Sky, sea and dreams

This Mangalagiri saree was Amma's gift for Prajnya's inaugural meeting, a nod to the Prajnya logo colours. I have since worn it for many Prajnya gatherings. 

So very simple

This is one of the first sarees I ever owned. We bought it in Bombay, when I was in class X, so around 1978-79, from an itinerant Bengal saree merchant.

They would fan out around the country, carrying a mammoth bundle of tightly packed sarees on their back and patiently unfolding and repacking each of them. The saree-seller's patience was infinite and the sales talk was almost non-existent. "Just see one," they would start, then roll out a hundred sarees, and finally, you would buy a few. The sarees we bought from this guy have lasted decades.

In my teens and into my twenties, I wore a lot of white and very, very simple sarees. This was typical of what I would choose for myself, and I had a cream puffed sleeve blouse stitched. I wore these to my school farewell--does that tell you something about who I have been in my life?

I might no longer choose this saree but I treasure it for the memories it holds. I would not choose it because I now rarely wear white or off-white, having developed some anxiety about staining and dropping tea or coffee on them. And I might not choose this now because I might combine those colours in a border. But at 14 or 15, I thought it was simply beautiful and utterly elegant. And that memory makes it one of the most treasured sarees in my wardrobe.

Paisley and peacock

Sunshine stripes

This is one of many Bengal cottons purchased on an impulse on trips to Charulata, a specialist store near our place. Soon after I moved back to India I found it hard to resist buying Bengal cotton. I had so missed wearing them in my years in the US.

I have a similar polycotton saree - - these are clearly colours I love more than I realize.

I wore this on my 40th birthday to the dinner we had together at Rangoli. It was a motley crew--Amma, Shilpa, Saro, Sujika, Chittu, Kamakshi Manning and I.

I have worn it many times, including to the 2010 Prajnya quiz and it has found its way into Amma's day saree wardrobe and back into mine! That is a rare round-trip!

Peachy orange, gold and simplicity

We bought this Kasavu saree on our trip to Kochi. It was our first holiday in India with Maitreyi who was just learning to walk and wanted to walk all the time. She ran around the showroom restlessly. I remember unusually taciturn salesmen. Rare in India that people don't respond to toddlers but maybe if your stock is all white and off-white that makes sense.

I wore this saree on my 50th birthday.

In college, white and off-white were my colours, usually Bengal cotton, but over the years, I have become so fearful of dirt and staining that even if I buy them I don't wear them often.