Down Memory Lane
My mother found it very difficult to wrap her mind around my later day dressing sense, especially cotton clothes. In the Ahmedabad where I have lived for over four decades, cotton is the norm, summer and winter – just thinner or thicker. And Ma lived her life in silks, satins, chiffons, crepe d’chines and velvets. As a pampered daughter of an importer/exporter of fine fabrics and accessories from all over the Far East and Europe, I too had grown up in the finest of clothes. Until Ahmedabad taught me the value of cottons to cope with hot weather. The varieties seemingly endless and the comfort so endearing. Besides I ran an outfit that tailored everything for a handloom and handicraft organization, Gurjari ….. How could I possibly wear anything but cottons? The wonder of block prints, with vegetable dyes taking on so many different hues, different for each village with its own soil and water chemistr...