The Mundu story

One fine day I was intimated that I need to turn up in traditional/Ethnic  wear for the Diwali Celebrations scheduled in office.  This made me wonder if I could wear the ever Effervescent Mundu (the official attire of the state of Kerala) to office on that day. Owing to the fact that it was a Multinational Company and since it was in Mumbai which was pretty far from Kerala there had been absolutely no opportunity for me to don this attire. I had always longed to come to office in Mundu one day just for namesake at least and this was a golden opportunity that I did not want to miss. I was a bit sceptical about the whole thing since a lion’s shares of my colleagues in office are North Indians.

All my thoughts went out of the backdoor once I wore the Mundu and stood in front of the mirror. I really said to myself come what may I am going to office dressed like this.  For a brief moment of time I was taken back in time to my college days where I used to turn up in college in the same way for Onam celebrations ,those wonderful memories flashed through my mind in a second and suddenly I was a transformed to a totally different individual.

A lot of eyebrows were raised when I entered office as expected most of them had turned up in Sheruvanis, Kurthas, Lehengas, Saris and the like I was the odd one out in Mundu but I really didn’t care much  it was my day today . As I walked in I was welcomed by the prying eyes of my Boss. I smiled at him and managed to convince him by telling him that we were told to come in ethnic wear today and since I am from the southern part of the country this is the ethnic wear over there. Thanks to SRK and Chennai Express everyone in my office thought that I was wearing a lungi. I had to had to go to great lengths to explain to every Tom, Dick and Harry that I was not wearing a lungi but rather a Kasavu Mundu (a cream colour Mundu with a golden border) which is the official attire in my state of Kerala .  As a matter of fact (not sure if it is followed nowadays ) it is mandatory in all Government  Offices that once in a week that all the employees  have to turn up in the traditional attire ie in a Mundu or Sari.  

On a lighter note all sorts of questions were thrown at me like“how I would climb the stairs wearing  a mundu ?”  to “How do I ride my bike in a mundu ? “ “How would I manage the cold in my office since it is cooled by a centralised A/C ? ”. All I had to say to them was that I have been wearing the Mundu since I have been 15 and all these are just natural for me. But got to say this I had a tough time to keep myself warm in office the simple reason being I have never worn the Mundu to someplace where there is an a/c.   And boy the rush that I got when I folded the mundu above my knees cannot be put into mere words. To understand the significance of that simple action you need to be a malayalee. For starters it is similar to the alpha male in Malayalam movies who folds his Mundu above his knees before he bashes up the villains he also gets to do that before he walks in slow motion after saying a punch dialogue in the movie. In reality it is done for the freedom of movement so that your natural movements are not restricted but we glamorise these things to a different level altogether. This so called Mundu is no laughing matter, in a Malayalee guy’s life it has a huge importance. In my case I wore the Mundu for the first time in my 10 th standard during my farewell at school and my Mom gifted me a Kasavu Mundu for the occasion, I still have that with me. It is difficult for me to believe now that I have not worn the Mundu in Public in the past six years (wearing a lungi at home is totally different) primarily because I have been out of Kerala since my college. By now I guess you might have understood why wearing the Mundu to office today was such a big deal for me.

Moving on to the Diwali celebrations I could see people in different attires representing  different cultures it  gave me a glimpse of the Unity in diversity of our country.  I felt special owing to the fact that I was the only one who represented my state of Kerala. And it felt to be great to be donned in your traditional attire in a place which is no way near your home state.