70/100
I honestly don’t know how I have come to this rather definitive number of 70 . It means that since March , when I joined the Pact I have worn a Saree 70 times . Not necessarily 70 different sarees and not all mine . Still 70 is a commanding number . That’s the number of years my husband has celebrated being born and that’s an awesome number . I haven’t worn a Saree every single day . Days have gone by when I have just pulled on a pair of slacks or a shalwar kurta or whatever . And it is possible last year I may have already worn a Saree a hundred or even more than a hundred times . Who was counting ?
But this year is different ! It’s amazingly and incredibly and mind blowingly different ! This year even though I pick a Saree to wear like any other time before in my life (mood , occasion, festival , meetings or simply JLT ) , once I am draped in it I am different . I feel beholden to all the wonderful women who with me have embraced this pact . I feel the need to look at the Saree anew and give it its due ; to trace its history and its place in my life and describe the day that has become all the more special because of its wearing and the people who have graced my life then at some point in the past and now in the immediate present through its soft and satiny six yards .
And I say it not for anyone else buy solely for myself . To remind myself of memories hidden or almost lost , of the love I have felt for friends and family and random people who have touched my life . To document my precious life and the moments of joy I have been blessed with .
That I can take pictures and post them too is like frosting on the cake so to speak . Isn’t there an exhibitionist lurking inside each one of us dying to be let out ? There is one in me for sure !
Ok so here’s Saree No 70. Another beautiful back Orissa Ikkat this time with an orange border and a beautiful design woven all over with a pearly grey and the same orange . This is an old , old gem that is so soft I feel it’s a cloud I have draped around myself . Yes , one of those sarees . I actually neither plan which Saree to wear nor have a story in mind . Both just happen .
One of the reasons I hesitate to wear a Saree to work now that I sit at the Regional Head’s chair , literally , I am so scared I will rip it under the castor wheels . As it happened today . A nice big tear frown emoticon
But you know what ? It’s ok . My day was so wonderful and filled with so much love and blessings it was worth it .
Jaya I met Sunayana Kachroo today and we had a lovely lunch at work together with my team and I took her to my favorite place in the city .
Today young Faisal came to see me . All of three years when he was diagnosed and a strapping twelve year old Sixth Grader now who says with a twinkle in his eye that he never misses even one single dose and that his teacher and friends all know he has Blood Cancer and take the best care of him .
And Ramnath Ji , still a child at heart saying he will not leave till he has his own Selfie taken ; ten years since he came into my life too and made it so much more richer .
And Syed Bhai , my lunch time friend from the fishing village just outside the office . Inviting me to sit beside him on his upturned boat as he tells me about the fisherman’s eternal monsoon woes. Choppy seas that prevent him and his brethren from going out and getting those lobsters and big big fish which are this season’s special catch !
But he waits. Patiently . And is rewarded . Some days . And it is worth it.