In my not-so-humble opinion, choosing that day’s earring in the morning is one of life’s simpler pleasures and frankly a major reason that gets me excited to wake up each morning. I think I first became a minor connoisseur of ear accessories when I joined St Teresa’s College, Ernakulam, known for its uber-fashionable students who treat every day as their own personal fashion show. In anticipation (and a lot of anxiety) for my very first day, I went to the one jewelry store in my small hometown and selected three big, heavy hangings from their limited collection with my mother’s help. I’d never worn anything like it before. I also got a bright red lipstick for the first time in my life, then fresh out of a strict convent school which allowed no ornamentation of any kind.
This turned out to be the best decision I’d made that day, as apparently, wearing dark lipstick was an unwritten entry-level expectation for Teresians. And so the first attempt I made to fit in at this chic, ultra-urban college – full of fiery women with iron in both their eyes and their jewelry choices – far away from my boring, fashion-dead hometown was by wearing mismatched, much-too-big earrings to class every day. I don’t blame myself for this rookie mistake of trying too hard, as even our teachers looked like the physical manifestation of the concept of feminism, living, breathing, and probably having it for breakfast while looking the part, in their huge bindis and eye-catching statement jewelry. I remember thinking then (in my initial over-awed days) that they must be what certain Malayali men in Instagram comments pictured when they were threatened by, and called outspoken women “feminichis” (a derogatory term for feminists). This was also the time when I started making connections between the size of one's pottu (bindhi) and the extent of one's empowerment. Needless to say, the eighteen-year-old me was blown over in admiration and awe.
Fast forward to four years later (It's been four years already?! Wow time is indeed a simulation), and I have managed to amass quite an enviable collection of earrings myself. At every hostel I’ve lived in, my (relatively) vast array of jhumkas and hoops of all shapes and colors have managed to gain quite a reputation, after being spread out on bedspreads and analyzed carefully by scores of interested peers who then borrow a pair or two, never to be seen again. But that’s how we are, us girls (the borrowing part, not the never-returning one). We love a good earring. So vested an interest I’ve cultivated in these miniature works of art that I went ahead and created a makeshift display for them in my room here in Chennai, in front of which I now spend the better part of my mornings trying to decide what goes best with my outfit of the day. Ironically, the one I happen to choose most often is one I ‘borrowed’ from my roommate a while ago, because nothing attracts us more than something that does not belong to us, right?
(to be continued)
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