For Mogan Rodrigues, preserving his East Indian culture is an urgent priority. “There are many aspects of it that are unknown,” rues the city-based travel guide, “not only to people outside the city but also within it”. While he generally dabbles with food and culture in his walking tours, a meeting with textile heritage expert Savita Suri just before the pandemic last year shifted that focus. In their conversation, Suri pointed out the similarities between the Goan kunbi sari, which she had revived not long ago, and the East Indian lugra, which has been disappearing from wardrobes and memories in the last 50 years.

Indeed, Rodrigues realised there was a dearth of places that still made the traditional garment, known as lugra in the East Indian Marathi dialect, or lugda in Marathi. This nine-yard or ten-yard sari, usually made from red or green silk cotton, once held special significance in the marriages of his community, whose people are considered as one of the original inhabitants of Mumbai. It was gifted by the groom and worn by the bride the day after her wedding in a ceremony called ‘Pathpathkar’ or ‘Passpaatni’, when her family and relatives would come to take her back to her father’s house. Western-style gowns or the commonly-available ‘sara’ (an East Indian version of the Maharashtrian shalu sari) came to be used instead. As it happens, the lugra is found in few homes anymore, preserved by some mothers or grandmothers.