Katha Saree Sagaram

I was all dressed up and worked from my room as I have been doing for six years now, just the day I completed six years in the current assignment. It has been a lonely journey, stressful at times, boring very many times, nevertheless an exciting journey. I had seen couple of bull markets and at least three long and sustained bear markets covering financial sector before starting on oil & gas. For  most part crude has been on a strong bull territory helped by a civil wars, bombings, cross country air strikes all that held up crude price even as US shale was booming. As a reporter the worst challenge, and depressing phase of one’s career has been the Iran sanctions issue – also these six years has seen all sorts of controversies the industry can face, from Radia tapes to oil ministry leaks etc. Let me rather talk about better things like Pochampally and Ikat, the history and tradition.  Since there are going to be lot of Ikat’s coming up before I complete  #100SareePact  a lit

People go to Dubai to shop, Singapore to shop, and celebrities go to high streets in London and Paris…. But what can be this fascinating. Small town, ancient, historic and town I was so thrilled to visit, where I could also shop. Badami, a town I knew only from Kalki’s ‘Sivagamiyin Sabatham’ before I started looking at our history and heritage little more seriously. Looking at the Badami of to day, I can’t even keep guessing where the Chalukyan palaces would have, where Sivagami would have kept under say house arrest. There was just one pretty run down, but probably one of the tolerable places to stay was booked for three nights stay. For, I wanted a full day for Badami, one for Pattadakkal, Aihole, Kudala Sangama…I had noted down Ilkal weaves in my note book and thought should look for it. As luck would have it, just as we headed to the restaurant attached the hotel where we stayed, there was a small notice, Siddhalingeshwariya Jawali for Ilkal sarees. We went to Banashankari

Trouble in Manipur, and here I am posting picture of their saree. It is not being indifferent about their plight. I make a conscious effort to buy their products though they are pricey, for I know the distance it travels.  Manipur's story of weaving is very fascinating. Manipur, and Assam though they wear skirts and sarongs in a three piece fashion are the only states in the North East weaving sare es. Manipur weaves are nothing spectacular, but for them weaving is a cosmic process, and almost all of the weaving is done by women as a daily chore. More about Manipur and weaving in another post, for this is reserved for my friend  Lyla Bavadam  . This saree of  #100SareePact  I had picked from one of Lyla's garage sale to raise money for strays, cats and dogs. It is so easy for some NGOs to raise money, do some big, high profile charity event and run it like an enterprise. But for Lyla it is a very painstaking job....picking up bits and pieces people donate when they vac

Bit of patchwork, applique like Kutch and Rajasthan on Bengal cotton with half and half, printed stripes on one half plus embroidery, don't know how all of it merged to make one appealing piece of saree #100SareePact . This Kolkata Collection had come up near my bank, and so I decided to drop in during one of those bank visits. It is nice little shop run by a lady, decent collection, but the owner  is hardly there and girls in the shop I found know nothing about the stuff they sell, disappointing. I found this kantha blouse piece at the same shop. Not many visits in all the years, they have been around, but would definitely recommend for anyone who wants cotton and Bengal silk. With Puja not very far away I am sure the shop must be getting ready with new stock  :)  Janmashtami, Ganesh Chathurthi, Navratri, Deepavali, Karthigai, it is going to be colourful time ahead....

There are so many pending  #100SareePact   postings, but I had to do this today for the madness about getting myself clicked was taken to a new level - at a conference hall by  Rachita Prasad  ... the only happy thing in the whole place/day she said. I felt good too wearing this pink what the seller (Nabadwip boy at Kolkata Handloom Saree in Nerul) called a Khadi silk handloom from Bengal. I am not sure what kind of  a silk it is, I am sure for the price one bought this even a cotton is not possible. But not going to research on the fabric, for it falls well, definitely a handloom, comfortable to wear and I am sure looks good  :)   Yet again at the conference I was asked if was a delegate or speaker! For a reporter is not expected to be in a saree? Nice way to celebrate - Varalakshmi pandikai, Onam, Hayagreeva Jayanti so many important things on the same day. Not enough time to make too many goodies, so had adai, avial made before rushing for the day long conference, and Haya

