-->
When we were little, Juls and I used to fight over who gets to ‘swing’ in dad’s lungi.
Yup, you read that right.
Let me start again.
When daddy wears a lungi, and then sits on his sofa (yup he has his own sofa spot), it forms a little seat of cloth where little kids can park their ickle bottoms and ‘swing’. I became heavier quicker than the little one did, so she got most of the lungi swinging time. And Jon? Well we girls bullied him too much for him to get a chance of anything in the house at all.
Before I continue with my story I should explain what a lungi is to all those non-desi people out there…I have to a lot of international readers ok.
The lungi, can also be known as a sarong, dhoti, mundu etc. is a garment worn around the waist. In some places like Burma Malaysia Singapore India Sri Lanka Punjab , West Bengal and Bihar . The mundu which is popular in the South of India is white in colour and has a gold border and is usually worn for formal events and ceremonies. But the lungi I am talking about is the typical, casual (cool) South Indian one, available in every single colour and print, usually in a checked or striped pattern.
Okay so yeah, I’m not here to give you a history lesson, you get the point.
A couple of months ago we were sitting and talking and realised that our parent’s generation were the last of the lungi race. In our family at least… which constitutes of the whole of Mangalore, so that’s saying a lot. Not a single one of my fifteen male first-cousins can even imagine wearing a lungi, unless it is for a dance/play thing which they get roped into during a family wedding. They’re more than comfortable in their boxers.
I can’t imagine dad and all the uncles going to bed without changing into a lungi first. Heck, they kick off the darn trousers and belts as soon as the sun sets, just so they can be comfortable enough to relax the rest of the evening drinking and smoking in lungis. It’s such a homely sight
=)
But yeah, I’m not holding it against these boys. It’s not like I’m going to wake up every morning and oil my hair and put fresh jasmines in it. It’s just sad that our children won’t know what a lungi swing is. Actually I don’t think kids nowadays know what a normal swing is, unless it comes in a digital format on one of those computer/ps3 games or whatever those things are.
I think I’ll end with some ‘interesting’ lungi stuff I found on the internet:
-www.lungi.co.uk
(yup there’s a site)
The Song Of The Lungi
When in white, you are my formal wear.
When in design, you are a festival!
What good are those trousers?!
If I wrap you around my head,
you become a turban.
You are a blanket if I am cold.
And a sail when the wind is good.
After I play in the sea,
you become my towel.
A flag when I wave
A trap to catch the mango!
Ready for Cricket when I fold you in half,
Ready for hanging when I twist you as a rope
ready as bed when I'm struck at fairs
You become a shawl when I need modesty
and a carrying bag during a loot.
The trousers are no good!
(Inspired by the "Trousers are no Good!" folksong, which in turn is inspired by the classic "Neenarigadeyo Ele Manava" (the humans are no good).
https://www.kamat.com/kalranga/attire/lungi.htm)
Interesting Facts about Lungis
> Male students of Trivandrum
> Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu is the Paris
> Seventy percent of the India Coimbatore
> Foldability of the lungi is very handy for fighting villains on the street, as Mohanlal and
Mammooty and other actors have demonstrated on the silver screen
> In addition to providing comfort, the lungi also acts as a ventilation factor in summer.
(www.tradeindia.com/about_products/796/Lungis.html)
-->
And last but not least, the world’s best lungi dancer-
The lungi is going to die soon, but I hope it makes a kickass comeback someday.
