40/100. The ‘mistake’ saree. We all have a few in our closets, don’t we? We all have one ‘it-looked-pretty-on-the-mannequin’, one ‘what-was-I-thinking’, and maybe quite a few ‘it-makes-me-look-fat’ ones tucked away deep in the recesses of our closets.

Come to think of it, we have quite a few such mistakes in our proverbial closets as well. Now, what exactly would happen, if suddenly, we come out in the open and air those mistakes? If we lay claim to them? Not with pride – never that. But with acceptance – of a mistake made and a lesson learnt, hopefully. And maybe, in the grander scheme of things, it will not turn out to have been a mistake at all, but an essential step towards becoming who we were meant to be…

This orangeish-red Italian crepe saree with mustard stripes has a pretty and intricate paisley print on the pleats and a tiny square on the pallu as well. This was one of the reasons I bought it – though the combination of the material and the colour was something I would never look at, normally. I usually wear bright colours in cottons and silks and delicate ones in chiffon and crepe. I bought this the year I turned thirty one – I thought it was time to try something new. But every time I have draped this saree, I have taken it off. Somehow, we never quite seemed to ‘fit’. Ten years has passed by, and this saree still remains unworn.
Today seemed like the perfect day to break the jinx – a day spent taking stock, mulling over my ‘millstones’ and then revalidating that they were not mistakes or millstones after all, but milestones instead…

So, I decided to wear the first of my ‘mistake’ sarees with a favourite pair of yellow topaz danglers, a new haircut, a smile and that biggest anchor (and milestone) in my life – my son. 😊

Milestones, here I come!