20 June 2008

All for a piece of cloth

,

Thy clothes are all the soul thou hast.

Author: Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher



If I had to go by the above quote, my soul would have to be a combination of the following:-

Straight cut , no flair , high collar (I turned into a nun overnight)

Ps: No offence meant to nuns or anybody who’s a wannabe nun

Weird frock like ensemble , indecent looking pot neck (more like cauldron neck)

Ensemble that refuses to budge down below neck area

Something that I could perhaps wear after I shed about 50 Kgs

Something that I could perhaps wear after I gained 50 Kgs

Something that I could never wear

Suffice to say, I have tailor problems.

My first tailor was about a Km and half away and school friend P introduced me to him. His first outfit was a Gurjari product that fit my weird-looking-teenage-just-out-PU form to the tee. It was well-cut and my friends raved about it. And I was ecstatic! The next trip to him found me beaming, gushing and ever so desperate. To cut a 5 year long story short , at the end of it I made the following observations:

He was good at only straight cut plain salwar suits which were minus hand embroidery,machine embroidery , appliqué- in short, anything that required an imagination.Hmmm..thats saying he missed quite a few classes in his tailoring school

And then all of a sudden, my stars, as is wont of stars, took a turn for the worse. I had a huge fight with him and stormed away laden with a freshly-cut-ready-to- be-but-not-yet stitched kurta and swore never to be back again.

Did you know that tailors have a rule in their rupa-new-designs-for-the-modarn woman book that reads:

‘Thou shalt not touch a garment that has been rendered cut but not stitched by a fellow tailor’ ?

Well now you do.

Weekend after weekend saw me take the frail little piece of red garment (its insides hopelessly bruised, cut and unstitched) to various tailors , big and small , from boutiques to Dress makers- we met them all. First..Second. Third opinions yielded the same diagnosis. Frail red cloth would not be touched.

And then , the same stars led me to Kapad.Not Kapda –Kapad.Kapad House. He fashioned a Kurti for me that was lacking in many areas.But then , Kapad had the emotional advantage. He had been my savior when the entire world and its sewing machine had shunned me.

Good lord , MS word wants to replace Kapad with Keypad..tch tch how insensitive

Weekend after weekend saw me handing various pieces of material stored from my no-tailor days to Kapad who was enthusiastic. Overtly so, coming to think of it.He told me he was due for a Diploma in Fashion Design and the courier guy would be honoring him with it anytime in the near future.

One, two three mishaps later, a thought started creeping into my head. Were my Kurtis supposed to make me look like I had wings for sleeves? But then, I lived on in denial.Atleast I had someone whom I could call my tailor…

Fourth’s a charm, like they say. It was a lovely sea-green material that I had lovingly bought in Madras. And now, it looked like a camping tent. Make that a camp. I rushed to Kapad and spread it on his table.

“ What is this”

“Oh madam, you remember? You came last Sunday and took it? Its your dress”

“I KNOW, BUT WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE I WANT TO COVER ASIA WITH IT”

“See madam” *Brandishes his measuring tape* “ Your waist is x ,and so is this, neck is y and so is this , hips are z and so is this..”

I looked on patiently and said “Yes , but where is the cut??”

“What cut madam?”

“For once , we agree!”

“See madam , it is cut according to your body shape!”

“YES! EXACTLY! If I were proud of my body shape, why do you think I’d be searching heaven and earth for a good tailor you nincompoop!!I’d wear a banian.AND you charge me like I were to be a queen .. like I’m Miss Chola or something!! And you can’t cut a simple piece of cloth!!”

Yes, I stormed away.

Again.

And then I found ‘Kaya , every woman’s desire”. She charged me 450 Rs to “design” a kurti. It’s called differently in different parts of the world. Its not her fault , really.Over here , we call it a “choli”

Choli

a short-sleeved blouse, often one exposing part of the midriff, worn by Hindu women in India. Also,cholee.

She calls it a kurti.

A rose by any other name , would fit you would think?

SIGH.


17 June 2008

To my first best friend

,
To
-The girl who taught me how to balance on a new BSA SLR
-The girl who could barely suppress her laughter when she saw me hiding under the cot when her Music Teacher went Sa-Pa-Sa
-The girl whom I met every single day for 10 long years
-The girl who felt the same anguish and hurt as I did when we got invited to a party and the host forgot to give us dinner
-The girl who shared Van Number 2 with me for 10 long years
-The girl with whom I conspired, confided and trusted my deepest darkest deeds with
-The girl with whom I jumped into a overhead water tank with
-The girl whom I helped re-unite with the "love of her life" (and many more to come)
-The girl who once told me very simply "There is something about you that feels right" before pouring her heart out to me.Even after 5 long years of not meeting each other.

To,
The girl who will always be my first best friend.

From
The girl who will always be your first best friend.

Happy Birthday Suppi! :) have the greatestmostfantasticallyyummybirthday!Yes! We are exactly 6 months apart! Yes! We're practically twins :)

Love ,

Me
 

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