For our first Bay Area SareeDate, I wore a purple sari with real gold thread running through it. I had the blouse made of gold sequined cloth as I wanted to bring a more contemporary look to the sari. I wore my diamond and gold earrings to go with it.

This sari is seventy years old as it was part of my grandmother’s trousseau. She was married at the age of thirteen and turns ninety this year. As my grandmother handed over the sari to me (over eight years ago), she warned me not to tear it up as most people do but to make sure I sell it to a jeweler when I was done with it, as the percentage of gold used back in those days was very high compared to what they use now!

Her father was an MP and a Khan Bahadur and yet, according to the norms of that time, she had no say in her future and soon after immigrated to a new country without any support. My grandmother is one feisty, enterprising woman and started a successful business of her own. She has 5 children, 11 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren and she has shown me what unconditional love is all about!

In terms of an outfit, I cannot think of anything I own that means more to me then these 6 yards of fabric but its not the gold as my grandmother would think! To me, this sari represents a lot more — it represents how far we have come in women’s issues –economic independence for women, equality at home and reproductive freedom. I proudly wore this sari for my grandmother who did not have any of these rights but made the best of her situation, for myself who recognizes how fortunate she is to live in a time and place where we can voice these issues and be heard and for my daughter who, at ten, doesn’t have to worry about marriage proposals 🙂