26/100. It was a really busy day at work. Make that a really busy week. A book – supposedly in the last stages before being sent to print – has been dropped into our laps. ‘ Supposedly’ being the operative word! And the deadline just cannot be budged.

As always, whenever it’s a tight deadline, one has to make certain choices. And like it or not, speed usually wins out over quality. Every time I decide to let an awkward sentence go, I cringe inwardly. Add then tell myself, it was a subjective question anyway,

I have stopped counting the cups of green tea, tea and coffee we have been gulping down the last three days. My eyes are tired from staring at the monitor – we have been taking work home as well.

Today morning, I was staring blankly at the clothes in my closet trying to decide which tee to pull on with my jeans when my eyes fell on this Kanchipuram cotton that my mother had gifted to me for 2010 Durga Puja. Its simple maroon striped body and mustard yellow temple border and palla perked me up almost instantly. So, that’s the saree I wore today – with my favourite red and mustard glass and silver jewellery from Amrapali.

My coffee was instant and not the filtered deal. And my saree, straight from the narrow streets of Kanchipuram, is as authentic as they get. And it was this mix of the authentic and the convenient – quality and speed, if you will – that got me through this day of trying to balance the two…