It was early 90s, despite not having cable channels, managed to watch a song, a dance rather, in the TV, where Madhuri Dixit wore a saree (something amazing & new), like a dhoti!! By looking at her I fell flat! For the first time I came to know it was a Maharashtrian way of wearing the saree.

Cut to 2015, the platform is #100sareepact; for the first time I tried exploring my wish of draping saree in that specific style.
One of my senior colleagues is a Maharashtrian, and thus I asked help from Rucha, his wife.
I wanted an authentic drape from someone who is also a passionate saree lover.
Rucha was very sweet and super excited about the entire process. She even shared her traditional jewellery, chuda, green bangles, neck-piece, and the bun to make me look like ‘typical’ Maharashtrian Mulgi 😉
Once she came to my office for a lesson, and finally I went to her place to wear my new ‘Nauvari’ which I bought during my last visit to Mumbai, especially for my #100sareepact.
I wore a ranee coloured designer blouse, with my first traditional green Nauvari, which has a neat golden border in ranee and golden colour.

While getting into the depth of the saree tale I came to know why it is called Nauvari (meaning Nine Yards, using a single nine yard cloth for draping)
To add, I also got introduced to the term, Kaashtha saree, a style of saree draping very similar to the way the Maharashtrian dhoti is worn. The word Kaashtha refers to the saree being tucked at the back.
Unlike other drapes traditional Marathi style of saree is worn without a petticoat. This draping is common especially among the Brahmin women. This saree is draped in a way that the center of the saree is neatly placed at the back of the waist and the ends of the saree are tied securely in the front, and then the two ends are wrapped around the legs.
The decorative ends are then draped over the shoulder and the upper body or torso

Thanks a ton Rucha once again for all those details; the drape, the bun, green bangles, three dots make-up in the chin ,photo sessions and lastly the saboo khichdi as a wonderful snack…
For the love of saree,for the passion for the 9-yard, again, I got connected to another graceful lady in this life! 🙂 And yes, such memories are what one earns in lifetime.

Back to 1990s, off course I am not in the competition with Madhuri Dixit, but Kāya ēka anubhava (what an experience) if I visualize me dancing to that ‘Sailab’ song in my imaginative TV next to none other than this amazing actress wearing my 83/100 #100sareepact ……..
Time machine, get activated faaaasssttt !!!!!