Saree number 22/100 of #100sareepact. A Bengal cotton Tangail saree, which belonged to my mother Sunanda Ghosh. Her guess is that this is at least 30 years old. Hard to believe that, right, when it looks so contemporary even now?

Two years back, Ma sold off the apartment at Nagpur where my parents had settled, post my father’s retirement. She had held on to it for almost 9 years after he passed away, while she moved to Mumbai to live with me. The house and its contents continued to exist in a parallel universe all this while, a repository of the 40 year old household that my parents had lovingly established and moved piecemeal, over several transfers across India.

As we cleared the apartment for the new owners, I felt a searing sense of loss as I watched bits and bobs of our belongings being dismantled, discarded and disposed of.

For how does one bid goodbye forever, to a home that is synonymous with love, laughter, strength in the face of loss, as well as peace and protection. How do you gather up memories, music and familiar fragrances? Or intangible delights like the fun we had, whether it was a party or a puja in our home? How would I ensure my memory would exactly preserve how my favourite armchair felt when I sank into it, with a deliciously big book to read in the winter sun, or the simple luxury of a cup of tea, with Ma and Baba on the balcony?

Somewhere along the way, a house ceases to be a brick and mortar structure and becomes a much loved member of the family, as we live out our lives within its walls. There is precious little from that lost home, that we carried back with us to Mumbai.

This saree is one of those treasures, one that I begged Ma not to give away to the charitable organisation that she gave all her painstakingly collected, colourful sarees from various parts of India, to. I wish she had more of them left, so I could wear them on the pact.

But for today, I tuck away my momentary twinge of regret, with the invaluable lesson I learnt of detachment from material possessions, when I witnessed Ma stoically give away her prized sarees.

Worn with a Kalamkari blouse, a multicoloured beaded necklace and meenakari bangles, all of which have little dashes and splashes of blue and red.