12/100 – The cotton sarees rule Dashain (Dusshera), at least in my life. It is very easy to drape, move around in and do all those festival chores all day. Also, it doesn’t cost a fortune.

The husband’s aunt makes it a point to buy us daughters and sisters-in-law in the family a new cotton saree every festival season. Over the four Dashain I have been married and including the ones that my mother buys, I have collected quite a stash and suprisingly I wear them more often than I thought I ever would. This yellow-red-green is from this Dashain. And this morning the husband caught me reading and we got talking about having time to read on a Dashami morning.

The shawl is a Dambar Kumari khasto that my mom got it made for me this year. My mom drapes it over her saree during the festivals. Dambar Kumari Khasto are traditional Nepali blockprint cotton with white muslin hand stiched on both side with cotton blockprint lace in the hems. My mother taught me how to stich a Dambar Kumari Khasto when I was very young.