Karnataka - Bangalore   

Where have umbrellas gone?

Anil Kumar Sastry

OUT OF FASHION: People carrying umbrellas has become a rare sight of late.

BANGALORE: Years ago you would have wondered whether you had entered a butterfly park while walking by a college in summer. Girls holding umbrellas used turn any college campus and its surroundings a colour zone. Not only they protected the students from the blazing sun, but also added to the smartness of the fairer sex.

Many girls, who have now grown up and are accomplishing various roles in their life, still cherish the fond memories associated with umbrellas and the summer season.

Rajalakshmi from Basavanagudi, a bank employee and mother of two grown up boys, recalls: "My classmates gave me the nick name `Kempu Chchatri' (red umbrella) as I was using a foldable red umbrella. It was really useful. Not only it protected me from the sun and heat, I went home unsoaked during the unexpected summer showers," Rajalakshmi says.

There was another use of it: she used to hide herself from the eyes of eve-teasers.

Having studied in a prominent city women's college, she used to walk a couple of kilometres from home to the college.

However, umbrellas now appear to have become a thing of the past even during the rainy season.

Rajalakshmi feels that it must be due to the changed concept of fashion.

Not merely umbrellas have vanished but the attire that had offered full protection to one's body too underwent a radical change, she noted.

Majority of students, including girls, prefer a cap to an umbrella these days.

"You have to hold a bag to carry umbrella all the time whereas these days there is hardly any space in our bags," said Tanushri, an undergraduate student with a prominent city college.

"I prefer a cap to an umbrella as it is handy," she adds.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

You're right. It is getting hotter by the year
A few changes that go a long way
Traders at APMC yard observe bandh
Legislature adopts motion on OBC reservation
Don't scrap SDMCs, say experts
Elders express anguish over teacher's death
For a splash of creativity
Farm policy should focus on women: Devaki Jain
The coolest building in town
High Court refuses to stay calendar of events for urban local body elections
Where have umbrellas gone?
From Freud to kritis
Government to talk to farmers on land for SEZs
Petroleum dealers serve ultimatum
Scouting for designer bicycles
Strokes of protest
`Adopt Tamil Nadu model'
Are women teachers in distress?
Survey on illegal mining
Bagging a record
Scarlet splendour
In Bangalore Today

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu