PREETO’S PHULKARI

Description

The story of Preeto’s Phulkari is the story of the happiness and the hazards, of the ecstasy and the terror, that a Punjabi girl is confronted with throughout her life. Phulkari is the auspicious, sacred head cover embroidered in ref, gold, green or blue by the village girl for her marriage, for the happy occasion of the birth of her son, and for the last most important event of a golden death in ripe age when she leaves the stage after a life of fulfilment and peaceful transfer of all the expectations, hopes and achievements that has been her lot during her earthly years. Every stitch and every colour of this Phulkari is culturally significant. The forms of sparrows, pigeons, peacocks, crows, parrots, tigers or elephants are semiological forms and present a conceptual network of metaphysical beliefs and precautions that are necessary for her to plod through the vicissitudes of social complexities. Let us begin with her marriage!