The Beach House

A week after the events of my previous post, we headed to Chennai to a beach house owned by a very close friend of mine. It is a gorgeous place.

He maintained it as a guest house to his foreign business guests. It is a beautiful place with feel of a grand holiday resort. Right in the backyard they have the beach and the blue Bay of Bengal sea. It was closed for maintenance and the work had just been completed. We were allowed to stay there for a week as a weeding present from him. We had the chef cook delicious food for us from Italian to Thai. He was fantastic and the maids took care of the house hold stuff. We just had to eat , sleep and have tons of fun!


So here we are, in a place away from home, we are practically strangers here and we could do anything. It started off as a dare. I dare her to wear lungi blouse in the house . She was shy because there were loads of people in the house; the maids, the gardener , the manger. But then she was ready to be a bit bold.

Next day when we came down for breakfast, she was dressed in her favorite lungi , blouse and a thorthu. The maids were surprised but they were scared to ask us anything; I bet they have seen weirder things in this house. The manager was the only guy who did ask about her attire. He had seen this dress in movies and asked us why she was wearing it; he thought it was part of some ritual or something that she was wearing it for. He said that most of the time in tamil movies when a malayali girl/ women stereotype is to be shown they use this dress. He was quick to point out that though the dress was worn disgustingly in the movies, ma'am wore it neatly and quite beautifully.

Mamta Mohandas in Lungi Blouse and thorthu 

We were happy to tell him all about the dress and its culture and that we preferred wearing our traditional dress than to any other thing. He said ' Go ahead , sir. It's just fine. Once we had few foreign couples staying here and in a party one gentle man came wearing a skirt. He said it is called a 'kilt'.'

She was getting better with each day. She was no longer shy to be walking around in the beach or resting at the pool side wearing lungi blouse. We took so many photos that I ran out space in my laptop. It was awesome to see her walk in the beach wearing lungi and blouse . Reminded me of the old 'Chemeen' movie. She was so comfortable. She really liked walking like that outdoors.

It was easily the best time we had.


-RM

A week end in Kottayam

Dear readers,

     Its been long time since I wrote anything here (except of my post about me getting married). We were really busy. Loads of visitors, family functions..we never got time to rest. We spend two weeks after the wedding visiting relatives. It was fun but nothing much that I need to be sharing here, after all there wasn't anything related to the topic of this blog.


One day we decided to visit one of my friend's mom (my friend lives in Qatar with his wife), Mary aunty. She wanted to come for our wedding but she couldn't make it. So we drove to her place in Kottayam, a beautiful estate; where she lives with one of her relative lady who takes care of her.
She is lovely woman, very sweet, very traditional. I love her like my own mom. I had been there countless times. She was delighted to see Saranya. She wanted us to stay for the week end and we did. But unfortunately or fortunately we hadn't planned for this and we didnt have anything to change into.

She gave me a lungi, probably her son's, for me to change into and said she'll find something for Saranya to wear. I was watching TV when Saranya came calling for me for lunch and to my surprise she was dressed in a chatta and lungi. Accompanying her came Mary aunty and asked me how she looked. I just couldn't take my eyes off her , that I didnt reply.  While trying out aunty's nighties , all of them where loose for her, she found aunty's chatta. Aunty jokingly suggested her to try it out , never expecting her to, and she wore it.

She looks stunning in any traditional dress, be it be set-mundu, lungi-blouse or this, chatta-lungi.

"Girls dont like wearing these. Make in my younger days we used to wear only this..." , aunty said.

All through the week end Saranya wore chatta and lungi. She wasn't shy walking around in aunty's estate in it. I bet some of the laborers who work there would have been wondering who she is.

A fantastic week end with my lovely Mary aunty and as an added perk  I got see my darling in chatta lungi.

- RM
 

Wedding Bells..

Dear Readers..

I know its been a long time since I posted....

Last month was the best month of my life. Saranya and I got married!! We were all over the map all this time... Now we are back in Pune. I will be back with more of our experiences and tales..

Till then,

Signing off,  RM

Beauty in tune with Nature

Hi readers,

   I have always believed that nature is the most beautiful thing in this world. There is something about nature, a freshness that wipes away all the worries. 

Saranya was working in our backyard at her place (not exactly a backyard, it will be better to call it a farm) and she was stunning in her lungi blouse. We had the whole place to ourselves as her parents hadn't returned back yet. It was the first time she has worn lungi blouse after we returned from Pune for Onam. I just dont have words to describe. Though I have seen her plenty of times in lungi blouse working in her vegetable garden back in Pune, there was something different about her when in Kerala wearing the same attire. The nature just adds to the beauty I suppose.

