I remember 1960 as the time when austerity was coming to an end. Lakme had just started manufacturing cosmetics a few years back and my mother’s dressing table, which had always held just two bottles—Pond’s cold cream and Pond’s vanishing cream—suddenly started to fill up with moisturisers, mascara and lipsticks. We started looking less to the West for our aesthetics.
Taking wings: Fashionistas were young then
My parents and some of their friends started to buy chattais, dhurries and handwoven fabrics. In those days, you could even buy a painting by Ram Kumar or Husain on instalments. This was also the time when being a teenager became a trend; before that, girls had moved from frocks directly to saris, but now jeans, churidaars and the salwar kameez made their debuts. I used to get Rs 2 as pocket money for a week—just enough to buy a Penguin paperback. I still have those books.
