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This one is a simple grey crepe with a tiny black peacocks woven in black thread all over the border and aanchal and features in the pact because this is one of the sarees I owned before marriage.
In a bengali household the first time a daughter dresses up in a saree is at the age of six months. ..yes you heard it right. The Annaprashan ceremony or the rice eating ceremony is a celebration which is almost like a wedding. The girl child is usually dressed up in a saree complete with the sholar mukut and the traditional chandan on the forehead. I did it for my daughters too. So that would be the first time I ever draped a saree .I’ve also seen pictures of myself in the family album draped in a red and green cotton one over a high neck pullover probably during Saraswati Poojo. The first time I consciously dressed up in a saree was when I was in the tenth standard for a cousin’s wedding. I still remember it was a navy blue and magenta combination. I was probably hooked to the idea then that girls look prettiest in sarees. Ever since then I wore sarees to all formal occasions in the family mostly borrowed from one of my favourite mami (maternal aunt) for she had a great collection. One of the many occasions when Bengali girls in their teens look forward to wearing sarees is during one of the days of Durga Poojo (for obvious reasons) and that day mostly used to be Ashtami. Lots of planning and plotting went on for months before the Poojo to zero in on The Saree. It is surprising how when one is young one does not need too many colours to enhance ones look ….the charm and exuberabce of youth makes up for the lack of colours. My collection of pre marriage sarees were mostly black white or grey. It is only in the later years that those colours are needed to hide the stresses and scars of a more mature experience of life .
To cut a long story short; I picked it up for one of the Ashtami saree wearing ritual during my graduation days . Yes we did have a saree day or date of friends back in those times too. And our hearts fluttered each time a handsome Bangali chele gave us an apprecia