I wish we could live like this for all our lives: in a village far away from city with naive people who are accustomed to the old ways of living; a place were tradition still lives on and nobody stares at a lady in lungi blouse or looks down upon a guy in lungi.

I wish the old ways were back. I wish the new generation of boys and girls see the beauty in the traditions and accept them as theirs.

Here are few photos I found on the internet yesterday that reminded me of Saranya in the farm and inspired me to write this post. Feel free to comment and share your thoughts.

  Keep visiting and commenting
                  - RM.

Lungi Blouse in Malayalam Movies 3

Dear Readers,

   What a way to start a beautiful day!!

Saranya and I are back home in Kerala. We are at her place but this time we got the whole place to ourselves, her parents are at her mom's place for this Onam.

So here we are busing ourselves with cooking our little Onasadhya. We took a break and while browsing I came across some pictures of actresses in Lungi Blouse from two very recent movies that are yet to release. I am hopeful that this trend keeps going and this attire becomes more familiar to the younger generation. I hope it comes back in fashion.


The stills are from two movies whose names confuse me as I saw the same stills under a different title. Any way here are the photos. These girls look beautiful in lungi and blouse. Girls should realize that it is a fact that malayali men love to see women in this attire.

Saranya and I still hear few complaining that the dress exposes a lot. And that makes me wonder : It is okay for the girls to wear mini skirts  and spaghetti tops but lungi blouse is bad, huh?? I wonder!!

Well, I just hope that more movies come up with the actresses wearing lungi and blouse so that the bad name that this attire has got will slowly vanish and once again it will be worn as normal home-attire.

Keep visiting and share your views. Leave a comment.

- RM.

Once again it's time for Onam...

Dear Readers,

     It's again time for Onam...The time when the people and nature around you has this beautiful glow to itself. It is also my favorite time of the year since people prefer to wear traditional dresses at this time. Its lovely to see ladies wear set-mundu for a change and guys preferring mundu instead of Jeans.

Not gonna write long this time, as all I wanted is to wish you all a Happy Onam. Celebrate the season in traditional style.



- RM.

Secret admirers!! - 2 : The Lungi Blouse Lovers

Hello Readers,

    Its been long time since my last post. Office and family life kept me busy.

As the title says, this post is about the secret admirers: people, especially women, who like lungi and blouse but are shy to come out and say about it.

As you have read on previous posts that Saranya has now started to wear lungi blouse more frequently than she had before we were in Pune, chances of people spotting her in lungi too has increased. Many of her friends and mine now know that she wears lungi blouse at home and some have even seen her in it ; latest in the list was a friend of mine from office who dropped in for lunch one day.

Back to topic. We had unexpected visit from a friend of Saranya ,  who was settled in U.S and was here for vacation. She and her husband came to stay with us for a week end. Now that Saranya is used to people seeing her in lungi blouse and thorthu, she changed into it without hesitation when she went to work in her garden. Her friend and husband was surprised to see her in it and were quick to ask about it. Unlike the usual questions of 'Why this?' , this time it was ' how often do you wear it?' and it was Saranya and mine chance to be surprised.
They too were secret admirers of this attire. Her friend wanted to try it out and when she moved with her husband to U.S, they decided it is okay for her to try it out. She had been wearing this out fit on skits and dances organized by the malayali association there. She never misses a chance to wear it.
Every time they have some function, she makes a point for performing Folk Dance or some dance or skits where she can wear lungi blouse and thorthu. Before the actual performance itself, she gets to wear it during practice sessions. Her husband loves to see her in lungi blouse and doesnt mind her fascination with the attire.

Saranya's friend said she and her friends, who too like this dress, used to do the same when they were at high school and college. Folk dances and skits were an excuse to wear lungi blouse and thorthu and not being questioned or stared up on by it.

One of the readers of this blog ,who likes to remain anonymous, wrote to me that she wanted to wear lungi blouse but never had the guts to do. But recently she wore lungi and T-shirt instead of her usual dress in her hostel and had many of her hostel mates come to her asking her to get them lungis too. She wore lungi blouse and thorthu at school to perform a folk dance and enjoyed coming out of the shell. She found it very liberating. She decided to continue in the same attire the whole day at school and hostel. Bravo!!!

So it is clear there are people who love this attire secretly. When you get an opportunity , use it.

