#100sareepact 20/100: This is one of my favourite handloom cotton sarees. Love how the solid colours combine seamlessly. It’s also special because I bought this after my first big storytelling session for a group of about 70 odd kids in a school in Madurai as a reward to myself.

Last Saturday, I wore this saree not as a teller but as a listener of some captivating stories of Munshi Premchand. As it poured outside, inside Atta Galatta it was a different kind of rain: a rain of beautiful prose that was showered by the stellar Keerti Ramachandra Ramachandra and Neeta Devnani Lalwani. For the first time, I heard Sajjanta Ka Dand (an English translation) and Idgah being told in Hindustani. It was such an elevating experience to listen to a story in its purest form.

The show was over and it was time to leave but it was raining steadily. My car was parked about 500 metres from Atta Galatta. Waiting for the rain to stop wasn’t an option for it didn’t look like it would let up anytime soon. Throwing the pallu over my head and tucking the pleats into my waist, I ran to my car, blinking through the downpour. And was it fun!

I got into my car, turned the ignition on and merged into the crawling traffic. While my face and hands were soaked by the rain, my heart was drenched by the stories I heard that evening.