A fashion show exclusively for veshti - the simple dhoti that extends to 15 ft sometimes I am told. It was an interesting experience though I was a little embarrassed as I watched young men walk the ramp in veshti and the angavastram or the upper cloth.
My knowledge of the veshti was confined all these years to the ettu muzham (eight yards) or the naalu muzham (four yards) or the panchakacham though it was the daily attire that my uncles and father wore. Family legend has it that when my grandfather visited us in Chandigarh, people on the street though Kamaraj had come to town! My grandfather wore his veshti above his ankles - a practice my uncles have not followed. They all sport spotless white veshti at home till date.
Amma sometimes tells us how she forced appa to wear veshti at home. Soon after her marriage, when she discovered that appa had a preference for lungis, she ripped them apart. When appa searched for his lungis, he found them sitting forlornly in the dustbin.
It was only in later years I discovered the importance of the coloured borders in the veshti. In Tamil Nadu, politicians sport their party affiliations by choosing the appropriate borders. So, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party workers would wear veshtis (in chaste Tamil it is called vaetti) with thick red and black lines abutting each other or red and black lines with a white margin between the colours.
Now of course,you would see someone with blue-yellow, or orange-green, or saffron-white-green, or a variety of combinations that you would find on the party flag.
For me it is a fun pastime to guess the political affinity of a man by his veshti's borders. I have, over the years, learned that men in Kerala do not favour veshtis with borders. They are called 'mundu' in Kerala.
At the fashion show, I found an interesting variation to the veshti. A model was draped in a veshti which had a two-inch border.
The richly designed border came in blue and pink - colours I had never associated with a veshti. The way the models had draped the panchakacham made it an elegant wear.
A reporter friend who sat alongside me at the show had a lot of gyan to offer on why the veshti had made way for trousers or Bermuda shorts.
"Veshti is only for rituals," he declared emphatically. To explain his decision he further went on: "Imagine walking in a veshti. I could trip. It is rude to hold the edge of the veshti when I am talking to seniors or people of authority or women. It is indecent to fold the veshti and show your legs. Worse, imagine the ignominy if the veshti were to fall off," he rattled. Though I had heard of the rigidity with which the upper classes viewed their attire, I did not agree with him as my uncles and father never doubled their veshti to reveal their legs. That added to their elegance.
When I saw Shah Rukh Khan sporting a veshti with golden zari in Chennai Express, I changed my mind about the attire itself. He carried it off well though I couldn't say the same of the lungi dance at the end of the movie.
My knowledge of the veshti was confined all these years to the ettu muzham (eight yards) or the naalu muzham (four yards) or the panchakacham though it was the daily attire that my uncles and father wore. Family legend has it that when my grandfather visited us in Chandigarh, people on the street though Kamaraj had come to town! My grandfather wore his veshti above his ankles - a practice my uncles have not followed. They all sport spotless white veshti at home till date.
Amma sometimes tells us how she forced appa to wear veshti at home. Soon after her marriage, when she discovered that appa had a preference for lungis, she ripped them apart. When appa searched for his lungis, he found them sitting forlornly in the dustbin.
It was only in later years I discovered the importance of the coloured borders in the veshti. In Tamil Nadu, politicians sport their party affiliations by choosing the appropriate borders. So, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party workers would wear veshtis (in chaste Tamil it is called vaetti) with thick red and black lines abutting each other or red and black lines with a white margin between the colours.
Now of course,you would see someone with blue-yellow, or orange-green, or saffron-white-green, or a variety of combinations that you would find on the party flag.
For me it is a fun pastime to guess the political affinity of a man by his veshti's borders. I have, over the years, learned that men in Kerala do not favour veshtis with borders. They are called 'mundu' in Kerala.
At the fashion show, I found an interesting variation to the veshti. A model was draped in a veshti which had a two-inch border.
The richly designed border came in blue and pink - colours I had never associated with a veshti. The way the models had draped the panchakacham made it an elegant wear.
A reporter friend who sat alongside me at the show had a lot of gyan to offer on why the veshti had made way for trousers or Bermuda shorts.
"Veshti is only for rituals," he declared emphatically. To explain his decision he further went on: "Imagine walking in a veshti. I could trip. It is rude to hold the edge of the veshti when I am talking to seniors or people of authority or women. It is indecent to fold the veshti and show your legs. Worse, imagine the ignominy if the veshti were to fall off," he rattled. Though I had heard of the rigidity with which the upper classes viewed their attire, I did not agree with him as my uncles and father never doubled their veshti to reveal their legs. That added to their elegance.
When I saw Shah Rukh Khan sporting a veshti with golden zari in Chennai Express, I changed my mind about the attire itself. He carried it off well though I couldn't say the same of the lungi dance at the end of the movie.
