Seen here with the office group and friends – the second day of Navratri 2015 has the color royal blue, associated with Renuka Devi – one who inspires. My choice – a blue kanjivaram with pink border, which was bought for me for a wedding in the family.

I used to like this shade of blue even as a child of 10 or 11. In tambrahm circles the colour is referred to as MS Blue, because the wonderful Carnatic singer MS Subbalakshmi used to favour sarees of this colour and they used to be specially woven for her by a weaver fan – Kancheepuram Muthu Chettiyar. But as a child I didn’t get it. I thought is was a regular adjective for the colour like olive green or rose pink. I remember asking my mother how to spell it because it used to be pronounced yemmuss blue by some relatives and I wanted to get the spelling right for an essay on my favourite things. She explained the MS Subbalakshmi connection and we had a good laugh.

But very fitting isn’t it? MS blue and Subbalakshmi, she had inspired so many with her renditions and continues to do so!