8/100. On a day hot enough to have us melting like wax, this aqua­-cool, ‘batik’ or ‘wax­writing’ sari seemed an apt choice.
As a simple Google search will tell you, batik is a 2000­-year-old art form that uses resist techniques of dyeing fabric and is supposed to have originated in India. Like many other traditional arts, the fortunes of batik, too, are today waxing after years of being on the wane.

I picked up this sari three years ago from a nondescript store in Kokata that sells saris made in Shantiniketan. The sari – with its ‘alpana’ design of freeform flowers and leaves – is characteristic of that school of batik.

What I like especially about this sari is the paatli­-pallu – designs only on the pleats and the pallu. And the fact that I got it for only Rs. 400 – at a time when I was having to watch my finances like a crotchety bank manager.