Day 58. I had absolutely no plans of wearing a sari today but as I got up to get ready for work, admittedly rather reluctantly, for Mami Madhumoni Dasgupta had come over this afternoon and who wants to give up on adda, Mami told me “aaj sari porbe to (won’t you wear a sari today?)”.
My first conversation with Mami had been a question too. From me to her. I was then about five years old and meeting her for the first time after her wedding. She was a newly wed bride of a few days. On being introduced to my new Mami, my first question had been “tumi amar jonmodine asbe to (will you come for my birthday)?”. Mami, of course, happily accepted the invitation and asked me when my birthday was, expecting it to be a week, or maybe a fortnight, or perhaps a month at most, away. But she was definitely not prepared for my answer. ” 23 November,” I said in all seriousness. That was mid-December.
Many many years later, when I spent a birthday at her home in Baramati, Mami made all the things that I love, including my favourite kurmure (crisp) bhindi bhaja (fried ladies’ finger), and the customary payesh.
Today, to keep Mami’s request, I chose one of her saris. This smart green south cotton with a shot of yellow and a thin black border had been gifted to her by my Matu (her sister-in-law). I wore it with a Khadi blouse, a neckpiece bought from City Centre (which Mami said is a perfect match), silver earrings with tiny green stones from Fab India gifted by Sarmistha and glass bangles. The bangles too had once belonged to Mami. She had given me a wooden box full of glass bangles. They had belonged to her and she didn’t wear them any more. Shades of green, blue, yellow. Shades of joy, shades of happiness. I wore those bangles on so many occasions but with time most of them have broken. A few remain, like the ones I am wearing today. The box, of course, is still intact and in use, full of bangles. Red, green, yellow. Each brighter than the other. Finding their place, snuggled in between the new ones, are some of the old bangles. Sharing time and space. Like our thoughts, our moments.