These are clothes made for sitting on tasselled cushions in a shady room under a slowly creaking ceiling fan, drinking bhang lassi. Likewise, those made Spanish designer Antonio Miro who has designed Nehru jackets in soft linens and, for the evening, in gold to be worn with matching long sarongs.Thirty years ago, flower-powered, guru-crazed hippies wore their simple Indian garb as a signifier of their spiritual enlightenment. The die is already cast for men’s wardrobes for next summer: Kenzo has the most literal interpretations of the achkan jacket – long, in white or beige, with a stand-up collar, the kurta, a long-sleeved tunic, as well as exotic scarves, Indian summer colours and, if you’re feeling really adventurous, a touch of face painting, too. “It’s like owning an Armani suit – you have it all your life.”And it is not just women who are being treated to veils, embroideries, silks and the tinkling of Indian gold and silver Menswear designers are coming over all exotic, too. “These clothes are much more classic and precious,” says Mrs Siddiqui. Ritu’s clothes are for practical everyday wear, one step between national costume and fashion.

The Uttar Pradesh region is also famous for producing its white embroidered sari cloth and wedding outfits worn with scarves so heavy with embroidery it could take four people to hold it. Designers like her are exploiting the heritage of thousands of years of craftsmanship – fabric weaving, printing and embroidery techniques – that might otherwise have died out. They are hand-crafted rather than machine-made, and that’s what people love.” A heavily embroidered gold dress will cost around pounds 600, but Kenar also sees a market beyond her wealthy, celebrity customers. She has developed a cheaper range that is machine embroidered and sells at around pounds 70 for a tunic and pants.Eighty per cent of Mrs Siddiqui’s London customers are European. “They don’t want anything modern, always just the traditional look,” she says. It’s the customers in India who want something with a modern “western” edge; Kenar obliges with simple skirts and tops in traditional prints and fabrics, more tailored and less draped.Ritu Kenar is part of the change that has happened in Indian clothing.

His parents died two years ago in a fire and he lives outside, wreck-picking. The glow of his sad eyes lingered, but I felt awed by his resilience in coping alone on the streets. Although the boys look out for each other, each is vulnerable to daily police intimidation. And, says Mahindra, to paedophiles “asking a boy to make him happy for short time. When Mahindra was nine, he worked as a coolie boy on long-distance trains and “many times saw someone put their neck under the train There are so many problems,” he sighs “Many people in India are still committing suicide.