I have a friend living in Chennai who is also learning how to quilt. She has purchased an old Singer machine and is happy with it. All you really need is a machine that will sew a straight line unless you are planning on doing machine applique in which case you will want it to do a satin stitch.
As for your light cotton fabric - I have some almost see-through white fabric that has been lightly embroidered with flowers. I think the fabric originally came from India, so yours may be similar. What I've been doing with it is using it as the backing for baby quilts. Since my batting is white, the sheerness of the fabric doesn't show. I then quilt around the flowers in ever-expanding circles. If you enlarge this photo you may be able to see the sheerness - it's been working just fine for me.
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