Indranila: Korvai Kanjeevaram, Reta Pett Border

They call me Indranila, a sapphire. I am blue and purple, mauve and indigo, all rolled into one. Small drops of gold buttis hang scattered across me, each one caught mid-fall. My border was woven apart from me and joined by hand, purple meeting blue at a seam neither of us remembers making. Peacocks and stripes take turns along that border, each row keeping its own rhythm. My pallu opens into a lattice so dense it becomes its own sky, diamonds within diamonds, a paisley edge holding the whole pattern in place. I carry a jewel's name because I was made like one, facet by facet, thread by thread.