Nirmala Sitharaman's rusty brown sari and its deeper meaning, according to ANI

The union budget. That time of year when there's a nip in the air and media houses scramble to come up with new ways to say "people's budget" while also parsing the finance minister's sartorial choices for hidden meaning.

Yes, Nirmala Sitharaman's "rusty brown" sari combined red and brown which, as everyone knows, holds a "deeper significance". Brown is associated with "resilience, dependability, security and safety" while red indicates "warmth, love and power". Thus our budget is in safe hands.

Of course, these aren't our words, this is how ANI managed to break the monotony of its budget coverage. Times of India faithfully carried the ANI story, telling readers Sitharaman paired the sari "with a white shawl and white face mask" and "rounded up her look with a red bindi and tiny earrings...golden chain and bangles".

Hindustan Times joined the chorus with its own story on how the finance minister is known for her "elegant sartorial choices" and parroted the same truths on brown/resilience and red/power. Though it didn't credit ANI, HT also attempted to add more detail by explaining that the sari was six yards long.

Both reports included a short history of Sitharaman's saris on budget day, from her "pristine yellow-gold silk" sari in 2020 to a "crisp red-coloured saree with off-white detailing and gold border" in 2021. Economic Times really did its homework though, noting that Sitharaman wore a "warm pink-coloured Mangalgiri saree with gold borders" in 2019.

Others like News18, Zee News, Moneycontrol and Financial Express offered their own takes too.

Then again, as Vivek Kaul wrote for Newslaundry, we should remember that Sitharaman's budget speech this year lacked any points "that can be splashed by the media and can be developed into WhatsApp forwards". Read his analysis here.