DENIM BLUES

 

Denim jeans came as a boon to lazybones like me. We can wear a soiled trouser for another week with pride. I still remember the days when jean made a grand entry some three decades ago at the small town where I used to spend my childhood. It was the hottest topic to discuss even infront of girls' school. Some medical/ engineering students first started wearing it. For us, school kids' still wearing half pants, it was something to die for. We had seen it in pictures of heroes and heroines wearing in film magazines. In the pictures the rivets, the double stitches and particularly the faded portions on bum and groin areas made it look very mystic and seductive.

We all were dying to have a glimpse. Among my friends, we also had a smart aleck who can speak English with some extra stress on 'sshh..'. One day he came with his new found knowledge about the jeans and stated in a matter of fact tone, "You know, today I touched a jean pant. The yellow stitches were made out of copper wires. It was so strong that you put a jean pant on floor (without a pair of legs in it), it can stand upright. And the small pocket in right side is to hold bullets." We all envied him as we did not have any of our elder brothers or relatives wearing one. Then one day my mother saw a known medical student wearing a faded Levis jean. I got a fifteen minutes lecture about the virtues of a good student from my mother that day. "See!" blurted my mother, "He is reading in medical college and his father is very rich. Yet he is wearing such an old pant, probably his father's. And you, yet to be a matriculate, always demand for new cloths." It was futile to argue with her about the cost of that "old pair of pants".

After a year or so, I was lucky enough to have a pair of new denim trouser from my brother. After the school hour, I proudly put on my new treasure and went to show it off to my friends. Smarty was the first to comment on it. He came closer and inspected it by touching. "Hmm.., not a very good one. See these rivets are not made of copper. Still you have to know how to wash it. Take a brick and scrub the front upper portion of leg for 100 times, similarly 100 times for bum and 35 times for groin. And after two months you will have a lovely pair of faded jean pant." After that I spent nearly 30 minutes every Sunday to wash my denims. Once my grand father came to our house and saw me wearing one. He shouted, "Go and wear another pant immediately. How can you wear pants with leather of dead animals and loiter around and touch every thing?"

From that day I never wore denim jeans infront of him.