An old album containing several small and big snaps unfolds
before me. I turn the pages passionately to catch the glimpses of my siblings, parents,
relatives and friends. With the passage
of time, the pages of the album have worn out and become brittle; the
photographs too have turned yellowish and look faded. The yellowed photographs
frisk me from present to the past, with nostalgic memories flooding. The thin transparent
papers alternating after each thick black sheet of paper have crumpled at the
edges; some holes too have appeared in their fragile bodies. With the threads
of space and time, these albums have preserved our memories and lineage
gracefully over all these years. These albums stand as testimony for the
evolving culture. Long skirt with a small top and a dupatta was the ideal dress
for the grown up girls then. Girls and
women in their early thirties or so, sporting two plaits was quite a common
sight. Slowly, the two plaits would turn into one plait or into a bun, or in to
a knot as one aged gracefully accepting reality. These hair styles manifest the
trends of those day, in the photographs. We as school girls have been
photographed with colorful ribbons made with various materials and eye-
catching designs with folded plaits. In those days, no woman was using safety
pins to keep the sari in place, especially the pallu. In these old photographs,
I look at myself and my
At the studios, the photographs of young women flaunting
their long single plaits embellished with jasmine or sevantige flowers were
quite common in 60s and 70s. For these exclusive photographs, the plait used to
get extended with artificial supplements. The girls stood with their backs,
with their embellished plaits, facing the long studio mirrors, which reflected
the decoration of the plaits vividly. Every house showcased this kind of photos
in the main hall in those days. For sheer fun, sometimes, small boys would be photographed
being metamorphosed into girls, with girl’s attire and hair decoration. Next
comes the description of convocation photographs. In every house, a row of
convocation photographs used to adorn the walls of the hall declaring proudly
the number of graduates in the family. The medium sized photographs in black
and white color, framed either in black or white color frames, used to be seen
at each and every house in 60s and 70s. A graduate clad in a black gown and
holding with both hands a rolled up certificate obliquely in front of her/his
chest was the typical pose for convocation photographs. Sometimes, the poses
slightly differed— a person would be sitting or standing near a tall table,
which narrowed at the top. On the table top, a flower vase would appear
invariably. This type of photographs was quite common in the albums, in those
days.
When I was studying in college, in the early 70 s, the convocation
function used to be a very big event for the graduates. In 60s and 70s, every
graduate used to await this event with all the eagerness. After completing the
course, it was everyone’s dream to attend the event in the black gown and get the
certificate. Only the gold medalists and rank holders would receive the
certificate by the chief guest of the prestigious function; others at the
office. When we friends graduated in 73,
we were looking forward to the convocation function very eagerly. Standing up
in queue, we got our respective gowns and certificates at the university office.
On the function day, we wore those gowns which were not tailor made for our physique,
feeling a little bit uncomfortable, but with a bright smile on our face. A sense
of fulfillment all of us had on that day.
During
the convocation event, the studios used to be very busy as graduates thronged 
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