My Dadi Meenakshi Banerji was a short and tubby woman with great gumption who raised 10 citizens of the world. And she loved her saris—the daily cottons were in a cupboard while her silks were housed in a walk-in closet next to her pooja room. Even today, the smell of sandalwood, dhoop and agarbatti take me back to that room in my grandparents’ home in Meerut where, as a kid, I would watch my mother and her sisters haggle over the saris. Whenever I would admire one of her saris, she would promise to give it to me on my wedding day. Alas, Dadi didn’t live to see that day; she died when I was 10.

Years later, I would jump into my mother’s trunk brimming with silk inheritance and covet the treasure! I had to have this particular piece of gorgeousness when I heard my great grandfather Dr Monmotho Nath Mukherji, physician to the royal family of Narsinghgarh near Gwalior, wore this hand-woven tissue fabric as a safa (traditional headgear) for Dadi’s wedding.

All these years later, I still miss her presence. However, it is great to know that I can wrap myself—literally—in her love!

—Meghna Khanna Hoskote, 37, Bengaluru

Photo: Ida Hewett
Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
September 2017

• Legacy of love

• Crafted with devotion

• True love points North

• When time stands still

• Threads of memory

• Silver lining

• Sharing her ‘mettle’

• Pocketful of love

• The family jewel

• Katy and me

• The whole kit