In fashion or in life, it's often the go­spel truth: what go­es around… comes ar­ound. The lightweight polythene bag that we know today as the environmental scourge was patented in Sweden as recently as 1965. It makes you wonder then, what did the civilisation use roughly between 1965 and 2007 — when Anya Hindmarch fashionably rebranded the cloth bag bearing the words: "I'm Not A Plastic Bag" for a charity that aimed to reduce people's dependence on carrier bags.

Recyling-upcycling is a big deal now, but don't tell that to our mothers and grandmothers, and their reliable Singer sewing machines. Most of us who were raised in middle-class families in Maharashtra have fond memories of tagging along with our mothers on Sunday morning trips to the veggie market, not with plastic bags but kaapadchi pishvis (fabric bags). Based on a similar homegrown technique of making traditional patchwork quilts, these pishvis were stitched together from bits and bobs of leftover fabrics. They came in different shapes, sizes and designs, some with pockets and compartments, some a bottomless sack — all united by one practical purpose — to get the job done.