Saree story # 16
Occasion: Day 5 of Navratras, worshipping Ma Skandamata. She is the mother of Skanda or Subramanya (Lord Karthikeya, brother of Lord Ganesha). She is depicted as riding a lion with the baby Skanda on her lap. This signifies courage and compassion. The lion signifies courage, while Mother Divine is the embodiment of compassion. Skanda is the skillful one. Sometimes when one is very skillful, they tend to be arrogant. But here the skill is combined with a humility that nurtures innocence. May she bless us with her powers.
This saree made turns in form of gift from my sister-in-law (Bhabhi) to my mother around the year 2001 and then my mother gifted this to me around the year 2010. I love both the colors in this saree, baby pink and lavender. I had thought many times before to wear this saree, but could not do. Finally, I wore it today and even when I got to know on some saree forum that color for the day was Grey, I did not have any saree in that color and I tried contacting a friend who deals in sarees, incase she had one in that color in her stock, but it was not available. So, finally I wore the long awaited saree thinking of the powers of Ma Skandamata; I believe in the balance like the qualities of skill along with innocence, and courage along with compassion.
To celebrate the occasion, I prepared Lemon Daal learning it from subbuskitchen.com and simple banana offering in Prasadam.
First time we had babysit neighbor’s 3 years old son for long hours and it was an experience in itself :), the same child who’d joined us the other day in our puja time.