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.
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