92/100 #debsaristories #lessismore #100sareepact #100CholiCraze #iworkedout

Saree: white benarasi chanderi I suppose. Choli: wink, wink. It's a reversible jacket from @handsofindia. Multipurpose, versatile,  vibrant handloom! Can't ask for more

Story: watched Paramanu over the weekend and also this being Memorial Day weekend here,  thoughts of patriotism floating around. Being able to support one's country, being in frontline, armed forces and the like is a special privilege not many are bestowed with. I clearly remember the moment when my son was born my first thought was 'I wish you grow up to serve your country be in defence armed forces or administrative services'. ☺☺☺ life always has it's own plans but nevertheless all of us have an opportunity to contribute in any and many ways.

We may never certainly understand the pain and struggle to be free, but I think we shoulder the responsibility to use it wisely! I appreciate being around and aware of many other-wise common women bringing change and freedom to those deserving.  For choosing to stand up and do the right thing.
Many in this group and through my handloom interactions... I have a huge list of you role models and in depth of heart I soon wish to collaborate with you all , to partner and perhaps to spread the goodness! Will let you know when i am ready for my dream to take shape of reality.

Amidst all the Paramanu advancements , amidst our soldiers fighting and protecting our front line, those of us that are making tiny ripples of changes, bringing happiness and building confidence to our womenkind,  this is no less commendable.


Just a moment to thank all of you wonder women, world is good because we still have the likes of you around 👩‍🚀👩‍🚒👷‍♀️🧕🕵️‍♀️👩‍🍳👩‍🏭👩‍🔧👩‍🎨👩‍🎤👩‍💻👩‍🔬👩‍✈️👩‍🏫👩‍🎓💃💃💃

91/100: #debsaristories #100CholiTalk #100sareepact sari: muslin jamdani from ma's collection. Choli: @Queen of Hearts by Deepa Mehta

Story: slowing down is a beautiful feeling.. applies to many things in life. I am enjoying a bit of it now, and want to relish it before it's gone.

Growing up and around southern part of India my exposure to pastel shades at the time was very less and limited. I was more attracted to bright violets, red, magenta and royal blue. Those were the go-to colors and I always assumed wearing a bright colored sari saree with heavy gold jewelry is all one needs to look stunning.. I remember dressing up that way for school and college farewell parties as well. Sometimes my choices made me look older than I was but that did not matter to me at all .. I actually wanted to look older!! (I have no clue why though.. so pardon my ignorance 🤔🤔) there is still nothing right or wrong about that school of thought - to each their own except that as I evolved as a person my choices,  observations and lessons learnt evolved too. That's when I began learning the art of #lessismore

My first such lesson was when I first met ma. Way before my hubby and I had anything in common. Ma was wearing this exact shade of a beautiful fully woven dhakai jamdani. Simple blouse. Hair tied in bun (must have been three four rounds because she had REALLY long hair, touching her knees!), pearl earrings,  sindoor. That's all. I mean really that's it. Dang! That pic is still in my mind and I wish I had a USB to transfer it to fone! Oh well,  some things can never be captured ever, they live in heart! I wondered how this 'aunty' (as I would refer to her like the rest of my roomies and friends) manages to look stunning and be the show stopper without any jewelry.  I just couldn't figure that out. She oozed confidence,  charm. elegance,  dignity,.. everything I look up to in women.

Over the years maybe I borrowed a leaf or two from her books. She would instill confidence in me that my education is my biggest strength, my profession is my independence and kindness is my beauty.. all this went over my head .. totally. I understood nothing back then but would simply nod. She would tell how amma's dreams of me becoming an independent woman should never be in the backburner!

Ma, hope I am able to live up to the daughter you always wished you had! I hope I learn to bring you and amma smiles of what you wanted me to grow into!

Today I love pastels, i love minimal dressing. I truly realized that #lessismore when one is confident about self and carry oneself with highest regard. 

90/100 #100CholiCraze #debsaristories #iworkedout #100sareepact

Sari: I guess block printed chanderi cotton Choli: Kota with embroidery, creation from Arpita Saha

Story: phew! Can't believe I hit 90s!!! One of those pretty low key days when I talk so much inside that I am quiet outside. Something triggered me to wear the sari and I ended up randomly picking this combo!

I always question whether it is the mind that thinks and heart that feels. I don't know for sure, perhaps it's a collective process. It is not one organ or other. Perhaps it's none of those organs that feel but an external stimuli triggers emotions?

I don't know. It's just one of those mysteries that Nature left us wondering about.

Despite technological advances and innovations, it's hard to replicate human brains! Even just eyes! How we adjust our vision to objects, the clarity, precision, ability to focus, see and store .. no camera can ever do justice to the beauty as seen and captured by the eyes.

