• Musings

    My pehli Diwali

    We were still in that awkward phase, where we weighed our words before we spoke to each other. You never knew what the reaction to them might be, and you tread gently, still discovering each other. Arranged…

  • Musings

    Death is real

    Sometimes words simply dry up. When life hands you one disaster after another. It is like being battered so badly that you don’t even bother with tears. You turn numb. The mind freezes. Logic flies out of…

  • Heritage,  Sarees

    My Saree Stories: Part 8

    It is festival time in India, and every week you have one celebration after the other. This is a good time for sarees to be aired. And no one minds if you choose to wear something over…

  • Art,  Heritage,  Sarees

    Sujani: Embroidery from Bihar

    One of the many diverse art forms that lie relatively undiscovered in Bihar is the Sujini or Sujani embroidery. The earliest known examples of Sujani embroidery date back to the mid 1920s. Women hand embroidered these masterpieces…

  • Heritage,  Sarees

    My Saree Stories: Part 7

    Part seven of the series contains some trivia about saree motifs from Kanchipuram, some more trivia about the weaving of mulmul, and an invaluable lesson from my Dad when I went saree shopping. Saree #61: A Kanchi…

  • Musings

    The Sa-Sha-Sh Conundrum

    I often wonder what makes parents decide the names of their children. Our parents named the three of us- Anshu, Manish and Ashish. Now there is nothing wrong with that. In fact when you say the names…

  • Heritage,  Sarees

    My Saree Stories: Part 6

    The saree obsession now takes greater heights. I had bought this black saree last year in November from a stall outside a conference in Nagpur. I wore it but for the life of me couldn’t remember what…