The most precious saree in my collection, classic Kanjivaram korvai with thread work border and no zari. Precious for two reasons, MS blue and a saree remade from Rukmini Devi Arundale's collection. Imitate one can of MS, only to the extent of MS colour and a kempu malai...even that would look a fake on anyone else...one can't explain why certain personalities are so charismatic that draws everyon e not just for their art but them as a person overall. Sometime in 1998 I saw an ad saying Ushas' is having an exhibition of sarees, recreated from Rukmini Devi's collection, naturally tempted landed up there with no money in hand. Saw this saree and love at first sight it was. Usha was so generous, or was it just her marketing skills - you would look as gorgeous as Rukmini Devi in this she said. It might be an exaggeration, but won't dismiss it as Usha said it only to sell the saree. For she had the best of ladies from the art world buying from her...Suhasini, Sh

The green for the day is inspired by Andal's parrot, celebrating Thiru Aadi Pooram today. To me she is the best lady poet, with none to match the beauty of her verses. This is a Saree my sister in law gifted this summer, and we are proud daughters in law of Sri Villiputhur, Andal's birth place. The way my mother in law and her sisters would converse, it was clear Andal was like a favourite daught er, one they all celebrated as their own in the town. Is this colour too bright to wear? Am I over dressed going first to Andal Kalyanam and then to a concert?  For long I used to go in whatever dress, dull or bright to temples till I heard a Prema Pandurang's Mahabharat lecture. For the last day, to celebrate Dharmaraja Pattabhishekam she asked us to come dressed in our finest and best. It was so overwhelming to hear her call for celebrating the Pattabhishekam. A side story. When we were kids the annual Mahabharata upanyasam at the neighbourhood Draupadi ammal temple was

It was Friday evening, last day of the weeklong Carnatic music festival at Shanmukhananda, so a nice saree was due! I started the week with green and so ended the season with one. I do have a bit of guilt when I buy things online. This one #100SareePact , a traditional Kanchi silk is from Parisera, and the reason for ordering online was the traditional design that they had created. Every time I aske d the weaver's home/store I go to at Kanchipuram, he cribs about labour cost, no labour available and that is a constant constraint in getting kattams, retta pets made. One of the reasons why many of the korvais, rettai pets, double side border went out of looms for a while before some recreations started happening. But, they are expensive and not easily affordable. Two posts ago Vidhya Devarajan  had expressed her admiration for my collection and my stories, I should acknowledge here as to how I found in her father, my daughter's dance guru, somone who talks in great detail

"Didi Mithoon...." the voice from other side would eagerly announce on my landline phone long ago in Chennai. He would come from Kolkata with group of traders and stay near Central at some lodge and call me. Don't know how or when I first saw this boy with bundle of sarees on the streets in Besant Nagar and let him in. He was so boyish and it was pity more than fondness for sarees. Mithoon was har dly 16, and he told me he lost his father young and his mother and sister weave and he decided to go around selling sarees. The first time he came, he couldn't even speak Hindi, and slowly over several visits it improved. Wonder how he managed to go around and do business in Chennai. He would come home, sell sarees to me, chat, and sometime I used to give him upma or whatever food I had made. I used to buy some simple cottons from him and once he had brought this Tussar Kanta  #100SareePact . I knew this wasn't the best quality Tussar or Kanta, but it worked out che

Before You Tube one only heard M.L.V. and did not see her. Though from a very young age I have listened to her records, AIR concerts, not been lucky to see her. My family was crazy about her and her guru GNB. One never gets tired of her dance songs, sung as film playback. None can match her in that ....the beauty of her voice, the softness of the tone, the unexpected sangatis. Only once I listened to her live and that I am sure was not her memorable concert, just two years before she passed away. One of the first cassettes I bought was her Purandaradasa Kritis from Higginbothams, recollect that distinctly. 'Rama Rama  Rama Rama Enniro' in Vasanta from that album was my ringtone in the E61 Nokia. When I started watching her videos on You Tube realized how strikingly beautiful pinks she wore. Once even posted on Facebook as to how I want saree makers should create MLV pink like they do MS blue. Being a gnanasoonyam, I can't even take her name here....but couldn't he

