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The Things people keep
PRINCE FREDERICK
Name Vinodhini
Collection 1,500 bangles and bracelets
How did the band ‘The Bangles’ get its name? A Chennai-based musician has an explanation, which, I am sure, he himself does not believe. He says the name was inspired by the sound of jangling bangles. The truth is: the female musicians in
troduced themselves as ‘The Bangs’ until they discovered that another American band had taken the name much before they even thought about it. Fearing they would be dragged to court, the four settled for something phonetically close to the name they had poached unwittingly. That’s how Susanna Hoffs, Vicki Peterson, Debbi Peterson and Annette Zilinskas came to be known as ‘The Bangles’, despite their lack of interest in this ornament.
In contrast, Vinodhini is known as ‘The Bangles’ for a good reason. She has bangles in various colours, material (glass, metal and fibre plastic) and shapes. “I began collecting them from the time I was in Standard VIII,” says Vinodhini, who now works for a software company.
She points to a clutch of purple bangles with which she started building up the collection. Earlier, her mother always bought her bangles. Vinodhini used to keep them safe in boxes (“I used to keep even those that were too big for my hands”), but the idea of starting a collection came late – around the time she joined college. At MOP Vaishnav (for women), where she studied commerce, her popularity soared because of her hands which were adorned with different bangles every day. Now, her hands are being noticed at her workplace.
For all that, Vinodhini does not believe in splurging on bangles (or bracelets). The price of most of her hand-wear falls in the Rs. 20 to Rs. 30 (a dozen) bracket. The costlier ones in the bunch? “They are anywhere between Rs. 50 and Rs. 70 a dozen”. The odd set comes at Rs. 100 a dozen. Mostly gifts, some bangles and bracelets were picked up outside the country.
Vinodhini is possessive of her bangles. She is happy to see them either on her hands or the special hangers her father has made. And, nowhere else.
Now, don’t you agree Vinodhini deserves the ‘Bangles’ sobriquet?
( freddie@thehindu.co.in)
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