Diwali Memories

My fondest memories of Diwali are from 1973 the year my sister Jai had her Thalai Deepavali (first after her marriage). I was eleven and discovering bell bottom pant suits, which my parents could ill afford to purchase ready-made. So when our dashing brother-in- law took us on Diwali eve to one of the few Sindi owned ready-made children's clothing stores in Trivandrum, Children's Corner, insisting he buy them for us, we were over the moon. Mine was lime green, long sleeves with an inner vest and tassels that tied the vest together in the front and my younger sister Suja's purple with puffed sleeves. We could not wait to get home and try them on. However Amma insisted we wait till after our baths early the next morning. We did not sleep a wink that night and after the obligatory oil bath, donned our clothes uncaring that we would have oil stains on them by the end of the day. What was it that made those clothes so special? Really it had nothing to do with the look! Picture us in those pant suits, with oily hair and flip flops. Well it was just the fact that we had been to a classy place to buy our clothes and no matter how they fit, they beat out our ill tailored frocks or skirts, any day. Those clothes commanded instant credibility for us among our class-mates who had lived abroad, smelt of perfume, chewed bubble gum and wore fancy lace dresses and shiny black shoes with bright white polyester socks. We wore those pant suits, till we outgrew them, to special events at school, wedding receptions or to the homes of our parents' wealthy relatives and friends so as not to feel out of place. When you come from fixed income, middle class moorings and are self-conscious that everything about you is likely to give away your class status, you yearn for the casual ease that comes from wearing "imported" clothes, and a fancy suit from Children's Corner is the next best thing. I am grateful that this Diwali I had three new sarees to pick from. I am also happy that I am at a time and place in my life when maintaining an image is no longer a priority.