This saree has been waiting in the wardrobe for several years to meet its match in this kalamkari blouse with a mashru border. It must have been in 2001, before my friend  Freeda D'souza  was to get married I convinced her probably to come with me to an exhibition by Ushas of Chennai. I don't remember what Freeda bought, may be an offwhite Kanjivaram. But, I took this one  #100SareePact  and a grey G adwal. I have been to Ushas at Trimurthi Nagar a couple of times when I was in Chennai and the atmosphere she had created there, the navratri kolu she kept all impressed me. Some more about Usha and our interaction in another post, that is whenever I get an opportunity to wear one of her master recreations. My first recollection of wearing this saree was when I went to meet my in laws and husband for the first time at my aunt's house in Madurai. Aunt, my atthai had given me good notice, bring a silk saree with you. I thought I would have obeyed her and also got my way around b

Bengal has a great tradition of textiles and weaving, and I was happy to see my friend  Sutapa Mukherjee  in a saree after a long long time on a post here (facebook). It was a coincidence I had picked up a saree she got for me from Kolkata that day and wish she can at least take up a 12 saree a year pact, if not  #100SareePact  . Except for some government offices, sarees have vanished from our offices mostly. So, it  is going to be a lot of hard work to make that attire accepted as "professional" wear. The other coincidence that day was the khun blouse I had matched. I was going for the Press Club function to celebrate a milestone in the life and career of journalist friend Olga Tellis. Half way to the club I thought Olga regularly wears khun blouses. She is highly eclectic in the way she dresses, from chic western wear to very ethnic sarees matched with khun blouses. That day too she was in a red cotton, typical Maharashtrian saree with a khun blouse. This saree has a uniq

Was watching Sonia Gandhi protest outside the Parliament last week. She was wearing mostly checks, and one she wore perhaps on the #NationalHandloomDay  was an Andhra double ikat. Not sure if she has ever talked about sarees, or told anyone about what she likes, or what she inherited, learnt from her mother in law on the Indian handlooms of which she was great patron and together with Pupul Jayaka r did quite a lot of work on government support to handlooms and handicrafts. Not to forget the veteran who was there in the field much before IG and Pupul, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya. A digression - Gopal Gandhi's 'Of a Certain Age' has a nice sketch of Chattopadhyaya. One leisurely Saturday afternoon as I shopped while waiting for my friend  Indhu Radhakrishnan  to come to M.G.Road, at Prasiddhi, the only place I have bought sarees from in Bangalore. The shop is proud of its legacy as a supplier to Gandhis starting with IG. But, IG used to visit Bangalore, personally buy sarees,

Couldn't let go of an opportunity, so got photographed as the day came to a close, despite being too tired. Also, couldn't wait for an opportunity to wear this new addition  #100Sareepact  - Most of my purchases are not planned, and I don't go on a shopping trip, except for some exhibitions, or when I am travelling.  I have been seeing this new Kolkata Handlooms shop, a tiny one tucked inside one of those residential cum commercial buildings at Seawoods, Nerul, every time I went to a tailor's shop t here. For long avoided getting in as there were enough and more of Bengal cottons with me. But, last December went there when my sister in law came down and was looking for some cotton sarees. Limited, but nice collection and very very simple folk from around Mayapur, Nabadwip running the shop. Last month I had to visit the tailor again and noticed some nice sarees on display… So dropped in, looked at some of what they have stocked, talked a lot. About where they come from,

‘Karupputhaan enakkup pudicha kalaru…..sami karupputhaan sami silayum karupputhaan’. Yes, what a day to post a black, the day we celebrate ‘Saavle Sundar Roop Manohara’ Vittala the most, Ashadh Ekadashi. I have been for couple of years now attending the Bolava Vittala, concert of Abhangs on the day. The Kaikolar Senguntar community long had a history of being main bearers of Kanchi Perarulalan on his processions and his visit till date on Garuda Sevai to Pillayar Palayam where the community lived largely testif ies to that connection. The deeper temple connection is of course etched in Kachi silks over centuries – the temple borders, the rudrakshapets, hamsam, mango motifs. Perhaps the Vijayagara/Nayaka sculptures and the Silk saree designs of Kanchi match very well. Maybe some art historian has recorded all these…have to look for them. Coming to the story of this black silk – black per se is not a banned colour generally among Iyengars, we wear them on all occasions except for a few

