My red hot #40/100 of the momentous #100sareepact is the saree in which I posed for the photo essay of Mint Magazine featuring the #100sareepact, with Anju Maudgal Kadam​ and Ally Matthan​! The rich maroon Bangalore silk I am donning is replete with Bengal’s Kantha work in yellow ochre and was picked up from Shantiniketan, a gift from my parents that was part of my wedding trousseau. I have such lovely memories associated with this saree, right from the time she became mine!
I can be quite selective when it comes to buying sarees….! With this background information in mind, consider that I was looking for that perfect “Kantha”! My mother told me that with so many South Indian silks and Dhakais, TaNts, even Assam Silks and Mekhalas in my trousseau, I just needed a Kantha stitched saree in my collection, adding the proverbial cherry on my cake wink emoticon Easier said than done!! The search went on and on, with me fleeting in and out of boutiques and just not getting what I wanted. Every saree lover knows what an irksome feeling that is…! Almost akin to that sneeze that’s stuck somewhere…. Refusing to happen 😉 😛
The problem was resolved when we visited Shanti Niketan, just a few weeks before my wedding, and chanced upon this beauty in the Khoai haat! The saree is beautifully etched with tiny run stitches, (Kantha embroidery) creating birds and flowers throughout the saree. Unlike other Kantha sarees where the design is created by filling it up with the embroidery, the thread work on this saree covered the ground, leaving out spaces to create the figure! It’s a reverse Nakshikantha saree that’s crafted with so much care and patience is a reflection of the craftsmanship of the artisans of Bengal.
I have shared snaps from the day I draped my 40th saree! Starting from the photoshoot with Indranil Bhoumik​ at the Maidan behind Victoria Memorial, to the #tête-à-tête #sareedate with my lagte jigar Priyanka Bhattacharyya​ and Dinaz Jeejeebhoy​ at Blue and Beyond, where we had a fun time posing in our sarees!