This was my saree number 11 of #100sareepact.

A red Mangalgiri cotton, block-printed with orange motifs, I bought from Fabindia in New Delhi, some years back. The colour literally jumped out at me from the display and said, “Buy me! Take me home! Wear me!” The print is extremely subtle and you can almost miss it, but it perfectly complements the cotton border, woven in dark orange.

Mangalgiris are usually woven with zari borders and have zari panels on the pallu, but this one doesn’t. So although it was an impulse buy like most of my sarees are, I’ve worn this on several occasions, usually with a different blouse every time.

The saree’s colour is festive and I’ve worn it mostly for festivals, morning functions at weddings or for a puja. These pictures, taken during a puja at my home sometime back, are very special, because of my nephew and niece – my “jigar ka tukdas”. They too had made an effort to dress in “ethnic” clothes that day.