I 'll be back with more posts soon.








And Thanks to Dhananjay (reader of this blog and a fan of Lungi Blouse) for the photos of Poonam Bajwa in lungi blouse and thorthu.

Lungi Blouse : Sri Lankan style 3.

Dear Readers,

   Sorry for the long delay. I was traveling back and forth from Pune to Kerala and couldn't squeeze out time for the blog.
This time I am sharing few photos of a beautiful Srilankan actress who is dressed in their version of our Lungi Blouse. I really appreciate these Srilankan women; they dont feel shy to wear their traditional dress unlike our women here in Kerala.

Check out these photos and leave a comment.




  

A Birthday Gift.

Hi there,

Tonight I am going to tell you about two of our friends . They were couples and dated for about 4 years. As usual I dont want to take names so lets call them Mr.G and Ms.A . They were very much in  love and we knew them for a long time. Even though they have split and are no longer in speaking terms with each other, they do keep in touch with Saranya and me.

Mr.G  like me love to see women in lungi blouse. He was quite secretive of it until he and Ms.A talked about it during one of our dinners together. Mr.G liked this attire and had spoken about his likeness to Ms.A during the initial part of their relationship. She never really liked it though. She believed it to be the attire of the low class ( even in today's society , some Menon families still believe that they are a superior caste. Trust me, I am a Menon and have seen some of my relatives behave so).

But she was supportive and did bring him magazines and pics of girls in lunig blouse when ever she found any. He had insisted her to wear it for him once when they were alone at his home. She said, she was shy but then she loved him so much that she finally agreed. She wore it for a brief time and posed for photos for him.

"The first time , I saw myself in the mirror (in lungi blouse) did the magic. There was no denying. The dress was so beautiful and sexy. ", she said showing us the photos in his mobile. She was wearing a red blouse and blue kalli mundu with a white thorthu.
Then few days later on his birthday, she got to his home and changed to lungi blouse to surprise him. He confessed that he never expected her to do that. It was his best birthday ever. There were photos of that day too. She had tried out differnt lungies and thorthu for the photos.

Happy days dont last long. The couples we expected to get married before we do got separated. They do visit us occasionally. They are among the few in front whom Saranya doesn't mind wearing lungi blouse.

Few days before we left Banglore, we visited Ms.A at her house. She was wearing a mundu and blouse that day. It was our turn to be surprised. She confessed that some times she wear lungi blouse or mundu blouse at home. Even though they had broke up , she never gave up wearing lungi/mundu.

They would have been beautiful couples. Shame they had to split up.
-RM

The Girl in Mundu Blouse

Hello Readers,

      Today was just a usual day like any other. Left early to office as there was some sort of procession due to which roads were to be blocked off by traffic police. Saranya decided to take the day off.

Returning home, I was surprised to see Saranya. Evidently she had found some malayali textile shop some where near and been out shopping. She wasn't dressed in the nightie that she was wearing in the morning; She wore a kavi mundu and blouse. I have seen her wear white (off-white/cream colored) mundu. I have seen her in lungi numerous time. But this was new! I dont wear kavi mundu at home, I prefer lungi. If its some auspicious occasion or special occasion , I wear normal white mundu. I have never seen her dad wear a kavi mundu too. So this was new to her.

She said , she was bored at home and went for out with plans to do little shopping. Luckily she decided to wear set-mundu this time around as she was planning to explore a bit ; she didnt want to end up seen, by some malayali, dressed in lungi blouse and thorthu. She spotted this malayali store few Kilometres from our nagar and decided to check it out. Among the other malayali stuff sold in that shop, she found lungi, kasavu mundu, kavi mundu and thorthu. She didnt waste time thinking and bought a kavi mundu and two lungis. She also bought three thorthu (these were colored and checked ones and the ones she usually use were the white ones).

So here she was wearing her new kavi mundu and blouse. She looked gorgeous as usual. Be it be lungi or mundu; when she is dressed in them she has this eternal beauty of a village damsel. "engane und?" (how is it?): she asked me with a smile . I am sure she knew my answer perfectly well.

