Happy 75th India's independence Day!

      

                    

 Jai Hind ..    yes, even though my karam bhoomi is Chicago I am a proud Indian at heart and no one can take that away from me 

Felt great to be featured in Chicago Tribune.. :-) 

How many times have you faced this challenge if you are an Indian living overseas.. does that even make sense when people judge you for being away from your motherland and question your Indian-ness or your American-ness for that matter.. my response : ignore those trolls and just take pride in our origin  our values and our invaluable connection  At the same time we are in this land of dreams and salute to all the good things that this country has given us, there is so much to learn here,  one imp thing that I believe in is to "Be true to yourself " rest will follow..

This day comes a day after my birthday and during school days I always thought why was I not born a day late .. little did I know that is not in the hands of my mom ..So yes, after celebrating my birthday yesterday super tiered and all exhausted in the Chicago downtown for a good 10+ hrs of non stop fun.. ( thx hubby for planning my special day !!! You scored a ) I was like I will just celebrate India’s Independence Day from home this day ..

And then comes my saree speak friend Tannavi’s message that she is heading to our neighborhood India day celebrations .. and my antennas went up.. just got hold of the nearest saree in my closet that reflected India’s rangeela spirit and here I was enjoying every moment of it 

A chiffon tie and dye saree with gota embroidery patchwork and beautiful border of brockade, this is my repeat saree but looks brand new and so apt for today !! 

 met so many of my fellow Indians and got such good compliments for my look and my saree..

                              JAI HIND !!

                       

Old is GOLD.....

 

#sarees

This saree is 20+ yrs old one of my favorite sasuraal ki sarees that I treasure till date .. and I am in love with this color .. and the work it has is just amazing .. a fine georgette saree with beads & chamkila sitara work

Per me : Old is gold .. my love for old films, old music, old sarees.. huh.. so many new sarees in my closet but I chose to wear this for a house warming ceremony of my dear friend .. all of us in sarees and also represented the various bright and vibrant colors of Chicago summer !!

do see me doing my bit trying to sing along on my fav #madhuri song of #Sajaan.. my ever green ( now old ) movie per my daughter

Friends who are my lifelines here in my home away from home .. in these COVID times we have almost met everyday for evening tea .. socially distanced, Masks on, vaccines together ... whatever was the need we took precautions and have maintained our sanity !!!

with Yogita, Raji, Meenakshi, Richa, Shweta and Sangeeta and my dear sis in law and her cutie pie Nishika.

Saree speak Birthday with my Saree Sakhis ( April 14th)

 When it’s saree speak birthday how can I not celebrate ..

Very last minute .. but worth it .. every minute .. every second ..

Tannavi Jaiswal’s awesome yummy cake

Avani Deshpande’s gudi padwa special food

My sis in law Swati Sharma witnesses yet again our craze for sarees and thinks that we are a pretty awesome bunch of mad saree lovers to pose in the barfile hawayye .. outdoors .. With dearest Ninette Helsaba Ninette Helsaba Abraham and my life line Rajeshwari Ganesh

These are some of my Chicago favs and my pillars of strength.. I can very much be myself and love and long for spending good times and capturing moments with them

Friends are indeed your much needed therapy in life

In a multicolored silk saree sent by mom in law .. I had kept it aside to wear for holi Milan but could not .. so a very apt moment to wear this new saree for SS 5th birthday !!

Tried a new look with a denim jacket and saree too... :-)

Bura na Mano Holi hai!!!

 This day is dedicated to colors.. colors that make our life worthwhile.. they add the needed dimension to our outlook and mostly drive at least my mood and behavior

( hint hint .. !!) I am known for my love of bright colors .. wonder how my closet looks like?

My sis-in-law is visiting us from Mumbai and it’s been great celebrations with all the delicious holi ke pakwan ( pics below ) and fun and masti. She is indeed my friend and more like a sister .. that is the kind is relationship we share

Celebrated the day today with quality time with my soulmate Rajeshwari Ganesh and sis-in-law Swati Sharma

SOTD : A beautiful georgette with dual colors of black: a culmination of all colors and earthy green with beautiful maroon embroidery .. I kind of stole it from my dear friend who I share my first name with .. Pallavi Revanna .. loved this saree sooo much when I saw it in her closet !!

Bahut maza aaya .. the colors and sareeying and the chai nasta and photography .. && some us time .. aur kya chaiye !! I hope my sis-in-law also shares her first post here .. thoda influence to banta hai .. and so does raji.. I took some good solos of them .. in the Chicago ka बर्फीली ठंडी तूफ़ानी हवायें .. lend my saree, blouse & jewelry with her !

Believe me there were like more than 100 pics in an hour .. and my sis in law was amazed and did a शत शत नमन तो our dedication of sarees

Enjoyed thoroughly making this video too..