Heartiest greetings of Bijoya Dashami and Dussera to everyone who's celebrating the auspicious festival. In bengali mythology Bijoya Dashami marks the last  day of magnanimous Durga Puja celebration, Ma Durga's win over Mahisasur and the triumph of good over evil. Its the send off day when we our daughter Uma returns from her maiden home to be with husband Shiva. As we bid farewell, we wish her happiness by smearing sindoor or vermillon, feeding her sweet and water and wiping her face with our anchal. Its such a beautiful tradition where the Goddess is our daughter and we happily dance and celebrate her farewell to wait for another year for her homecoming.

Sindoor khela is thus a beautiful tradition where ladies of all cast, creed, color bond with each other in a festive mood and smear vermilion on each other. Here's a sneak peak into ours at Washington Kali Temple this evening. Although it is a Prabashi Pujo we try our best to stay close to our roots thus all the rituals are carried with utmost sincerity and excitement. 

 Outfit details

I tried to keep it as simple and traditional as I could. Paired my mother's red and white dhakai jamdani with this kantha frilled blouse and gold jewelries. There's nothing much to this look except very simple makeup with a big red bindi or tip which is quintessentially BONG.

Lots of Best Wishes from our home to yours and may Ma Durga bless with all her blessings and liht up your lives with happiness, smiles, dreams and hopes

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India is known for its marvelous legacy of a variety of heritages and cultures that have resulted in countless traditional crafts and art forms in each and every nook and corner of this massive country. It has put forward the finest collection of silk, handloom saris that are accessible in an extensive assortment of colors and prints, appropriate for festivals and any special occasions. Among many arts that have put Bengal (including East and West) in the world map of excellence, predominant is Muslin Saree. The beautiful handwoven sarees are known for the unique and intricate design and craftsmanship. The palette of colors and broad range that these Saris employ are the ultimate testaments to their mesmerizing allure and power.  These sarees are absolutely perfect to flaunt on any festive, wedding ceremony or even traditional celebratory occasion. 

The Saree of the Day

This particular Muslin saree is very special weave. It is out of the box and doesn't have the usual floral weave. Rather its based on a famous Sukumar Ray poem starting as "Bidye Bojhai Babumoshai". The words of the poem are literally woven in Bengali script in the pallu and the whole story is pictorially told throughout the body. Thus it has motifs of trees, river, boat, sailor and passenger, birds etc.The intricate weave and the storytelling through the six yards is jaw-dropping. I can't imagine how strenuous the process has been to weave those minute details in the saree. It was a last minute buy and was shipped to me couple of days before the Durga Puja from a well known Kolkata based boutique named Anchal. I was obsessed the minute i saw a show of theirs on TV and called them right away to ship it to me. 

The day I got the saree I was confused on how to style it as the saree itself has got a lot of personality and I didn't want to distract the limelight it deserves. Thus opted for a tone on tone green blouse instead of the contrast yellow. The blouse which perfectly matched was an old one with the widest back and uplifted the style quotient of the traditional saree. 

Now for accessories, wanted to intensify the earthy look with dual silver and gold tones. So I paired it up with my most favorite mango necklace and giant ear stud and stacked a lot of bangles of silver and matte gold tones. Sanchita suggested a flower for te special occasion and thus it was added to the hair. Had my go to kohl eyes with maroon lipstick and big green bindi or tip to complete the whole look. 

Tips on Buying and Wearing Handwoven Muslin

• The fineness of the fabric and the intricacies of the woven patterns determine the final price of a muslin saree, which can vary from six thousand rupees to over a lakh (about USD 100 to over 1500). Beware of powerloom or semi-muslins being sold as genuine handwoven one.
• Don't forget to properly put fall and pico in your saree. The fabric is delicate and should be used with care
• Keep draping it often or at least re-fold it often so that they don't tear along the folds.
• Avoid home cleaning and always dry clean your muslins if at all necessary. 

Outfit Details

Saree: Anchal Boutique, Kolkata, India

Jewelry: Gariahat Hawkers Market, Kolkata, India

Potli Bag: Gift from dear brother from Hyderabad

Fake Flower: Dollar Tree

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Hey Ma Durga grant us the beauty of yours....the beauty of your soul with which we can purify ours, overcome darkness and negativity. Hey Ma, make our heart so pious that we can see the goodness in people around us and not surrender to age old norms of judgement. Lets all pray to Ma Durga not for fair skin, sharp features or good height but a beauteous mind which can embrace every one with love.

 I sometimes wonder how one festival can bring so much excitement and joy to so many people's lives. But there are several families who might not able to celebrate as us, so lets me empathetic towards them and be mindful of their reasons. Have a blessed Navratri and Shubho Sharodiya from the team of Bong Mania Overloaded.

Outfit of the Day

As we Bengalis save ur new clothes for Durga Puja, so did I. This gorgeous peachy orange pure Chanderi Silk saree was send by Ma Baba from Kolkata. The color is very soothing and has antique gold pearl drop motif weaved all over its body. This saree reminded me of my childhood. Have seen my Ma and Dida dressing up in soft sober sarees for the morning pushpanjali in the local pandal. Just wee bit kajal, light gold jewelries, talcum powder and a tip or bindi. They never experimented as we do but their fashion was and is timeless as they didn't try hard to be trendy. As I felt the soft chanderi silk in hand all I wanted was to have a very pleasant and traditional look with a very classic softness to it.