Kavi mundu is the closest thing to lungi that a girl can wear without being stared at. It has got the ,well lets say 'standards' of normal mundu. Though colored it is not 'degraded' to a lungi status. "ithum blousum ittu nee aalkarude munbil varumo? atho lungi udukumbol ullapole malayalikale kandaal oodi olikumo?" ( Are you ready to face malayalis wearing this and blouse or are you gonna shy away like you do when you are wearing lungi?) ,I asked.
"emm...nokate. penkuttykal annengil eniku preshnamilla...anungal annengil chilappozhe patu...maarthu thorthillathe enthayalumilla..." (lets see. May be I will if its just girls ..not sure if Iwill do it in front of men..definitely not without a thorthu over my bosom). A fun evening. Took loads of photos (none will be shared here, sorry.).

Mundu Blouse : Simple, Elegant, Beautiful and Sexy

P.S:
 I am not the kind of guy who wants to show off his fiancee to others. I am not  a pervert. I dont mind her wearing lungi blouse and thorthu in front of others because it is just a dress like any other. It is not equivalent to exhibiting. 


 Please feel free to share your thoughts. Comment: appreciate or criticize; lets have a discussion. 

Monsoon and some rain drenched Memories.

Hello there,

It rained in Pune today. Haven't called home, so don't know if monsoon have officially hit Kerala yet. It was nice to have rain after a hot dry summer. Saranya and I enjoyed our little rainy evening today. We went for a walk in the light rain. Nature gets more beautiful when it rains.

Five years back in Banglore, it was a similar rainy evening when I saw Saranya in Lungi for the first time.She had just started her college and I had joined my first company. I had been to her apartment before that day, couple of times and had even stayed over night few times. I had left few of my dresses there just in case I had to stay there.That day it was raining cats and dogs and I had to go to her apartment as it was closer to my office. I knew that she used to wear mundu at times at home but that day she had chosen to wear one of my lungis (that I had left there) and a T-shirt. And she looked gorgeous. She had made that one of her usual home attire like her nighty.

The first time her parents saw her in lungi was also in Banglore. They had visited her for few days and she  wore lungi with her t-shirt at home. Her parents were cool about it . They were surprised but they didnt make a fuss about it. The same week ,after returning from lunch, one day, (I was present there too) she changed her saree and wore a lungi and thorthu over her blouse. I was surprised , flattered, shocked or what ever you could come up with. Her parents had seen her enough time in lungi- shirt/ Tshirt that week (and had seen my lungis with her clothes in her room) that they weren't surprised at all. They had guessed that she was using lungi in apartment by the clues they could gather.

Not bad huh?

Today , she confessed that she was a bit shy to wear lungi blouse and thorthu in front of her parents that day. But she wanted to and she did; after all its her parents : why be shy? She always thought Lungi blouse is the same as mundu blouse; lungi is just a colored mundu after all. Now she doesn't mind wearing it in presence of her parents , close relatives and friends. She is not comfortable weariing lungi blouse everywhere or infront of anybody. But she is completely comfortable to be seen in lungi-shirt or lungi-t-shirt by anyone.

Saranya wants me to add  that, she thinks lungi tshirt is the prefect dress that can be worn by girls who are shy to try out lungi blouse but would want to try it out some day. By wearing lungi tshirt , they can let people know that they use lungi and give a heads-up that 'hey, dont be surprised if you find me wearing lungi blouse.'

Feel free to share your thoughts!

Saranya's Vegetable Garden!

Summer heat is beating down hard here in Pune; it's unbearable. But nothing seems to keep Saranya from spending time out in the sun; She has made a little vegetable garden in our backyard. Even though she enjoys going out for buying vegetable (now that she can freely walk wearing Lungi blouse and thorthu) she likes to work with the soil; they have large farms in her native place and she grew up working when ever she could. So one fine evening , there it was: a vegetable garden in our backyard.

Though it started off as passion, the garden did make a good excuse for her to slip into lungi, even when there were guests. She simply gets a lungi and wraps it around over her nightie or what ever she is wearing at the time and moves out into the garden doing her stuff like watering the plants and so. She asked me to put this up because, she thinks that any girl who wants to wear lungi in front of others but is shy to do so can use this as a reason. Make a garden or do some thing that can spoil your dress; start wearing lungi as a protection to your dress over it; then slowly switch to lungi alone when you work in the garden.

Not a bad idea ,huh??

Few days back, one of my malayali friend and his wife dropped in at our place unexpectedly; and Saranya here was waltzing around in one of my lungi and her blouse. She was in the kitchen when I opened to door for them and I wasn't able to give her any sort of warning. My friend's wife walked straight into the kitchen and caught Saranya in lungi and blouse.Saranya was embarrassed but she handled the situation gracefully. She casually talked and walked past us into our bedroom and got a thorthu to cover her blouse. Then she acted completely normal and said that she was about to work on her garden and didn't wanted her dress to get dirty. And it seemed to me that my friend and his wife bought that excuse. She played it so well that, few minutes later my friend's wife was out with Saranya mending the plants with a lungi wrapped over her saree.

