WHAT IS THERE IN AN ATTIRE 

A handyman who helps me in more ways than one visited our house to do a specific job. During our usual exchange of pleasantries, he narrated an incident which is quite interesting and at the same time thought provoking. This incident is

 the source of inspiration in writing this.

It is said that all good things start from home. We always admire and remember our father with utmost respect not only for his deep love and affection towards his family, but  for his remarkable ability to excel in whatever he did, not to talk of his selfless service that earned him wide acceptance in the society. During our school days, he was very particular in making arrangements with the local tailor to stitch two pairs of school dress for his children, khaki shorts and blue shirts for boys and blue or green skirts with suspenders attached thereto for girls. At a time when there was no prevalence of the concept of uniforms for schools, the children from our family used to go to schools in their own 'uniforms'. Whenever one of us used to murmur that there were no good clothes to wear in functions like marriages and local festivals, he used to recite an oft quoted couplet, the meaning of which roughly runs thus: "Wearing coats and hats will not help you earn  respect from or acceptance with the gentlemen". At times representations made to our mother, who knew only to pour love and affections over her children seamlessly and in abundance, to give them good and dainty food and to pray for their well being and longevity, used to work wonders  In those days we were not able to appreciate the cash liquidity problem being faced by our father, a government officer turned farmer, and his prime concern was the financial security of his family.

Memories fly back. I used to know from close quarters a beautiful lady very particular in keeping herself well dressed within her means. By the time she was in her mid 40's, she was in charge of a full team with a play strategy of 1+3+4+3 with 4 reserves on the sideline ready to be pressed into action. It was not at all an interesting sight to watch her travel in crowded local buses with the youngest perched on her waist, the next holding her index finger and the third one pulling her saree down. By the time she used to reach her destination, one could only imagine her pathetic condition!  It is still vivid in my memory a famous columnist, a true satirist indeed, narrating an incident in his  inimitable style a few decades ago. He wrote he was travelling in a crowded BEST bus when a well dressed good looking middle aged lady got into the bus and walked close to his seat and uttered. "Hi, XX (he used to be known by his initials) when did you get discharged from the hospital, I heard you were suffering from VD". The man sitting next to him got up and offered the seat to her. She politely thanked him for this gesture. 

A very old incident that comes to my mind is from the country side, a typical village where people were mainly engaged in farming. There were  no proper approach roads to the houses of the villagers who depended on muddy tracks  or narrow banks made of  earth separating paddy fields.  An eligible bachelor during his annual vacation was going around the village looking for a suitable girl to become his partner. This was his third attempt and he made it a point to dress up well. Wearing a brand new silk shirt and a linen dhothi,  With a few of his friends he began to walk down crossing a small river and a large lush green paddy field which abruptly ended in front of a house. The house was situated on a hill top so to say and there were quite a few steps leading to the frontage. Naturally, he was a bit tensed up although his friends were making fun of him. He was at his wits end and at least they reached the top. Giggles from here and there shook him up as his silky dhothi was giving way. Luckily form him, he was wearing an undergarment just like a pair of shorts!  However, it was a successful third attempt, indeed!.           

During my early years of employment, I was assigned  to supervise a market research in the southern part of Kerala. .The dress code was a pair of trousers, white shirt, neck tie and black shoes. My field staff used to visit the sampled houses and conduct interviews with the head of household and I used to cross check their work at random. In one such case, I was walking in when the interviewer was taking notes of the answers from an aged lady of over 80 years by her look. Quite embarrassingly, he put across a question as to the brand of the razor used by the interviewee, much against the instructions clearly noted in the questionnaire that this was to be addressed to male members only.  He was lucky that she did not hear this on account the eardrum being weak by age, and he hurriedly switched to the next question   That is not the end. As we moved out of the house and reached the unpaved road running across the expansive paddy field, a group of villagers, men and women, rounded us threateningly with some murmuring that I (incidentally wearing a thick beard) looked like the one who was involved  in the murder that took place earlier night. All efforts to convince them that we belonged to a research firm from Bombay and were doing a market research, showing our identity cards went into deaf years. A well-dressed man with white shirt tucked into a pair of khaki shorts, a pair of brown shoes and matching socks and a strapped hat protecting him from scorching sunlight was passing by and the villagers stopped him and put up their concern to him. He was being addressed by the villagers respectfully by the name of the company he was working for with a ‘sir’ suffixed thereto. As he started talking to us, we realised that he was educated and was on his official duty marketing a famous brand of tea. We convinced him about our bona fides with ID cards and that we were on an official assignment. He explained to them our genuineness and we were let go unharmed.

                 

Youth icons prefer to wear 'express yourself' sort of clothes. As one sees in the recent ad, a well dressed young good-looking candidate is preferred over an intelligent moderately dressed candidate by the HRD boss.  There are, of course, exceptions to this rule of thumb. I know a person who is very careless about his attire, walks around with an air of confidence. In spite of his short-comings that includes his educational qualification, an undergraduate,  he was afforded an opportunity to work with a multinational giant in the IT industry known for owning one of the best search engines, a recognition indeed for the intrinsic values!  It is a common sight  of "You are On Your Own" guys with crew cut hair around the head below ears, adorning single ear studs, skin tight low waist jeans torn at the knee level displaying partially the brand name of the inner garment. It is pertinent that they be advised not to choose pink shirts. Richly dressed curvaceous cuties struggling to maintain their statistical record of 362436 are making sure, perhaps,

that they do not use what they advertise for!

     

I know a boy looking at a full sized mirror, which he is so fond of any way, caressing his 'bulgan' beard by the right palm commenting "being very handsome is a curse".  No doubt, he is very particular and choosy about his attire which consists of only branded items; a well-dressed person with no dearth of admirers.

A naughty photographer’s attempt was foiled by a lady commentator sitting with her legs criss-crossed. Obviously, the formal dress she was wearing was too short and the photographer cannot be questioned as to his integrity to get an undistorted picture by sitting on the floor so that the top and bottom gaps of the snap are made near equal. Orthopaedically, it is, however, not advisable to keep this posture for a long period as this may lead to various physical problems.

Instead of beating the bush round and round, let me now come to the point referred to in the beginning. The said handyman narrated  a  rather unhappy incident which resulted in his being denied of the facility of getting 35 kgs. of rice per month free of cost under the anthyodaya scheme based on his ration card. During the last process of renewal of ration card, his wife, being the head of family, went to the Thaluk Rationing Office to complete the formalities. Just as any lady would do, she chose the best saree and blouse from among her meagre collections with matching ornaments and other accessories and presented herself  before the Officer. Looking at her from head to toe a few times, he proclaimed that she was not entitled to get the BPL Card which was ready for issue, and referred the matter to the higher authorities!, perhaps an adverse effect of dressing up well.

Being presentable is always desirable and it is up to us to choose the right attire for the right occasion without going to the extremes.

       

[tailpiece - Recently I was on my usual round of evening walk, I was attracted by the display of a few dummies displaying shirts and kurthas. One of them looked so real with curly long thick hair wearing a beautiful  shirt and a pair of jeans and I wished I could own one such shirt. As I was gazing at it, the so called dummy bent down with the back against me and began to comb his long hair! "Ada da"   (lo behold!), I was ashamed of my perception and began to walk away briskly from the

 scene.]