one of those lawn exhibitions that have hit the city with unimaginable might! As I eventually managed to get past the venue I saw there were hundreds of women crowding outside the gates that were shut (either they had queued up hours before the opening time or they were the late comers who had missed their chance at heaven.) Not to be deterred from their purpose, they were determinedly pushing the gate, hoping that their collective strength would break the barrier that stood between them and the floral print they saw on the billboard! Private security guards were trying, rather unsuccessfully, to calm the sea of frenzied lawn lovers.

I have to confess that my curiosity led me to do a bit of research on this peculiar species; Lawnaculus lunatica, and the results are startling, to say the least. The bit that fascinated me immensely was that there are some women who actually visit these exhibitions with a long term strategy, which goes something like this they want to rush in, pick up the most advertised print, rush off to the tailor who they have already lined up for an urgent job, pick up the stitched outfit late in the day, having paid a hefty sum to the tailor, and adorn their new lawn jora to the same exhibition on day two! This, believe it or not, is done to make a point to the other buyers that the print they are eagerly purchasing is already 'out' and hence, of little or no value!

Then there are those who come to the exhibition along with their maids to carry the heavy load of shopping bags. Upon my friend's inquiry, one lady replied that she had bought every single print on display! So much for global recession. One story that fills me with horror is how one of the sales staff got injured when a 'lawnie' hurled a water bottle at her, furious at not being able to get her hands on a particular print.

The number of suits you buy is apparently a gauge of your social success; when one woman admitted (extremely sheepishly) that she bought three joras, the other ladies gasped with horror. Obviously this poor woman was going to be ex-communicated from all her kitty party groups forthwith.

Seriously! What is this mad rush all about? So what if the print runs out? Aren't there a million yards of all kinds of other lawn? It is heartbreaking to see this kind of insecurity in our women, who want to flash the label of the lawn they are wearing on a hot humid summer afternoon, only to pick up their kids from school.

In all honestly, I buy my lawn from the man selling all kinds of lovely prints on the footpath, and don't see any significant difference between my 400 rupee one and the 3000 or so outfit. It's not to say that I don't like expensive things, sure I do. But there has to be a balance between wanting to buy something one desires (desperately) and behaving like a lunatic about it.