Looking Proud and Beautiful : Suganya in Mundu Blouse and Thorthu.

I must say that moving to Pune was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Saranya seems to have become much bolder and now wears lungi blouse more frequently than ever ; not just that, she seems okay wearing it out in the public too.

What I observed is that , shyness decreases the more you come out and once people get used to seeing you in certain attire, people wont care about it. So all you girls and ladies out there, who like to try out Lungi blouse, Do it! Let my darling Saranya be your inspiration.

Be proud to wear something that is uniquely Malayali.

Secret admirers!!

Hi all,

           Sorry for the long delay. I have been busy lately. Any way into today's topic. Secret Admirers : yes, secret admirers of  Lungi blouse. Recently, I was talking about men and women who love this attire with Saranya. There are plenty of men out there who would love to see women bring back this dress. There are men who love to see women dressed in Lungi blouse just like there are men who like to see women in Saree or in Set-mundu.

Recently, I noticed that even women and girls want to try out this dress but are scared or shy to do so in front of others. Some of Saranya's cousin sisters have said that to her. They had seen her in mundu blouse and wanted to try it out but are either scared of what people will think of them or are shy. They say that they simply don't have a justification to give if some one asks them why they are wearing mundu blouse or lungi blouse. Saranya's answer is simple, she wears it because she likes to. Its just a dress like any other and is more malayali than any other dress you can see.

Recently I saw a photo of few school kids dressed in Lungi blouse and thorthu walking down a street as a part of some procession. None of the girls looked uncomfortable because of the dress . I think , some did enjoyed dressing up in Lungi blouse.

I end this really short post with a request to the girls and women out there who might happen to read this blog. If you dont mind wearing Lungi blouse or if you like to wear Lungi blouse, then why not wear it? Bring back the good old malayali fashion style.

Lungi Blouse in College.

Hi all,

Lungi blouse in Talent show

Lungi blouse in Talent show

Lungi blouse in Talent show

Lungi blouse in Talent show

Lungi blouse in Talent show

Lungi blouse in Talent show

      Few days back, I was visited by a cousin of mine. She's couple of years younger than me. She has was a frequent visitor to my fiancee's apartment when we were in Banglore and she knows everything about Saranya's and mine fascination with Traditional attire and has seen Saranya in Lungi many times.

Like most of my family members, she doesn't have any problem with Lungi Blouse and consider it as just another attire. She loves wearing Set-mundu but never tried wearing Lungi.

Okay, the whole point of this article is the tell you guys about an incident in which one of my cousin's classmate (a malayali girl from Ernakulam) wore lungi blouse to their college. There was some kind of college fest which spanned over couple of days in their college and each day had a theme. One day was themed 'Tapori day' or something .On that day , they were free to dress up as 'taporis' (gangster style; more like tamil rural/slum style). So on the night before the Tapori day(I am still not sure , if it was called so..I dont exactly remember the word she used), my cousin and her room mates were having a discussion on what to wear. Many had bought low cost sarees and wore it in the most pathetic way (as if the saree fell off and they had tugged the whole thing up some how) and with all the dirty hair-do, they all looked like kamwali-bhais or maids just after work. (She did share photos of the day with me and I should say, with those low cut/ backless blouses and sarees (how ever loosely worn) they did hot to me ). Even my cousin had chose to wear a similar outfit. The only girl left was her friend from Ernakulam and to her (my cousin's) surprise, she had chose to wear  lungi blouse and thorthu. None of the other girls had anything to say about it as they were seeing it for the first time. My cousin was the only other malayali in that apartment. And the person she is, she found it good and encouraged her friend.

And her friend did wear it to her college. In broad daylight for every one to see. She confessed to my cousin that she wanted to wear it in public someday and this was the chance for her to come out wearing lungi blouse in public without being scrutinized by public.  And she loved the experience. She wore it the whole day and didn't change even after others did.

So the point is, Girls do want to wear Lungi Blouse. Its just that they dont get a chance to wear it without fingers being pointed at them. When my cousin's friend got a chance to, she happy wore it. And I believe most of the girls who adorn Lungi bouse in reality TV , chose to wear it because they can wear it without being looked down upon( They have a choice not to wear lungi blouse and can go for a saree but still they wear it) . If society decides not to look down upon this dress, I bet there will be more girls (from younger generations) ready to try out Lungi bouse in public and wear it as any other normal dress.

