Crop tops and Saree : a combo made in heaven

A movie date happened almost after six long months. I wanted to wear a saree, but since I’m not a regular saree wearer so apart from some basic colors I don’t have much variety in blouses. Though mix and match are so in fashion now a days, but I couldn’t find anything that could go well with this cotton appliquéd saree.

Then I gave this denim crop top a try and ta da!! I was happy with the way it came out!

Next struggle was with the drape. Opened Pinterest, tried some uncommon drapes but failed to pull off any of them and finally settled in the comfortable seedha pallu drape.

Neevi and seedha pallu are the two drapes that can let me be in my comfort zone, never tries to pull my attention from other things towards them.

P. S the AI cameras on the mobiles now a days have a tendency to whiten every object clicked in auto mode. I hate how it made my denim top look so pale😐

Saraswati puja: Bengali’s valentines day

Saraswati pujo or vasant panchami is celebrated in a grand manner in Bengal. Near any school or college you can find the flock of young girls draped in beautiful sarees and boys in punjabi. This day is said of be Bengali’s valentines day, a day for the young couples hopping pandals holding hands and those who couldn’t gather courage to express their love, wait for saraswati Puja to express their feelings.

For the past twenty years, on saraswati puja it’s been mandatory to meet school friends, visit school and have the delicious ” bhoger Khichuri ” and I’m happy that this year was no exception.

On the day of the puja, we strictly eat veg dishes and cooking for the day after is also done on that day. On the following day there’s a ritual named “Shitol Shoshthi” to eat the cold foods cooked on previous day .

“Gota Seddo” is a mandatory dish for saraswati Puja, the daal and veggies like potato, spinach, pointed gourd, eggplant, peas, beans, spinach are pressure cooked and then served with green chilies and mustard oil drizzled on it. It’s said to prevent chicken pox which is a common disease affects in this season.

Wore a red printed silk saree which is a gift from my cousin’s MIL.

Hello sweater weather!

Embracing last few days of winter, snuggling under my blanket with a cup of hot coffee. As winter has already started biding us adieu, dread for summer begins. I’m allergic to sun rays, and Kolkata’s summer forces me to be confined indoors mostly. But winter has always been gracious to me. Crisp air, soothing sun, bonfires, Christmas, new year’s eve and what not to love about winter!

Those beautiful nostalgic memories of winter noons, lying on grandma’s lap, as she peeled the oranges and fed me one by one, told fairy tales and dreadful stories of dacoits that gave goosebumpy feelings! That mandatory Christmas cake from Nahoum’s. Waiting for sankranti, to relish lip smacking foods. Planning short trips, roaming around the streets of Kolkata, doing breakfast with warm chai and bread omelette from roadside stalls. Visiting Kolkata literary meet, Book Fair and other trade exhibitions.

Sharing pictures of a local handloom fair visit. Wearing a butter soft South cotton saree, these are woven in power looms, in Banahatti of North Karnataka.

As sweaters mostly keep the saree in hiding, so I tried the seedha pallu drape.

Mom’s wardrobe always comes as a savior

Before durga puja(the biggest festival for bengalis) the mandatory wardrobe cleaning session was going on to give the sarees some fresh air. Maa asked for my help, I joined her reluctantly. Who knew that a hidden treasure was waiting for me!

I found this saree at the bottom row of the wardrobe, it was a love at first sight. when I asked mom about it . She said she had purchased this muslin jamdani before her marriage from a khadi bhavan. She hasn’t worn it in the last 15 years .

Though I’m an absolute novice at identifying different weaves but it took me no time to realise that it’s a real one and this kinda motifs on jamdanis are rare now a days and it’s hard to find the authentic ones at Kolkata as the fake and cheap jamdanis are ruling the market.

Original dhakai jamdanis that were woven before the British came in the ruling, were said to be fitted in a small matchbox only! Now you can’t expect that level of intricacy but still the original ones bearing the GI tags considered as heirloom.

The authentic handwoven jamdanis aren’t going to be cheap, the cotton handwoven ones ranges around 5k-20k(it can go even higher) and one easy way to differentiate between the handwoven and machine wovens is to check the reverse side of the saree, the reverse side will almost be a mirror image of front side, and if you try to pull the threads, no threads should come out of it.

Mine is a feather light jamdani with handwoven motifs. Some sarees never really get old nah? They just age gracefully 😊