Simple Pleasure; humble celebrations

The bygone era is marked by the simplicity that distinguished their lives from that of their descendants. The will to share, suffer and sacrifice; the readiness to walk in step with the fellow human beings; the sincerity of purpose and above all their conscious choice to live symmetrically with their own habitat!

They found pleasure in simple things; found reason to celebrate almost any occasion that could be something so characteristically informal in todays standards.

Thus there have been so many "kalyanam"s (കല്യാണം - marriage or celebration). The renewal of the thatching the roofs called to be the pura kettu kalyanam (പുര കെട്ട് കല്യാണം). The circumcision of the Muslim boys used to be markka kalyanam (മാര്‍ക്കകല്യാണം). The coming of age of the girls was celebrated as theendari kalyanam(തീണ്ടാരി കല്യാണം). And of course, the marriages are celebrated as the ultimate kalyanam.

Make-up Talk

Like the costumes, the methods of make-ups were kept to few and were as simple as their attire. However, one notable exception was perhaps the attention that was paid to eye care.

Indian literature speak volumes of the hypnotic gaze of the Indian woman in whose eyes a thousand expressions glimmer and disappear in a moment’s time. Simple their lifestyle though eye makeup was very much in fashion. The trend was to darken eyes thickly with “Kanmashi” (Kajal).

Njorinjudukkal (Wearing with a Njori)

In earlier times, especially for women’s attire, there was a prevailing custom of sticking to white color which symbolized greatest modesty. But the women were not entirely unmindful to the aspects of beauty in their dressings, altogether.

One could find that the “njori” or folding the dress’s one end in a fan-like arrangement was most common, especially in womens’ dressings, obviously meant as an adornment. The arrangement is commonly called the “njori” (fold, pleat) and could be found in the dress styles of all our communities.

(Photo courtesy Helen Cannon-Brookes who kindly consented to use this image) 

Costume: Chatta, Jacket & Penkuppayam

I remember Neely Thalla, as people used to call her, who lived nearby and was visiting our house often. We children were amused to see her wearing only the half mundu, a white cloth tied at the waist that barely extended to her ankle. Waist up, she was not wearing anything at all but she was in her sixties at that time. Later on she started wearing a loose cloth that was tied at her neck which covered her upper torso but still left her arms, back and side torso bare.

She was part of that transitional period when the Hindu women were beginning to come out of the custom which barred them covering up of their upper body.

(Photo courtesy Anupama Sadasivan)

Costume: Men

White kurtha and equally white sherwani, the colored towel tucked between shoulder and the kurtha top, the colorful, a furry Jinnah cap on the head, the bright colored cardigan, the skull shaped black painted begging bowl in one hand, the large cotton sack bulging from the shoulder. The “Nagoor Khalifa” was seen only from a distance by us, kids.

(Nagoor in a place in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur District where the second most largest and popular Dargah – or tomb of a Sufi saint - in India is situated. Nagoor Khalifa receives alms for the Dargah.)

(Photo courtesy Kaashif)