P.S: I am sorry but I cant share the pictures my cousin showed me here.

In Conversation : Lady in Blue.

Hi all,

 I will be sharing a conversation we (my fiancee and I ) had with a friend of hers who visited us yesterday. Adhering to the policy of no names taken, she will be called the lady in blue ( the color of her dress).

It was a normal friday yesterday and I had chosen to work from home. I do so when ever possible because I hate going out in this summer heat. My fiancee took the day off as she too was tired of all the traveling we did in last few weeks. At about ten in the morning she got a call from her old classmate/roommate from her college days in Kerala : the Lady in Blue (LiB). LiB, was a fascinating character back in the college (my fiancee recalls). "she was everything I was not. She hated traditional dresses ; never worn a saree; hated when I wore set-mundu..and all these even though she was a malayali....exactly the girl from the future."

Sexy, Practical and 100% genuine Kerala Style.

LiB was in Pune for some interview; My fiancee had asked her to drop in and stay for the night if she wants to. And so she did.

"You know, Rohit. She hated set mundu. She used to say that the dress sense of malayalis are crap. She loves all kinds of modern dresses. She says we need to stay in fashion...emm.... you'll see when she arrives... Back in the college hostel , I had limitations, I couldn't always were traditional dresses..If I could that would have ****** her off...."
"So are you gonna were set mundu just to tease her??"
"nah,..I got a better idea.. I am gonna be a village damsel she hates..", she added with a mischief in her smile.

After her bath, just as I expected, she had changed from nightie to lungi and blouse. I just couldn't wait to see how her friend would react to it.

Soon the calling bell rang. It was her. Saranya opened the door to let her in. You should have seen LiB's face seeing Saranya in lungi, blouse and thorthu tied on her wet hair. That very instant I noticed that she found Saranya's attire repulsive. She knew me; I had met her couple of times when I visited Saranya at her college. I was too not dressed as what she would call a gentle man's attire. I was in a lungi and a Tshirt.
I can see that it was like a nightmare to her seeing her friend and her fiancee dressed like 'tribal' people (her term for our attire that we wore : tribal attire).

After the usual conversations about work, family and friends, we did end up talking about the topic we( my fiancee and I ) wanted to talk.
"So.... whats this?? You dont earn enough to buy proper dress??" , asked LiB with a smile. "Why dont you were proper dress dear?"
"What is wrong with this?" asked Saranya while removing her thorthu from her hair and laying it on the chair beside her.

"How can you wear such a dress? You are among civilized people dear. What will they think?"

"Nothing .. nothing at all.. I am properly dress if you see. And I think its the best dress for climate like here or at home (in Kerala). I wont survive wearing a jeans in this hot climate."

"Why not wear a nightie? or a loose churidhar? Does Rohit insist you to wear this?? I have heard guys have such a fantasy.", Lib said giving me a smile.

"I dont wear a nightie or churidhar here. This is my home dress." Saranya lied. "And Rohit never asked me to or forced me to wear it..I like wearing it. You never tried ,right? This is really comfortable. You should try."

"No way.. never... Its repulsive. I just dont know how can you wear this at home..its, I dont know, ..its not good.. definitely Rohit is behind this.."

"Nah, I never asked her to..She loves it and I dont mind, I actually like it. She looks gorgeous in it...", I said.

Later the conversation reached a point were we asked why she hates the dress, apart from the fact that it's not the latest fashion. She said "this is prostitute's dress.. dont you see it in movies??"
Before I could answer it Saranya said "yeah, I have seen it.. I find modern dresses as that item girls wear. I find those repulsive.."

"How can you go out like this?"

"I dont go out like this..I do wear a thorthu over my bosom when do "

"That will do a lot of help!! It is not gonna help adding a rag on to this attire. I hate it."

"Have you tried it? I guess not. Well, there is your problem. you hate it only because what others might think of you wearing it. Have you ever thought what they might think of you when they see you in your tight Tshirts and mini skirts? I know you find it comfortable and okay, you grew up in a city. "

"you too..didn't you? you too grew up in a city."

"Yes, I did . But I had spent enough time in my native village to see and accept our traditional dresses. "

I feel like an idiot typing out the conversation. We were not talking in English either. So lets me explain what rest of the conversation was about.

Saranya went on to explain why she love this attire and the practical use of it. An her explanation sounded really good.

