Son’s naamkarNa (naming ceremony). He was 3 months old. His cousin Deepthi Anand (sometimes my granny, sometimes friend, sometimes my worst critic, rarely niece EVEN NOW) was probably 10 then.

Saree was a pure silk from Vimor. It was bought for the occasion. No, neither by husband nor by parents. It was bought by me for myself  I sneaked out of the house (they had this weird custom, you see, of not letting young mothers step out for so many months. Surprised I didn’t die of Vit D deficiency), took an auto from JP Nagar to Victoria Layout. Chimmi aunty was surprised to see me so early in the morning. The advantage of going to Vimor was that one could just shut one’s eyes and pick one; invariably it would be awesome. I told C Aunty my budget (wasn’t too much), she showed me this first, I took it, paid and came back home in the same auto in less than an hour or so.

Folks at home (some 30-odd people) were busy getting stuff ready for the ceremony. No one had missed me YAY! And which self-respecting S.Indian girl doesn’t have a maroon blouse to go with all sarees, tell me! So there!

Sorry for that sath-méké (“dead goat” in Kannada) look. I had missed breakfast in my eagerness to make it to Vimor and be back without getting caught! I gave this saree away a little later to my eldest sister who liked it a lot and who looked gorgeous in it