My parents were married in 1930. My father’s side led an extreme nationalistic Bharatiya (Indian) and Gandhian lifestyle. My mother’s side was patriotic, but my maternal grandfather was the Diwan of Gondal — for them, Gandhian thinking and lifestyle disrupted the Maharajas and British.
My paternal grandfather, Nautamlal B Mehta, told my maternal grandfather, Govindjibhai Kamdar (Parekh), explicitly that Sharda (my mother): in our home, your daughter will only wear khadi (handspun cotton) to which my maternal grandfather very happily agreed.
However, my mother was very uncomfortable. She begged her mother and said: “Ba hu laakdi jevi chhu, aa bhare khadi no sadla pehri ne hu ubhi pan nahi thau” (translation: I am very slim. How would I handle such a heavy khadi sari? I will not be able to stand.) My maternal grandmother communicated through my maternal grandfather to my paternal grandfather about my mother’s problem. My paternal grandfather was happy to help her. He arranged for a few khadi silk weavers from Andhra Pradesh to come to Jetpur and they weaved all her saris in a lightweight khadi silk (for some, wearing a khadi sari is like draping 6 years of denim around you).