ANARKALI DISCO CHALEE

It all began with a wedding invitation a year and a half ago, and like any other girl, the most important question for me was, ‘What do I wear?’ My mother was more concerned than me. While I was still considering wearing one of my ‘too dressy for college’ salwar kameez, my mother felt that none of them were fit for an occasion like a wedding. I could wear a sari for the main ceremony but I needed something for the mehendi and sangeet.

 Now, that was the time when the ‘Anarkalis’ were in trend. I had stayed away from it for a long time because I was pretty sure that I would be lost in the overflowing outfit making waves in the fashion and social circuit. For a person who has always had to stand in the first or maximum, the second row in the school assembly, it would be like wearing a tent. But when I went shopping with my mom, that was literally the only thing being shown in all the shops. And so I ended up buying this Anarkali!

After hunting at least ten to fifteen shops, trying out innumerable ones and rejecting as many for various reasons I finally settled on a pretty piece, midnight blue with golden work on it.

My father was surprised, to say the least, that I actually bought it. Knowing my style, he was pretty sure that I would find them all too shiny, embellished or gaudy. So when I finally wore it at home to show it to him, he was still finding it hard to believe his eyes. I think he still imagines me in ‘Shosh and t-shirt with two ponytails’!

So we packed it up and put it away to be brought out on the big day. To complete the outfit, I ordered a pair of earrings online. This was the beginning of a series of unfortunate events!!

The earrings turned out to be heavier than the Albatross around the Mariner’s neck. I could wear them only to sing ‘Hang down your head Tom Dooley’! So I returned them.

Then, sadly, the wedding never took place…and my Anarkali remained wrapped up in the cupboard!

I thought I would wear it to somebody else’s wedding. I started telling my friends or their siblings to tie the knot and let me wear my dress! It’s not that such occasions never came, but whenever they did, I could not attend. The explanation in one line- ‘I am studying to become a Doctor’! That sort of sums up your entire life- either you are studying for a university exam or you are studying for PG entrance exam or you are working as an apprentice to Count Dracula (read internship)!

Then I decided I would wear it on Durga Puja, that time of the year when Bongs dress up in ‘Notun Jaama’ and throng the Pandals with full bhakti in their hearts for ‘Pet Puja’! Durga Puja also came. The one day that I was going out I thought ‘Yeh iss occasion ke liye thoda zyada ho jayega’ and changed my mind about wearing the Anarkali. And so it lay, untouched, but not forgotten!

Today, with the Fawad Fever reaching critical levels, the Pakistani suits are in vogue. The fashion calendar has changed with the New Year. Anarkalis have become ‘such a thing of the past’!

So the question is what happens to it now? Does it find its haven, worn to celebrate the panache and royalty of Princesses and Queens? Or does it suffer the same fate as the star crossed lover, buried alive to be remembered only in tales? My dilemma is best summed up in famous lines by Emperor Akbar in the movie of the same name, “ Salim tujhe marne nahi dega…aur hum Anarkali tujhe jeene nahin denge…”

It finds its way in our household jokes once in a while. Like when my new bright blue sneakers with fluorescent pink swoosh came I almost sent my mother into a fit when I said I would wear them with my Anarkali!!

Ab to bas ek hi option reh gaya hai…the day I go to a disco (one fine day) I shall wear it and dance to ‘Anarkali Disco Chalee!!’    

MS