#100sareepact
83/100
This post comes from Delhi where I am on work but before work , a day with my mother Maiji and family at my brother’s home.
The Saree is an old Bengal Cotton Handloom : light and soft black with a pretty gold and red thread border and Pallu . Bought this at an exhibition that comes to the Prince of Wales Museum every year and every year Ranjona Banerji and I never fail to go and find gems . Straight from the weavers .
Left Bombay this morning as hundreds of Ganesh idols would have been brought in for their 10 day residence in the city .
This day , Ganesh Chaturti is very special for two reasons . After months of non stop rain it is on this day that the monsoon officially exits from the city leaving the sky washed blue with white fluffy clouds scuttling around like cotton wool let loose in the skies . At least that was how it used to be in the Bombay of yore. I remember my first monsoons in Bombay when I thought I would forget that the sky was ever blue once . Waves and waves of swollen grey clouds would come in from the sea lashing the city non stop for weeks on end . The dampness would pervade and the wetness seep into our very bones . Fungus would appear on the walls and inside the spice bottles in the kitchen and even coat my sarees in the cupboard . But come September and the Ganesh festival , the sun would come out with the son of Shiva and Parvati and the world would be full of color and sunshine , the grey banished till the next monsoons .
The other reason being this was the day our second son was born . Vinay , as my father in law named him – after Vinayaka . I can still remember that morning in 1977 , the little baby by my side and from the window of Dr Bhatavadekar’s Nursing Home in Chembur , the melodious strains of Lata Mangeshkar’s Gajanana streaming in with the bright sunshine . The patch of blue calmed and soothed me as I knew the rains were gone !
Strange not being in Bombay this year . Also missing the Ganesh Pooja at the Khans’ in Galaxy ; but being with Ma and family is like the best ever celebration . My brother , our sister and her family and Ma posing for the 100 Saree Pact in her black and mustard and white Ikkat . And thank you dear Kirit Kiran for these precious pictures !