First time in Chhattisgarh and how can we not shop for something local, something traditional. But, it was not easy to locate two places, one a place to buy local products and another Mahant Ghasidas museum in Raipur. We, that was me and  Anuradha Subramanyan  didn't give up, located the museum and landed there just about the time for them to close. Some amount of persuasion they allowed us to see what ever little we could of the small museum that was under renovation. From there we rushed to Chhattisgarh Haat, a cluster created for handicrafts, handlooms not frequented by locals perhaps. It has nice set of shops, so don't miss it if you happen to be in Raipur. This  #100Sareepact  is from the Chhattisgarh Handicrafts shop at the haat...interesting that tribals had tried their hands on some of the ilkal cotton sarees and this green one some kind of a polyester cotton mix has unique patterns in painting. A green blouse may not show it off, so matched with a red kanta embroidere

Amma has given me many beautiful sarees, and almost all of them were from the same few known sources. It must have been either of the two textile shops in town she would go to, or the local Sowrashtra saree traders who used to come with their bundles once in a while, or the Sowrashtra weaver from Arni with the pattus. Apart from these were the occasional calls from the Khadi or Co-optex showroom. Silk was s till expensive a thing to buy then, and so these two showrooms in town used to get a few pieces before Diwali or Pongal. They would incentivise the local school teachers, government employees with interest free loans to buy silks during festivals. Most of the time the loan taken during Diwali would get repaid over the year till next Diwali. Feel, there was so much value to what one bought, possessed then, than now when things are available easily, online and also affordable for most middle class at least. This dark onion shade pattu, may be it is Arni and not Kanjivaram for it is l

A gorgeous  #Gadwal ,  #100Sareepact  the best and brightest one can get. This was the first saree husband bought for me, the first Diwali which came up just few days after our marriage. For some reason we landed at Rangachary's to buy sarees. I have never been happy about the service there, and so not a favourite. The Sowrashtra family shop was originally famous for the Madurai Sungudis they sell. Th e story of Sowrashtras in Tamil Nadu and Sungudis in another post when Sugudi comes up. Now about Gadwal, it is an old Samastanam that now falls under Telangana territory. Gadwal sarees mostly are, I don't know if it began that way - the body made up of fine cotton and border in silk with zari. It is cool to wear, and at the same time grand. Just a few days back one read about the tradition of Gadwal weavers spinning vastras for Tirupati Balaji. Their devotion, their penance like life during the period when they weave the vastram, chanting Gods name, is touching. Bow down to the

I have so far never looked to buy a designer saree ... shopping at Sambalpuri Bastralaya, Vashi is always a leisurely affair. One of those afternoons the salesman at the counter proudly showed this saree number 12 of  #100Sareepact  to me and quietly said "designer saree madam, Mrs.Obama ko design kiya na Bhibu...." Sambalpuri wants to go global, and trendy and has started including designer sarees among its collection and who better than their own Bibhu Mohapatra to start with. That is how I became a proud owner of a designer saree, by Bibhu Mohapatra, one of Michelle Obama's designers. Paired it with an Sambalpuri ikat which is not showing well in this photo and very Mughal, for it had their typical jalil design ear rings picked up from one of those shops at Janpath, New Delhi. Strangely, I wore this for a ballet show, and got photographed just outside the auditorium by my friend Sutapa, who endorsed the "designer" status of the saree. 

This saree number 11 of  #100sareepact  . It may not look like any   speical saree, and also a little too bright a fanta colour for me. Very common once upon a time, but these days I see only old fisherwomen here in these sarees.  But, bought this for  sheer nostalgia of the days our mothers used to wear Khatau voils, famous and pemium stuff in their days. A quiet afternoon as we strolled around Fountain  Anuradha Subramanyan  and I saw the Khatau board and walked in surprised the showroom is still around. Front of the shop is now a souvenir shop and at the back is the old Khatau shop with few sarees and dress materials. We looked for their famous voils, didn't find any, but a 100% mercerised cotton this one, and Anu's full voil saree. I had asked them to get me also a fulll voil, they promised to get it from their storage, but the next I was there checked if they had procured it, but they had not. Though I have been going to fort regularly haven't been enthusiastic to go