Saree no – 35 – A Pandora of sarees and emotions!!!

A delicate pink marble crepe with net border and embroidery bought from AKN Sarees few years ago while me and hubby went to Vile Parle to to pick up veggies.

Went to meet Mom after almost 3 months…She was surprised becos I was in a saree..usually its very casual attire….n so she asked…ajun kunakade jayche aahe..and I said…nahi tulach bhetayla aale…She knew that I loved sarees and wore them at every party or function but never casually and so I shared with her few of my saree posts alongwith pics and she was spellbound….Post lunch she took me into the bedroom. Now thr are 2 almirahs – one with her usual sarees and stuff and other one is always locked. I’ve nvr asked her why its locked …she opened the other almirah….off came 3-4 big bundles of muslin cloth and when she opened them it contained to my amazement sarees…..a big stock of them almost 30-35 yrs old…the sarees smelt of sandalwood, turmeric and Vaala (scented grass usually put in drinking water). It was an intoxicating world of colours, textures, fabrics and fragrances.

She started taking them out one by one and to my astonishment each saree had a story….a delicate pink with hand embroidery was her wedding saree , a beautiful paithani saree which was a navvari that belonged to her mother and her voice lost in her memory, a chanderi that my father had bought when she was expecting me and a Kolkatta cotton silk bought when she was expecting my sister….a tanchoi gifted to her by one of her brother, Sudeshkumar Lade during bhaubeej and a tussar gifted by another of her brother during Raksha Bandhan, a Batik one bought during her official trip to Gujarat and a pochampally bought during one of our Hyderabad vacations and then a Kanjivaram which was last saree gifted by my dad during my wedding before he left us and once again she lost her voice and I saw a tear in her eye….and the stories continued…I listened…enthralled feeling the fabrics and her emotions while she was narrating it…she told me to pick up whatever I wanted but I felt to let them remain with her as they were her memories…and frankly I wanted to listen to her stories again and again……..I felt like she lived her entire lifetime thru that 3-4 hours that I spent with her….