Quirks ah!

Quirks ah!

Many a times I wonder about our quirky nature. House or hotel we have sambar and drink water as well but if a small drop of sambar falls into the glass of water we immediately call the waiter and ask him to remove the glass and replace it with a new one. What a strange thing, since we pour ladle-full of sambar and drink water by the gallons but a not if an unfortunate speck of sambar goes in the glass of water. An unprivileged speck indeed. Some time ago electric line men and believe me even policemen used to were trousers (another quirky thing as trousers in English means what we call pants, but here I mean the shorter version of the trousers or what we call shorts) and we have a dim view of adult wearing half pants and especially if they belong to working class. We are of course a class apart. But now we wear Bermudas and in fact the more goofy the Bermudas the better. Our village belles not wearing blouses would rightly be dismissed by our educated and enlightened eves as uncouth and rustic, but have no qualms wearing ‘sleeveless’ and exhibiting their wares – stunning or plebeian.

Our manja pai is very famous and every saree shop used to give it not very long ago till it was swamped out of the market by the now ubiquitous plastic carry bags in all hues and shapes. One (eves in particular) has to really descend from their lofty pedestal and condescend to carry that in the streets. Demeaning indeed! Now how do they carry the plastic bags? – not by the loops which form a sort of handle but twist the top portion and crush it and they carry it. It’s supposed to be a fashion statement. Not very long ago huge eardrops, nose studs would be a sure ticket for supercilious raising of eyebrows. And then you can hear them defending our customs and traditions in the most vociferous manner. Hypocrisy I presume.