The saree came with a contrast blue blouse which would have made the look more bright. SO I toned it down with a bird motif off white blouse. The birds on the blouse has been hand embroidered by me inspired by a Sabyasachi label blouse 😀😀😀😀. As I mentioned before I wanted a very classic soft look. So opted for kaan pasha or over sized studs, a simple gold moff chain. chur and an over sized ring. My go to kajal smokey eyes and peachy lips with a small tip or bindi was all I needed to complete the look.
Please scroll down for details on the outfit.

Outfit Details

Saree: Adi Dhakeshwari Bastralaya, Triangular Park, Kolkata

Blouse: Self Embroidered on a plain silk blouse

Earrings and ring: Amazon link here

Chur or Bangle: Chique Fashion, South City Mall, Kolkata

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If you are still in awe with our first Durga Puja Look we styled in last post  lets bring on yet again another favorite of ours. For the mornings when you walk down to the pandals for a pushpanjali or the evenings you want to sit and enjoy the arati and sit for hours in adda with friends....the most classic, and stylish version of yourself. Bangali and Bangali's Durga Puja are incomplete without a silk and a dhakai. As we have already styled a traditional silk in our previous post its turn for the Dhakai now.

Draping the most gorgeous and traditional Dhakai Jamdani available in the market. It has the age old saw or korat motif weaved very densely all over the body. The color is most unusual...a wine or a garnet shade with bright orange work and golden zari meenakari on it. On my customary trip to Sriniketan , saw this saree draped on a mannequin in the front door and I JUST HAD TO BUY IT. They didn't have a second piece so I had to rob off the saree from the mannequin.

Now comes the most interesting part of the look, the contrast olive green blouse. Those who have previously read my posts know that  I love experimenting with mismatch blouses but this blouse was a find for me.There are flood of blouses with back embroideries in the market now, but this stroked an odd chord with me. I saw this blouse with back embroidery resembling the poster of the classic Satyajit Ray movie Charulata on a Facebook owners profile and again JUST HAD TO BUY IT. I have been an eternal fan of Ray's Charulata, The intelligent, sensitive and strong character of Charulata fascinates me everytime. Her discovery of herself and her emotional turmoil is ever so relevant. Thus this blouse holds a special place in my wardrobe now. Matched this with this favorite Jamdani of mine.

 

I kept the look very easy-to-go with light makeup, a small bindi and silver jhumkas. Its comfortable and wearable for long hours of addas with friends. If you wish you can glam up a little more with flowers in your hair and a heavy silver neck-piece. 

Its one of our favorite looks this season. If you like the post please do like, comment and share it. Your words of encouragement keeps us going. Please do follow us on  Facebook and Instagram for latest updates on the blog.

Come the first few weeks of September, the heart of a Bong thumps faster, it is nothing but in anticipation of homecoming of goddess Durga – that is Durga Puja. It won’t be entirely an exaggeration to say that Bengalis world over spend a significant amount of their time planning and deciding what to wear during the Durga Pujas. Most of them wear multiple sets of clothes – mind you, there’s a morning outfit and an evening outfit, plus emergency backup outfits😄😄😄. Like every year we have dedicated a special series to the Durga Puja Lookbook that will tell you in great details which avatar you should put on yourself this Navratri.  These three looks that we have conceptualized, styled and donned will inspire you how to style yourself on Shaptami,  Ashtami and finally on the Navami. So make sure you are subscribing to this blog so as not to miss the Durga Puja Lookbook blogposts which will be published one after another all throughout following weeks.

The first look of the series is all traditional in the classic color combination of yellow and red. Its a rich swarnachuri saree that has been a priceless addition to my closet. The border and the anchal has intricately woven motifs of a dancer with meenakari work along with peacock motif buta in the body. Its absolutely mind blowing master piece.

I got hold of this stunning Benarasi fabric last winter from Heritage Shop in City Center II, Kolkata and immediately thought it to be the perfect match with this swarnachuri saree. The saree has its own red plain blouse with the border woven on the sleeves. But I thought a more rich blouse would look more gorgeous given the saree only has lighter work in the body. Thus you can completely mix and match different blouse options with your traditional saree to make it suit the time and ambiance you're wearing it in.  

As for the accessories, the mango yellow color of the saree was screaming for some marigold in the hair. I loosely tied my tresses in a messy bun and styled them with some strings of marigold. Thus it was effortless and yet oozing out glamour. The plan was to have a quintessential traditional look thus there can be no alternative to gold jewelry. Kept it light with a sleek gold bib necklace. Lastly the big red tip or bindi and kohl eyes did the final magic with this whole look.

I hope you found some inspiration on how to drape your timeless traditional weaves and be the starlet of the Puja. Your purchase may provide bread and butter for the extraordinary weavers who create such art with fabric. So this season go traditional and empower our own classic sarees.

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What I wore:
Saree: Adi Mohini Mohan Kanjilal, College Street, Kolkata, India
Blouse: Heritage, City Center II, Kolkata 

Jewelry: Rupashree Jewellers , Kolkata

Styling  and Makeup yours truely Sanchita