As she explained : Kerala is in the tropical region . We have really hot summers and wet monsoon seasons. Either it rains like hell or it will be hot like hell. And the attire that our ancestors wore was suiting this climate of ours. Lungi, mundu helped with the much needed airflow during the hot summers. It helped in keeping our body cool. And even when it is dripping wet, it was easy to get them dried. Blouse is an added part to it by women, of course , we cant go topless like our ancestors did. And this rag , thorthu, it wouldn't look like a rag if it is kept clean. It is only required if you are ashamed to go in front of others in a blouse. I use it when I got male visitors or when I go out. If had noticed , I am not wearing one now. because I am okay being like this infront of you and Rohit. All these western attires may make you look cool but it really dont help us out in this kind of climate. And whats the use of being a proud malayali if you despise wearing anything that is ours and ours alone to claim. Only women in Kerala used to wear Lungi Blouse like you see. Its heart breaking to see women from other states wear these in soft porn movies and give a bad reputation. These women dont even know how to wear it properly. That is the reason you people find it repulsive.

 LiB did not have much to answer after Saranya's explanation. Saranya was so pumped up that she went for evening walk with LiB in Lungi blouse and thorthu. They came back by 7.00pm with a bunch of vegetables they bought from the shops in the street.

Lib left today morning back to Banglore. I hope she left with a changed attitude towards our traditional attires. Not just Lungi Blouse, but also about all of it.
 



 

History!

Hi all,

     Sorry for the delay in blogging , I was quite busy. Had a wonderful Vishu kani in Pune. Flew back home the very day with by sweetheart ; a week's stay ; now back in Pune but tied down with huge amount of work. 

This is post is specifically to enlighten my reader about my lifestyle and my fiancee's. I wont be giving out any personal details but I'll make sure that you guys and girls( yes , girls. I was surprised to find female readers for my blog. Thank you!) get a clear picture of how my fiancee and I got into this whole stuff of traditional wears. The mails I got from you readers are mostly concerning about this issue. Female readers were really good critics (once again, thank you.) ; one even went on to accuse me as a fake, but now she is in correspondence with my fiancee.

So my dear readers, my name is Rohit Menon. I am a software engineer based in Pune. My fiancee is Saranya Ramanadhan. Our families had known each other for long time. We were friends right from the time we were kids.

I have told my story in my first post of this blog. Here's Saranya's side of story.

She is from a mixed kind of family like mine. By mixed  I mean, they are neither orthodox or modern; more like good from both sides. She lived in the city not far from my place there and her ancestral place is like 20 minutes journey from my ancestral place. Our families always invited each other for every little functions.
   She got a family temple in her tharavadu and the eldest daughter of the family is supposed to perform the poojas on special occasions. During this pooja the girl (my fiancee) is supposed to were dresses that are not stitched and are brand new (kodi vastram). Back in the days, it was performed wearing only Mundu and melmundu; but now, they do it wearing mundum neriyathum. So right from the time she was 10 years old she had been part of this ritual and had the habit of wearing mundum neriyathum. Her grand mother always insisted she wore set mundu when at tharavadu (mostly during the pooja season) and by the time she was in high school she was only allowed to wear set-mundu when at tharavadu. She was quite used to have people see her in set-mundu right from an early age. She used to wear saree perfectly when she was just 15 (now a days girls who are 25-30 doesn't know how to wear a saree).

 I had seen her many times in that attire and she was fine with it. When she moved to Banglore (where I was then working and she was studying), she continued to wear set-mundu most of the time when she was in her apartment. At some point she had started using thorthu instead of neriyathu(mel mundu). I was a frequent visitor and had stayed back couple of times to help her out with her project and when her family came to visit her. She started wearing my lungis that I had left there. She found it much practical than mundu as mundus get dirtier faster as they are white. And that is how my Saranya started wearing Lungi Blouse. She isn't shy to wear it in my presence or in presence of her female friends and didn't mind if some Kanadiga guy saw her in it. She is still shy to wear it in presence of malayali guys. (Though twice she had  been seen in accidentally).

Now we have moved to Pune and are staying together. She does wear Lungi blouse more frequently now-a-days since there aren't any malayalis staying close by.

A male attire??

Hi ,

     Sorry for not posting frequently. I was busy.

Big news this season. My girlfriend and I have finally decided to get engaged. Our families are deciding upon an auspicious date for the big day. Though our families knew about our relationship right from the beginning and were happy about it, right now I feel like we got the license to our relation.

