Founder Viji Ganesh, tells us, “Deepavali and Children’s Day were on the same day this year. We decided to run a monthlong campaign that features women who are mothers and also celebrate their children through their eyes. In this campaign, women from different walks of life talk about motherhood, their association with sarees and so on. A mother will share her narrative of discovering her children.”

 Dancer Ramaa Bharadvaj, who participated in the campaign, spoke about her relationship with daughter Swetha Lakshmi Arbuckle. “Diaspora-Parenting! What myriad shades and hues it has spun into the mother- daughter rapport in my life. In the dual role of both a mother and dance-mentor, my relationship with my girl was never a simple, easy, or linear one. However, in watching her grow through this demanding complexity, I saw the unfolding of a life endowed with the richness of finding a healthy balance between two cultures and two careers. And from her, I learned what it is to hold aloft one’s personal dream while staying rooted in one’s ancestral tradition.

 Over the warp of the legacy that I passed on to her - of art and culture, faith and religion, food, and fabrics - she wove the weft of her vision for her life. This resplendent ‘fabric’ now became her own. It is by letting go and stepping back that I have learned to appreciate the many ways in which she drapes this ‘fabric’ to suit her individual lifestyle and that of her own family. Whenever I pick a saree to wear, this metaphor is evoked in my mind-screen, bringing me even closer towards understanding and accepting my daughter’s choices. I smile!”