Turned 55 in a Moirangphee & a Kanchi Silk

I turned 55 on April 6th as per the Julian calendar and as per our Hindu calendar, I turned 55 on March 30th. I celebrated both the birthdays because it meant wearing two new sarees !! Couldn’t pass up that kind of opportunity. I will continue to do the same for Krishnan’s birthday as well – wear a new saree on his Hindu birthday and as per the Julian calendar :):).

March 30, 2024 – my Hindu Birthday

I wore a lavender Moirangphee cotton saree that I bought from Manipuri Handloom. These Moirangphee cotton sarees are amazing to wear in any weather but especially in summers. The saree doesn’t crinkle and can be worn the whole day. They also can be washed at home easily as the colours don’t run.

You get both soft cotton and slightly rough/starched cotton. Both drape really well.

About Moirangphee Sarees

Moirangphee sarees are handwoven cotton or silk sarees with a specific design called “MoirangPheejin,” which is woven sequentially on both longitudinal edges of the fabric. The design is oriented towards the center of the cloth, creating a distinctive pattern that sets these sarees apart.

Moirangphee sarees originated in the Moirang village in Manipur but are now woven throughout the state. These sarees have been registered for protection under the Geographical indication of the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, which recognizes their unique cultural and traditional significance.

April 6, 2024 – my Julian Calendar Birthday

For this birthday I wore a Kanchi Silk Saree, one of Gopinath’s creations – a beautiful pastel green colour saree that Krishnan insisted that I buy. We had visited Gopinath at his home on Feb 6th and we did buy sarees besides eating the amazing food that Gopinath’s mother served.

Just that day, there was no electricity and we ended up taking the sarees out into the sunlight to check the colour :). Ofcourse not having the fan overhead didn’t dampen my enthusiasm for checking out the sarees … each one was better than the other !

This saree has the mythical “Yazhi” on the Pallu. Because of the lighting, the colour of the saree has not been captured well in the photographs below –

This is made with silk threads and not zari. I am not very fond of zari because it makes the saree a little more festive and not everyday wear.

Temple Visit

On April 6th, we had our early dinner at Hotel Saravana Bhavan on Janpath, C.P. They don’t have the first floor anymore, it’s just the ground floor, but the seating capacity has been increased. For a change, the food was excellent, reminding us of the good old days !

From there we went to the Tirupati Balaji Mandir, near Gol Dakh Khana.

Strangely enough, the Panditji asked us to check with the security guard if we could do a “archanai”… anyway, we could get Balaji’s blessings without anyone pushing us around as the temple was sparsely populated. I was a little miffed because we didn’t get the feeling of being in a South Indian temple.

As we were returning, I suddenly wanted to visit the Kamakshi Amman Temple in the Qutab Institutional Area. This was a small temple when I had stayed at the USO house, during my Faculty Development Program with NIIT, way back in 1989. I would visit this temple almost everyday, Kamakshi Amman’s vigraha was very powerful.

We asked our cab driver to take us there and what a beautiful darshan !! Kamakshi Amman also gave us Prasadam – our favourite Puliyodharai and the Panditji was truly wonderful. He did the archanai and I was so happy.

This temple was setup by Mahaperiyava and maybe that’s what attracts me here. I hope to visit more often …

For my Hindu (real) birthday, we had watched Swantantrya Veer Savarkar at the theatre and Rajesh and Seema had come home to celebrate with us. What more can I wish for ?

For my calendar birthday, Balaji played his tricks but still gave darshan, and my mother Kamakshi not only gave darshan but also fed us. Again, what more can one wish for ?

Thrilled to be 55 …. looking forward to new adventures and lots of fun. 🙂

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