Second big news: we moved to Pune. Had a hard time finding a nice quite place to live. Finally we got a nice little rented house in little colony. Kind of odd place to find two software engineers living. Seriously, none of our neighbors are well off. They are poor but are really good people. Plus all of them are Maharastrians;  which is an added perk giving my girlfriend and me a little more freedom coming to our choice of attire.

As I had said in one of my earlier posts , my girlfriends feels free to wear lungi blouse as long as there are no malayalis (guys) around and this was like the best place we could ever stay. Though there are malayalis in Pune, there are none in this locality. I had hit jackpot!!

She seemed to like the fact too; actually she pointed it out when we saw the place for the first time. First day there and she made my day. It was the best morning I ever had; I woke up to see her unpacking our luggage, after her bath ,wearing a lungi , blouse and a thorthu tied over her wet hair. Brilliant! I had to ask her, if she was going to make this her permanent attire in the house. You see, I had to ask.. Well she said no! but said to expect her in it more frequently. She didn't mind venturing out too in it. She was much less tensed than she was in Banglore. I love this girl. She even went shopping for vegetables in the market by the street.

I think lungi does suit for the climate here, Its is really hot. I can't wait to come home and change from my trousers to lungi and so does she. She either wears lungi blouse  or her nightie or my shirt and lungi. It seems she had quit wearing churidhars at home. Can't blame her. Anybody who has lived in this sort of climate will agree : the more airy the dress the better!

So here I got another topic for my blog : shirt and lungi. Is it a male only attire?? Girls can definitely wear it, given that they dont mind wearing a lungi. According to girlfriend , few of the girls in her hostel used to wear lungi shirt at night. But  that was about 8 years back when she was doing her 12 grade. Browsing the net, I found few photos of girls in lungi shirt, one of them even dating back to 1970s.

Lungi shirt will be the best way for a girl to get used to wearing lungi without getting ridiculed. Start wearing lungi with churidhar top or kamee; with Tshirts or with Kurtas. Its does look stylish and is definitely comfortable. With the summer sun burning down up on us, its a suggestion to girls: try out these and you'll find it much comfortable in the heat. Try it out as something you wear at home during summer. My girlfriend loves it; so you might too. It's just a matter of try it out.

An adv for Lungi featuring a girl in lungi shirt

Lungi Shirt does make her look cute

Vidya Balan in Lungi 2

Hi all,
   Previously I had posted photos of Vidya Balan posing backless wearing a Lungi. I found more photos of her in Lungi and Mundu taken during the same photoshoot. I've been drooling over the photos and it has invited the wrath of my beautiful girlfriend. :-P

Vidya has done amazing job trying to bring back Lungi in to fashion. I think girls should copy the style. It looks hot at the same time can worn practically with a little bit of adjustments. Vidya has posed wearing lungi, mundu with shirts and vest and it looks incredibly hot. Though its a men's attire, she has made it look completely gorgeous. Brilliant!

Vidya in mundu

Vidya in Lungi

Vidya in mundu

Vidya in mundu

Vidya in Lungi

Vidya in Lungi

Though not the conventional style of lungi with blouse and thorthu (or without thorthu), this isn't bad at all. Once Lungi comes back into fashion; lungi alone, it is then just one step away from the traditional Lungi Blouse style. Girls should experiment with lungi along with other dresses. They are definitely the next big desi fashion.

Here are the photos. Please feel free to share your thoughts. Please comment.

Lungi Blouse : Sri Lankan style 2

Hi,

     Last week I stumbled upon few photos of some SriLankan actresses which were taken at the sets of some movie. They were dressed in the traditional SriLankan dress that is quite similar to our own Lungi and Blouse. As in my previous post, here too I want to stress the point that those girls were not ashamed or embarrassed to wear it. But in our country, girls are embarrassed to wear something very similar. I blame the movies. B-grade movies have given a really bad image to lungi blouse attire. Sad!

 And unlike in Kerala, I think in Sri Lanka, this dress is still accepted and worn by girls and women. That is something to be appreciated. One of my Sri Lankan friend said that even though they were all sorts of modern dresses, at home they dont mind wearing this. They have a different name for this attire; it escapes me right now. She said she and all her friends still wear this dress often. I can only hope our girls will ever develop such a mentality with lungi/mundu blouse.

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actresses in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actresses in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actresses in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Actress in Lungi Blouse

Here are the photos that I found. Feel free to comment and correct me if I have got some facts wrong.