When chiffon sarees became the rage and everyone had to have one, my grandmother-in-law, Nanima, is said to have bought this one. She wore it a couple of times and passed it on to her daughter, my mother-in-law, who thought this was too over-the-top and lichch-pichch for her liking! But she kept it anyway. Then, one day, out-of-the-blue, Nanima casually remarked to my MIL that this saree be given to Rahul’s wife who’d appear many moons later! The man was only in college at the time! She also earmarked some pieces of her jewellery to be handed down to the grand-bahus and great grand-children. I’m wearing one of her chains that was given to my son when he was born. Of course, it’s mine now!

My MIL gave me this saree last year. She said, “You don’t have to wear it if you don’t like it but just keep it because it was meant to be given to you.” I have never seen Nanima but have heard a lot of stories about her, her exacting standards, her perfection, her knitting skills, her sense of style, her kitty parties and all! I really wish I’d known her personally. So I made a mental note to wear the saree sometime but it stayed tucked away in my wardrobe in Chandigarh until last week. I asked my MIL to bring it along since she is visiting. ‪#‎100sareepact‬ made me wear it a couple of days ago.

When Rahul returned from work, he looked at me with a where-have-I-seen-this-before, turned to his mom and said, “Even Nanima had a saree like this, didn’t she?”
And he was told this story too!