The colour mauve was one of my mother's favourites.
Seeing various shades of mauve at the flower show this afternoon reminded me of some of her favourite sarees.
When I was a young child, nylon georgette was very exclusive.
Since we were living in London till the early sixties, we had access to Japanese synthetics- the good quality nylon georgettes had a code number- I think it was 644.
The first one that I remember had sprays of deep purple flowers along the lower half of the saree. The second one was sent to us later, when we had moved back to Delhi, and was mauve with a very fine print of deep purple half-circles, like protractors, with delicate traceries of whirls and whorls all through. I know she had many other sarees, but these two stand out in my memory, through most of my school and college years!
The third, the most formal of all, was a pure French chiffon, onto which my mother stitched a beautiful cream lace border. (Among other occasions, she also wore this for our wedding).
Mauve is not one of the colours I usually wear, but it never fails to remind me of my mother.
14 comments:
How beautiful Dipali. Your Mom looks so pretty, can imagine that color on her.
@Bong Mom: Thank you!
I loved the way you put the two pictures together. The mauve of the flower lent its color to the black and white photo. I could imagine the saris too. I loved the nylon saris my mother wore and the prints.
I can picture your mum in this mauve colour. Btw is this picture taken at your wedding? Is that Neera behind your mother? Your parents look lovely.
@Banno: Thanks! Yes, I remember some lovely saris that my mother wore, mostly nylons and silks, She didn'r wear very many cottons, though- she found them hard to maintain!
@Yasmeen: Yes, this was at my wedding, and yes, it is Neera. I remember you and I doing a lot of my trousseau shopping together!
Memories... made me think of my mother's sarees I remember from my childhood!!
@Indian Home Maker: These childhood memories are so deeply imprinted within us.....
Lovely post, Dipali. Nothing like beautiful memories from the past... especially if they are centred around your mother.
Whenever I think of her, I remember her in flower prints somehow.
@Mandira: It's almost two years now, since she left us, but there is a lifetime of memories that keep emerging!
@Sue: Yes, the last few years had her mostly in small floral prints on most of her housecoats. And many of her 'Daani chiffon' sarees had small floral prints. The mauve sarees are part of my childhood and youth!
Such a beautiful post, Dipali: I love the way you juxtaposed two photos and talk about the connection between them. I associate my mother with pink - that's the colour she wore most often when I was in school. I wonder why she doesn't wear the colour anymore. I must ask her.
Sumana
Thank you, Sumana. It is strange indeed what triggers off memories!
Loved this post! reminds me of the many sarees i associate my mom with, and specially the mood - i always associated an orange saree she wore with her being annoyed and a deep maroon one to her being very pretty and happy!
@smartassbride: Love your mood associations:) I wonder what the young Proton will associate with her mom!
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