SARIS IN THE SUN

Malvika Singh is a cultural historian and publisher of Seminar magazine. Her recently published book, Saris of Memory, which includes the saris of Indira Gandhi, also covers over 40 years of relationships with master textile artists and patrons of modern India. Additionally, it's a window into her private domain.

- PARAMITA GHOSH

It is a sari bible. And in it has come together, several decades of Indian culture, power, personal and institutional memory. The different sections of Malvika Singh's recently published book, Saris of Memory (NFW Productions), are separated, not into chapters, but by memories that keep circling back to what can be called her three 'churches'.

The first is Pupul Jayakar, her mentor, who set the course for the preservation of handmade traditional skills, and the restoration and revival of India's multiple handloom techniques after Independence. Second, Indira Gandhi, who had an undeniable presence as the first woman prime minister of India, and who wore only handwoven saris, putting them on the fashion map of the world by making them a power-dress for political rallies, formal meetings with heads of state, and while presiding over a cabinet in which men were predominant. "She showed us we could take on the world in a sari. She set the trend for women of my generation," says Singh.

And third, of course, is the indelible impact of her parents, Raj and Romesh Thapar, journalists and activists, co-founders of the influential Seminar magazine, one of India's first print platforms, which, through its pages, carried on conversations on culture, politics and ideas. Navigating through their bohemian milieu and beyond, Singh had access to important networks, the best minds and practitioners of the arts of her time. (Do not miss catching a very young Romila Thapar, her aunt and eminent historian of ancient India, in a striped sari among the family photographs in the book.) Singh herself became a key figure in many institutions that were to direct and define India's post-Independence culture. And she wore a sari every day to work; in the book there is a picture of her atop her desk at the India Magazine office, wearing one as she contemplates "her next move".