Kailash Marwah Nayyar would have been a new bride in 1947, only two years having passed to her marriage, when the family had to flee to India. Over the next few months, she sold her luxurious wedding trousseau piece by piece to help the family survive. This necklace is the only item that remains from it.
The katha stitch is a type of embroidery style which developed predominantly in eastern regions of Undivided Bengal. The word kantha means quilt and nakshi means embroidery or design. So nakshi kantha was essentially a simple and thin quilt, made by stacking layers of old sarees and/ or dhotis together.
It is often the quietest, most commonplace objects that bear the loudest testimonies of their owners. And so it is with my grandfather. I have three of his wristwatches in my bedside drawer, the oldest one being a Titan Quartz with a gold dial with roman numerals and a small space at the bottom to indicate the date.
My mother, Kamla, got married in 1974, when she was sixteen years old, and at the time of parting, her mother, Rajkali Devi gave her daughter four things, one of which was this ornate silver sindoor dani in the shape of a kamla flower, the lotus.
These vintage dusting powder boxes have been in the family from around the 1940s when my maternal grandparents got married. They belonged to my grandmother, Bani Bhattacharya, who brought these from her maiden home in Maldah, West Bengal.
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