Code Red, Green, Blue

A stand-up woman comedian once revealed the question that dogs every housewife almost daily is: kya banaoon...

A stand-up woman comedian once revealed the question that dogs every housewife almost daily is: kya banaoon what to cook? A somewhat similar but no less difficult question is: kya pahnoon what to wear? Fortunately, when I became a cop, I was practically delivered of this existential dilemma. Uniforms for us cops and soldiers isn8217;t just a convenient mode of dressing up. We owe very existence to it.

Naturally, over the years, like my most of my brethren, I too began to regard fashion as a four-letter word. Moreover, like the loving husband who sees glimpses of his wife in any attractive woman, I viewed civilian dress as just another form of a uniform.

However, on being posted to a longish non-uniform assignment, the old question began to haunt me again: kya pahnoon? So, I decided to meet the challenge squarely. As I updated myself on new fashion trends and learnt that colours had ceased to be gender-specific. For example, my daughter developed a fondness of blacks and greys, once thought to be essentially men8217;s colours. So I too jumped on to the bandwagon and filled my wardrobe with shirts of such eye-catching hues as baby pink, deep purple, parrot green and shocking red. It took all the persuasive skills of my wife and daughter to dissuade me from the irresistible charm of spotless white trousers and shoes 8212; favourites with south Indian male movie stars.

However the sheer variety of colours began to overwhelm me. The permutations and combinations were so daunting that I spent many days looking for a permanent solution to the problem. That was when a colleague revealed his weekday dress code: white on Mondays, red on Tuesdays, green on Wednesdays, yellow on Thursdays, blue on Fridays and black on Saturdays.

This cast iron dress code was just what I was looking for. I adopted it immediately. It left just one day 8212; Sunday. Well, I won8217;t tell you what colour I sport on the Sabbath, but I8217;ll give you a clue: I keep the day reserved for springing sartorial surprises on all those who believe that cops don8217;t don civvies.