A Kashmir shawl

    "Mair slid open the bottom drawer of the chest [...] When she folded back [the tissue paper] her first impression was of wonderful colours. Silvery blues and greens sprang at her, like a distillation of lake water and spring skies, with starbursts of lavender and vermilion flowers caught in the depths. She looked more closely and saw the intricacy of the woven pattern; the sumptuous curved teardrop shapes with curled tips, the ferny fronds and branched stems and tiny five-petalled flowers. [...] Mair shook out the layers of soft wool. It was so light that it seemed to float on the air."

    That's a passage from Rosie Thomas's new novel The Kashmir Shawl, and there's more on the book here, but when I read that scene I thought immediately of my Kashmir shawl (or scarf, to be exact, pictured here) which has seen better days but which must once have been as lovely as the one described.

    Mine was brought home from India at the end of the war by my uncle who was serving there with the Gurkhas. He gave it to my grandmother, and I don't know whether she ever wore it, but I remember it vividly from my childhood as, despite its being cashmere adorned with fine embroidery, it was used to wrap around throats or across chests - which had been liberally coated with VicksVaporub - whenever we had colds or flu! Frequent washing has seen its colours fade from the blues and greens I remember to the nacreous shades you can see today, and while for a long, long time I thought of it as just 'the Vick cloth', now I can admire and appreciate it for what it really is.

Comments

[Ruth M.]

But all the richer, somehow, to use such a beautiful thing, and the memories woven in surely make up for some fading...

[Francesca]

It looks stunningly beautiful to me in its time-induced subtlety.

[Margaret Powling]

What a beautiful shawl that looks ... and I've the book in the TBR pile, yippee!

[Deirdre]

I'm reading your post from a long way away but I hope I can find this book on the way back home! Otherwise another book for my list! It sounds like one I will enjoy! Thanks.

[Shahzad]

Kashmir the Heaven on Earth, https://nothernarea.com/kashmir-the-heaven-on-earth/ Pakistan is such a delightful nation with everything that nature offers. It is honored with four diverse seasons in a year and each season accompanies its very own magnificence