The ability of brain to multitask, store, sense and execute is beyond the "man from ape" theory. It's a scientific creation designed to perfection with self improving, self replicating, self learning, sustaining model! Nah! This ain't an ape theory (If it were why aren't any more monkeys getting converted to humans?, although we see vice versa - humans behaving less sensible than they are capable of)

With it came the special ability to love,  care and  protect not just one's own but the planet in general. Wish we all used the ability as much as we can, as often as we could.

Ah! That's a lot of inner talk exposed! Will get back to my shell and let you all be ❤❤❤❤

Meanwhile I am waiting to enjoy my Cerelac  (Yes you heard it right!) Tomorrow morning for breakfast.. been my wish since childhood!!! Yummy!!

89/100 sari(s) . All are gadwal.

Story: me wearing Amma's sari,  Ma wearing her mom's sari, Amma wearing sari gifted to her by Ma. Hearty Love triangle of saris. Of moms and daughters 💃💃💃

Mothers - the lesser said, the better. Mothers don't expect celebration but worthy of celebration  every moment.

Not limited  just to the mother's by birth, motherhood  extends to all mothers by thought,  action and living by example.
Mothers that feel and extend compassion,  mothers that stand by you just to be, mothers that lend a shoulder and get it even when you don't say a thing, so on and so forth.

You can never thank them enough nor say much.

More than a 'being' (humans like us) or a 'form' (divine like many) , Mothers are like 'energy'. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed - it can only be transformed from one form to another.

Mothers' blessings are powerful than anything else in this universe. Such positive energy! 🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️
May we stay blessed.

88/100 #100CholiCraze #debsaristories #iworkedout #100sareepact
Saree: manipuri silk with brocade border.  Choli: a random purchase couple of years ago.

Story: Finally I rushed to the mustard fields.. eree.. feels good saying sarson ka kheth instead before they will be chopped off!!

My first sight of mustard fields was enroute Agra (see the then me 😎). I was amazed and felt very very Bollywood-ish driving past them in an old Maruti Omni van carefully steered by Rana Saab . My colleagues cum roomies and I made point to stop by and take pics there First, Taj Mahal comes next!

I was beginning to write few words today and the gel pen ink started drying up. Flip, flip, flip.. in the air. Gosh I freaked out. Exactly like how I would when I accidentally flipped an ink pen without a cap and terrified it might spill on my answer sheet, my uniform,  the desk or worst of all my Classmate's shirt! The one sitting ahead of me. I paused. Nah! That ain't happening today. That was twenty or so years ago!!! Sigh! The boys used to play ink holi too! Gosh, those days the good old Surf Excel 'daag ache hain..' wasn't there too! I don't know if the popularly used Rin soap of my time was any good unless the shirts were beaten brutally on the washstone on the backyard!
Ink-ed shirts end you up in defaulters' line :( much like the poorly polished white canvas shoes from Bata.

A good Sunday is one when you get up wash your shoes, dry them by noon, polish and by evening you dust off the extra whites and be ready for Monday stick, span! Chammak challo!

An ok Sunday was one when you forgot to wash shoes (or were too lazy) and afternoon squeaked clean just the rubber sole part with an old toothbrush, polished the canvas and by evening somehow managed to make shoes look ok.

A terrible Sunday is one when neither you washed shoes nor some but blatantly applied polish on the brown sole.. poorly covering it in patches and somehow manage to escape the defaulter line

A "totally gone case" Sunday is when you forget all about shoes amidst chandrakantha, Mahabharata, national matinee movie,  regional weekly movie, super hit muquabla.. and Monday morning outside the school gate you borrow broken chalk pieces to bring some sense to your shoes hoping to escape the defaulter line.  Goodluck with that@!@

Hair, Uniform defaulters... another day. If you are lucky to have black shoes for uniform, argh you don't get this pain!! May Lord Almighty bless you with white canvas shoes for uniform next birth!

For now no faults,  no defaulters!!
Only mantra - keep calm and sari-choli on!!!
#sanskritikolkatta

87/100 #100CholiCraze #debsaristories #iworkedout #100sareepact

Saree: White linen saree, amazing quality, amazing craft. Choli: it's Gamcha Time! From @Mohar

Story: the bright magenta reminded me of the school book binding. This time usually is when we would poay money to get new book set.  Siri and I always insisted on getting them early.. lovely smell of the new books. Brown sheets. Geometry box. We would go home and count "motta page" meaning empty ruled pages in our single or double ruled notebooks.

