The East Indian Sari or ‘Lugra’ | Interview with Mogan Rodrigues | By Subuhi Jiwani

Dress, a significant aspect of the East Indian identity, is a subject of another exploration. Mogan Rodrigues, a freelance tour guide who has been chronicling East Indian oral histories, talks about the lugra or East Indian sari. A native of the East Indian enclave of Uttan, he saw that it was disappearing from women’s wardrobes and decided to revive it with a few textile experts. While the lugra is a version of the Maharashtrian navvari (nauvari) sari, it differs from it slightly – and Rodrigues tells us how. In the video, two women help drape the lugra on Rodrigues’ wife Sharon and speak about how they learned to drape it. One of them, Mary D’Souza, speaks about why she still wears a lugra every day.