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.