Amma would ready the textbooks to send to the binding shop. Wow! That was a privilege, not many families would do but amma was particular about such things! The magenta bound book always was a special one.. if we are lucky. 🌺

Notebooks were a different story.  Nanna had taught us very specifically, technically to cut and do the brown sheets. It had to be nearly perfect. The left out triangle pieces of brown paper from the corners show how how skilled you are ☻

I still do notebook covers the same way. Habits! I don't think kids these days have to deal with such things anymore.  My kid doesn't have a lot of notebooks as such yet, they deal with machines and there is no color binding or brown sheets involved😎😎.

The new book set tied in "purucose" rope string (God, how do we even spell it????) Also makes miss the news paper packing of groceries. Talk about reuse and resources.  Sometimes I used to get the privilege of checking the grocery  list delivered in the verandah from the local kirana shop. Obvious ones like toothpaste, oil are easy, the paper wrapped lentils are tricky. You need to be like an expert gynaec feeling the baby in tummy to feel the exact dal in paper. If you failed then you poke a hole with finger asnd drrrrrr pours the daal out. No plastic no waste, no carry bags nothing. The paper would be recycled or sold eitherr for cash or for steel samaan that Amma had been collecting for years for my and Siris marriage! Her favorite was collecting the "Amitabh Bachhan" steel dabbas. She still has a collection. 😄

Phew! That was lengthy story, but blame the magenta,not me!

86/100 #100CholiCraze #debsaristories #iworkedout #100sareepact


Saree: georgette bandhani,  Choli: of course it's a gota patti kurti today!

Story: there is definitely something wrong in the way my brain is wired 😉. I walk four steps straight and then take a detour! Here I go to team up kurti with Saree! Lo kar lo baat. I can hear Mr. Mashoor Gulati (pls Google) saying "aisa kaun karta hai bhai" 🤣🤣🤣

Mein karti hoon!

Speaking of Google I am sure i confused YouTube to it's limits. When I started the car the first song from YouTube autoplay was "Srirasthu subhamasthu" (Rajendra Prasad old movie.. title song) the next one autoplayed.. "Malarodu malaringu.." (Bombay movie. Tamizh song). Next it played "Dhunuchi naach 2016" (Bengali durga poujo pujo music).. then "Made in India " (By the pop queen Alisha Chinai..)

I think that was pretty round trip across the country and ended with the right spirit and right song!!! 😍

Do you remember those childhood days when new clothes are a privilege for once or twice a year? In my case it's during birthday,  Diwali and of course if I outgrew school uniform then a mid June uniform shopping! That's it. Wasn't that simple? Did not it feel more valuable?

I was thinking about it and more and more it leads to decide that perhaps I should resolve to good old olden days from next year on! We buy too many and wear too frequently.  Nothing wrong about it (thankful to the almighty for his generous abundance) . It's tough for me even as I think so because I am fabric lover, it's my breath,  it's gonna be tough...but it leads to think.perhaps I should be more giving and more caring? Too many consulted emotions at this time.. so need to wait to let muddy waters settle in my head and heart. But I sure do believe my next year will begin to be different than this in this aspect. What it will be, I will share with you of course as I figure it out ! But till then #keepcalmandsarion


Love all

85/100 #100CholiCraze #debsaristories  #100sareepact

Saree: gamcha checks.. an unusual seven color combo, Choli:  finally a successful faux halter neck that I was searching from ages, both from Mohar

My humble thanks to the hands that wove seven different color threads into small checks for the saree!! 🙏🙏🙏

Story: after few crazy weeks got a unusual opportunity to connect back with myself. Spent the day at home, made quinoa dosa and araichu vitta sambar.  Ma and I relished or rather gobbled it with yummy pudhina chutney and garlic pickle. Washed it with strong filter coffee. BURP! BLISS!

I wanted to enjoy the moment and couldn't wait from the time I received the gamcha saree (yesterday!) Its like kid waiting for dawn to burst fire crackers for Diwali. It's like kid waiting for cake and balloons for birthday. It's like unable to resist the new geometry pencil box!!

As I was draping the Saree,ma and I were recollecting that today's weather was perfect for a pujo pandal visit,  the saree was perfect for a shasthi arati

Its my wish to visit Secunderabad and Hyderabad pujo pandal once again to be around the familiar faces (known and unknown) that smile or greet, the familiar smell and food, those stalls, those mashis and the adda sitting around the shamiana.. the chaa. Ah!

one thing lead to the other.. and ma got the shantiniketan beads garland to match the saree... I did end up dressing like I am going to pujo pandal 🤗🤗

Sometimes it's hard to believe and accept that the roads once crossed are those we wish could go back but cannot! We don't realize that until much later!

Nevermind! No day is lesser for a celebration! No moment is dull, life is just as colorful as the gamcha checks

I took the moment to enjoy my chaa outside amidst birds chatting with one another, branches swaying to the gentle breeze, and at one moment ma, baba and I were conincidentally quiet as though relishing the beauty gifted by Nature.