4/100 #100sareepact

As a child I was always smitten by my Amma, her sarees, the way she would starch and drape her sarees and carry herself ever so gracefully. I loved most of her sarees, but there were a few favourites that I used to silently covet. She had this absolutely stunning black and white patola with a purple border and everytime I saw it my heart skipped a beat. As I grew up, I did get to wear it a couple of times and I would feel at the top of the world everytime I draped it. Then came a day when we had to retire the saree as it started tearing at the folds and I cried many a tears as I said goodbye.

So when I was engaged to get married and my other Amma (Prado’s mom) told me that I had to select five sarees that she would like to present to me to be included in my trousseau, and that one of the sarees should be a black and white saree. I immediately wanted a B&W patola. And my oh my did I search the whole of Mumbai for it. Right from Thane to Parel to Borivli and finally found what I looking for from our very own Nallis in Mahalakshmi. The salesman told us that it took four or five members of a family of artisans labour and toil for more than 5-6 months to bring out this unique creation in silk. Both sides of this Patola have the same look and feel which is indeed unique for any textiles.

Friends, this is the exquisite handwoven, black and beige patola that was a loving gift from one Amma inspired by another Amma 😀