Day 36. “Amar Ma bolten shubho kaaje suto dite hoy (my mother always said one should gift a thread on auspicious occasions),” he had said while giving me this sari soon after my wedding. My husband Achintya’s uncle. The first time I was introduced to him, before we got married, he spoke to me for a long time. A lot or perhaps most of what he had said that day is a haze, but one sentence he kept repeating remains etched in memory: “Ma-ke bhalo rakhbe (take care of your mother, always),” he had said. Every time we meet there are two things he always says: “Bhalo thakbe (stay well)” and then “Ma bhalo achhen to? (Hope your mother is well)”. Ever since we got the invitation for a get-together at his place, I had made up my mind to wear this pista green and red Tangail.
It was a warm afternoon, not the weather…the clouds and some rain took care of that…but warm because of the love and memories swarming around as we all met and chatted over a sumptuous lunch. What’s a Bangali adda without some bhuribhoj (feast)?
Amid all the stories…of my husband’s and his cousins’ childhood, some innocent leg-pulling and much laughter…the #100sareepact kept coming back. ” Aaj diyechho chhobi (have you posted today’s picture)?”, “Roj dekhi tomar sari r goynar chhobi (I follow your sari posts every day)”, said not one, not two, but three of my sisters-in-law. They made my day. And one of them even gave me my second story for this sari. She was going through old pictures, she said, and could recognise the sari I wore today from photographs of her daughter’s rice-eating ceremony. That was soon after my wedding and I had worn the sari for the first time that day. That ceremony too had been held at the same house. I was new to the family then, a little lost but showered with love. Another moment I remember from that day is that my mother-in-law and I had walked halfway to the venue from our house when she remembered that she had forgotten the gift at home. So back we went to collect the gift before going to the nemontonno. As far as I remember, being a new bride, I had worn the sari with gold jewellery that day.
Today, I chose a red beaded neckpiece with a brass pendant, red glass bangles and a pair of ghungroo earrings from Kajorie’s Pratidhwani series designed by Suvashree Dutta Rebello, which caught quite a few eyes. What were common with the first time I wore the sari and today were the red bindi and family ties.