2/100 ‪#‎100sareepact‬‬‬ .I’m a cookbook magnet, so when my friend and her 83- year-old mother launched their cookbook on Saturday, of course I was there. It was a particularly hot summer evening, but the room was a sea of saris – such a beautiful sight. There were gorgeous kanjeevarams and maheshwaris, chanderis and tussars, and Geetha Rao, who launched her book, wore the most exquisite kasuti embroidered silk. Every woman present made the sari she was wearing her own with individual touches. Geetha happens to be the Chairperson of the Crafts Council of Karnataka, and that made me think of so many other women who dedicated their lives to keeping textile and craft traditions alive: Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. Rukmini Devi Arundale. Pupul Jayakar, Rta Kapur Chrishti, and so many others. My thoughts also wandered to the generations of women who had been custodians of the food traditions of their communities, passing on knowledge and skill from mother to daughter. Many of them, like Geetha and her mother, now writing cookbooks to preserve this knowledge. I chose a cool zari kotah, which I love for its colour and airy beauty, the chequered tracery of its weave so perfect for our hot summers. It literally seems to catch the breeze – or maybe that’s my imagination. I thought it was the perfect choice for another reason too – a sari weaving technique that, we are told, travelled from Mysore to Kotah with a Mughal general and a group of weavers that he took with him. It was known as Masuria, after its place of origin; so typical of the rich, mixed heritage of this country . What a perfect way to bridge the North-South divide.