In the early 2000s, on my annual trip house to Bombay, my eldest sister Pritiben requested me whether or not I would really like to be a part of her in purchasing for saris. I fortunately agreed to go along with her pondering it will be a short go to to an air-conditioned sari store.
I had fond recollections of such outings as a baby. Air conditioners have been uncommon then and a few sari outlets have been the first to have them. I loved going with Pritiben to the Khatau and Binny shops and savored the cool air.
When we set out for this errand, Pritben stated we have been to go to close to Dadar Railway Station and stand on the pavement diagonally throughout from Waman Hari Pethe Jewellers, a landmark and historic retailer in Dadar. There have been slightly curious directions, I believed, however went alongside.
We bought to the spot and made certain that we have been standing diagonally throughout from Waman Hari Pethe Jewellers. We stood on the Bombay pavement in the midst of all the bustle, aromas, and colours t — from flowers being bought at a stall close by to pakoras and vadas being fried. Soon, our buddy Sita Setalvad joined us, hoping to get a sari for worth. However, we might see no sari store anyplace throughout the road.
Jagadha, the woman who owned the store, got here a couple of minutes later and we crossed the road collectively. She was the spouse of a civil servant and traveled throughout India as a consequence of her husband’s job. She had an curiosity in handlooms and had gotten to know the textiles of the areas she had lived in. By and by, she determined to strive to promote them to individuals she knew in Bombay. Over time, she developed, what individuals in India name, a ‘side business’.
We entered an previous multistory constructing that had a malodorous courtyard strewn with garbage. I sighed after I noticed that we had to climb a creaky staircase that I felt was a security danger. The three older ladies had already clambered up to the first flooring. We become a slender hall and got here to a room with a picket door and an enormous lock connected by a sequence to the prime of the door which Jagadha unlocked. The door opened to a room about 12 x 12 toes with metallic suitcases from flooring to ceiling with a small space at the opening to the room the place the 4 of us stood. There was a ladder for Jagadha to get to the suitcases at the prime. She started by hauling down certainly one of these and unlocking it. It was stuffed with cotton saris. My coronary heart sank as I noticed that, with Pritiben and Sita round, each single certainly one of these fifty suitcases can be opened systematically for every sari to be seen. Such a distinction to my thought of a reasonably fast go to to an air-conditioned retailer! We have been there for hours and regularly my irritation at the uncongenial environment lessened as I used to be captured by the magnificence and uniqueness of the saris from Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.
I purchased one sari that day which I nonetheless have and cherish. I wore this sari typically when working as a neurologist in Chicago, Augusta, and Oakland. For this specific sari, I might all the time obtain compliments from colleagues and different employees in these very totally different cities. The cotton, although thick, is gentle and comfy and a hanging mixture of colours. An uncommon sari shopping for journey 20 years in the past, however one which has endured in my reminiscence…
Bindu Desai is a retired neurologist who, in non-COVID instances, spends 4 months a yr in Mumbai.
