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I found this Kalamkari piece in a plastic bag stuffed with other bits and pieces of fabric in the inner recesses of my sister Yashodhara’s¹ cupboard. It was obviously a pallav piece that had seen better days, when it had been part of a saree. My sister Aparajita gasped when... -
Kantha is a kind of embroidery native to Bengal and is almost exclusively practised by women, many of them from home. It is a source of income for a lot of rural women who probably sell their exquisite craft to a middleman for a song, not knowing the astronomical price... -
I once went to interview Simi Garewal for a video film presentation on Subhash Ghai which I had been asked to make on the completion of 10 years of Ghai’s company Mukta Arts. Simi was gracious to a fault and went as far as to serve our crew delicious home-made... -
It’s not as though I was a great fan of Elton John, but 20 years ago, when I heard he was going to perform in Bangalore, I instantly decided to go for it. That wasn’t a time for online bookings so I had to request my friend Saras Karnad in... -
Could love be having to say you are a sari? It certainly could. This border belonged to a sari gifted to my sister Yashodhara¹ 35 years ago, on 4th September 1985 by Partha Biswas, Aditi Biswas’s husband. Our dear friend Maina Bhagat’s son Romil had come to stay with us in 1985... -
The original saree (header pic; on the extreme left) was a Garad saree from Bengal, worn traditionally by married women when performing a puja. It is made of pure silk and has the classic traditional red border. I guess it borders (no pun intended) on blasphemy to meddle with...