Fa-shun week

'HEY, NICE TO SEE YOU! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? Shouted, (the loud music made it impossible to talk) the intended, fellow party hopper. The question demanded no answer and was accompanied by a lot of hugging and kissing. Kissing? Yeah,the one wherein you offer your cheek, all the while muttering oh-so-nice-to-see-you's. But the kissing did not raise eyebrows or the kind of furor that the Nelson Mandela to Shabana did. It was merely a gesture and was not at all akin to the cult status kiss between Madonna and her protégé Britney.

The occasion was one of the various indistinguishable parties with the India fashion week, wherein you meet the same crowd with a good mix of the celebrities thrown in for some spice and pictures for the glossy magazine covers and one which helps the newspapers circulation drive.

While browsing through various fashion magazines I had always wondered about who wore such clothes and .. where? Isn't fashion all about being comfortable and affordable? Don't all the designers almost swear by these two cardinal rules of the game? Then why are the final products such useless bits of tatters?

I got all answers with living, walking proof, to my queries.

Besides, an eclectic mix of designers, long legged models and an occasional celebrity there were the page 3 socialites with a you-must-be-knowing-me look on their faces. The party had innovative alcoholic beverages, desserts and an all the more innovative fashion show with clothes you-wonder-who-wears-them.

The party picked up, finally. The dance floor sizzled with energy, to thumping remixes and Punjabi tunes. The crowd let its hair...and a lot more, down. The exotic alcoholic drinks make the spirits loose and soaring. Amidst all the revelry, the fashion or the reason for the get together was totally forgotten.

With a little bit more than the normal consumption of alcohol and swaying to its pleasant effect, me and my friend Pochi made our quite exit.

'HEY POCHI, NOW I GUESS, I KNOW WHY IS IT CALLED FA-SHUN?' I said while floating in the air.
'Switch off the CAPS.' He answered nonchalantly
'Hmm.. Yeah!' suddenly realizing the all-enveloping silence around us.

Ya, is it because the designers shun all logic and the models shun all inhibitions...and the clothes and we just enjoy all the shunning (you better not expect better vocabulary from a happily, pleasingly high person).

Pochi it seemed was not in a deliberative mood. Besides he was far too disillusioned of the nomenclature process. As he was still unable to grapple with a name, which was a result of ...all too indulgent Indian parents and a huge extended familywho eventually have difficulty remembering names of the numerous kids in the family, who seem to have been cloned from the same stock. Hence from babu, chotu, cutie to pochie...and finally, somehow he was stuck with it, for a lifetime.

Yet, it seemed he was not bothered by anything at present and as we stepped out in the fresh dilli hawa with the clean recently rain washed dilli streets humming to ourselves we weren't really bothered by fashion or shunning all fashion for that matter.... Till the next fashion week we were just content with life, generally