After retirement, since I stayed most of the time in the house, the dhoti became a regular outfit for me. So convenient. I worked my way through my own way of tying up the dhoti. This gave me the confidence to go out with a dhoti on. As you age and start visiting functions or temples, the dhoti becomes a necessity or a sign of respect. Occasions demand that. Slowly, I made it a habit of wearing dhotis for all family functions.

During my second son’s wedding, one of his colleagues from Seattle had attended. On seeing almost all people attending the wedding in dhotis, he thought all of them were villagers, not city folks!

‘Panchkatcham’ is the way a dhoti is worn by a married man. This dhoti is a little longer height-wise and breadthwise. A little complicated it may look when you tie it up this way for the first time. It is just habit. All functions and poojas are supposed to be performed with the dhoti tied this way by married men. You can see the ‘Sastrigals’ wearing this and moving around on two-wheelers with nonchalance.

It is the practice in my part of the country to gift dhotis and saris to close relatives by the couple performing the function, be it a marriage of their son or daughter or a thread ceremony. For the landmark birthdays like the sixtieth, seventieth, eightieth, or even more, the couple celebrating such birthdays are gifted dhotis and saris by all the relatives and even most of the friends. Imagine the number of dhotis and saris that would be collected this way.

And what to do with them? For those gifting these, it signifies a mark of respect and following tradition. Everybody is afraid to go away from this tradition for fear of being mistaken by somebody. Remember I told you sometime back that we have to live always in the fear of what others will think of our actions.

In spite of my advanced age, this fear on and off does strike me when I have to select a gift for such occasions.

Continued in 278. Storekeeper of Desi Dhotis - Part 3