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.