As if there is not enough magic and love and blessings in my life, Alakta and Salim decide to dedicate Salim’s 50th birthday to Chai for Cancer .
So my 39/100 of #100sareepact has to be dedicated to this young couple and as soon as I enter their home I tell them , even before I wish Salim “Hey, quick before the light dims and my saree crushes and my hair gets messed up , I want the pictures for my saree pact post !!! And oh of course dear Alakta knows how important this is and the Birthday Boy is shooed out into their pretty little garden and their daughter is detailed into “doing the needful” and so dear Readers here is saree #39 and the two people whom this post is dedicated to.
The saree is a nice , bright summery Chinon – nothing much about it except that I am braver now with yellow and that it is a kind of a slithery saree and if you don’t have the curves to hold them in place ( ummm like moi ) you need strategically deployed safety pins to do that.
So, that’s the saree and like I said, nothing much about it but oh there’s lots to say about Salim and Alakta : ) the latter whom we have known since was a little girl years and years ago from the time her dashing Dad Ani was my husband’s colleague during our days in far away Venezuela and her lovely Ma Chumki my role model.
Ani and Chumki were to younger couples like us the ultimate role models . In a strange and new land , their home was Adda to all of us where many a Friday evening dinners and Sunday morning brunches were hosted with much singing and dancing . Till today , I swear I have seen no one waltz better than Ani and Chumki . Nor lay a spread more inviting and delicious. Oh OK Maybe I have !! Yes, you guessed right , Alakta her daughter has inherited all that and more from her awesome Ma.
But that is not all, Salim and Alakta together , in their 34 years of marriage have set up and created a loving home for their two beautiful children and for their hordes of friends – we are welcome anytime for anything and no New Year has gone unheralded for years now from anywhere else other than this glowing haven .
Raising a Toast to the Fifty year old Salim , Chumki said that she never raised a son but Salim has made sure she never missed one . Ani told us , tongue in cheek , how this most unwanted boyfriend of his young daughter was now the Most Wanted man in their lives …but what drove the indomitable Salim into the loo to weep copious tears of joy and pride and love was when his two beautiful children paid him their tribute . His son finished by saying that he loves his father and admires him all the more for making his life and theirs doing what he had to do ; maybe he never had a choice , never had other options or had to sacrifice a few dreams – but he DID IT.
Whereas he and his sister had been given the whole world to choose from as to what they wanted to do . Young Ashia and Abir only hoped that they could do even half of what their father had done .
As for Alakta , she is surely that anchor which moors this family firmly down and welcomes all of us their friends over and over again into their beautiful lives ……