We’re watching Lagaan today, and I notice again this piece of jewelry the women wear in all the Indian movies I’ve seen - there’s a piece at the forehead and it extends back to cover the part in the hair. I can’t really tell but it looks like it might hook onto the sari at the back of the head, maybe.
I always wonder, how are these things attached? Are they really combs that go into the hair? What are they called? Can I buy one? Would I want to, or do I have to staple it on?
I always smile to see them, because most cultures can’t come up with a new entirely different piece of the body to ornament, you know? I mean, generally you got your necklaces, your rings, your hair sticks and such, your bracelets and anklets, a few things you have to make a hole in you for like earrings and nose rings, but does anybody else have a piece of jewelry that’s for the part in your hair? It’s pretty nifty.
Okay, okay, I know WAGs are out of line this early in a GQ thread, but I really want to know the actual answer too, so this is a WAGbump!
WAG: Married Hindu women wear a little makeup in the part of their hair to signify their marital status (since bindis on the forehead are now pretty much a decoration without the marriage significance anymore). (Mentioned in the “Related customs” section of this wikipedia article on bindi.) I wonder if these are simply metal/jeweled versions of that. I have seen them for sale, and some of them have tiny combs along the side, usually near the back, which get hidden by the hair, and some are pinned on with bobby pins. I think they’re gorgeous, but since I don’t know the cultural connotation of them for sure, I won’t wear one lest I offend someone inadvertently.
A related (?) item is the Maangtika, designed to “glorify the forehead”. It’s supposed to be made uniquely for each bride, and comes in many styles, but is generally a drapey thing over the forehead, often with a line of jewels or metal running down the part to help secure it on her head. And also to look pretty, of course. I have one in rose quartz - not of Indian design - that I just lurve.
If so, it is indeed a tikka. They are generally long thin chains. At the very end is a tiny hook. The hook goes into your hair. This works great when your hair is a)parted, b)straight, and c) heavy enough to hold it. Mine is a)curly and b) not very heavy. So I’ve often had to use bobby pins to hold mine in.
They are meant chiefly for decoration. When we marry we wear sindoor in the part, but while the tikka once may have been an elaborate version of that, now it’s just pretty. I wore one a lot when I was dancing, it adds a little to a plain head. And when you’re dancing you really need to secure that thing down. I’ve had them fly off before - which is why you only wear “costume” ones when dancing.
The mangtika WhyNot references is indeed only for a wedding. I’d never wear that any other day.
And please. Feel free to wear them if you want. I would rather have someone respect us and learn about the past AND wear our stuff. People wear it anyway, without having any idea what it means, and people are getting their nose pierced* in all kinds of directions, so how could I be offended by someone genuinely being interested.
Ok, some Indians pierce the right side of their nose or even the septum. I am North Indian, noses are pierced on the right.
Indian jewelry has always struck me as being particularly creative. There is the jewelry in the part of the hair, the jewelry that runs a chain from the nose piercing to the ear, and I have seen pieces that connected a ring and a bracelet with a decorative chain, too.
And it’s so pretty. I love that intricate goldwork.
Yes, that’s exactly it! Does it pretty much stay where you put it with just that hook? I assumed when I saw it in the movies that there were combs involved somehow to make it look so perfect, but then again it’s a movie, right? It would never stay in my part with just a little hook, my hair is much too fine.
It depends on what you are planning to do, quite honestly, but usually bobby pins are used. I used to use tons of them, to hold the veil, and any other head jewelry.
Brides mostly just sit there, and Indian hair is almost always very thick and straight, so it’s easy to hook. However if you are planning to move around, better to secure it. And my hair is extremely unusual in India because it’s curly and thin, so I need pins.
ETA: Oh, and movies are obviously not real life…they do so many things in the movies we would never dream of doing.
You don’t mean to tell me that you don’t have a bazillion backup dancers that appear out of nowhere when needed and then vanish back into the void from whence they came after the song?
I spent my life tripping over them, the ungrateful degenerates! They just get underfoot. Cramps my style when I’m running around trees with my latest inamorata.
WhyNot, once again, I am always pleased and not offended when someone respectfully wears our clothes/jewerly/whatever. And the sad thing is, white chicks often look really really good in our stuff. We have so many bright colors, it offets pale skin marvelously.
Anaamika, I think many of us feel the opposite - that people with darker skin look much better in the brighter colors. For example, it’s always the dapper young black men who can wear those really brightly colored button down shirts; it can be overpowering next to pale skin.
I’m a sorta-redhead with freckles and for some reason I can wear yellow fabulously. Orange however, seems to be made for much, much darker complexions.
I’ve always wanted a sari, but would feel like a freak wearing one.
Well naturally. How else would the white dress of the heroine become just transparent enough to hint at things, but not enough to earn the ire of the Censor Board? Of course, there are always waterfalls, but rain is much more appropriate.
On a slightly more serious note, the monsoon has traditionally been associated with romance, so there’s that element as well. Traditional paintings of Krishna and his lover Radha often have a backdrop of moisture-laden (and interpret that as you will ;)) rainclouds. There’s something very compelling about the first big monsoon rains which do have a powerful effect on the libido; this is something I’ve found out first-hand.
Me too. I mean, I was too young to put it into effect (well - 17, not young by US standards, but definitely young by Indian if not married). But I felt the effect all the same.
But it’s HOT-HOT-HOT and then suddenly the rain falls, and it falls in steady, clear sheets, and I just love it.
BTW, Dervorin, your earlier comment about tripping over the backup dancers cracked me up and makes me smile every time I think of it.
As for the censor board, ask Mandakini about that! Her white was VERY thin, I mean people are still getting off on it. Of course her career was ruined, but that’s neither here nor there I guess!
It always makes me sad that I am too pale and look terrible in most of those colors. I would love a dark-colored outfit, and I know they exist, but I don’t exactly live in Sari Central. And my shoulders seem to be a bit too broad for most of them too–I’m built on a slightly larger scale than most Indian women. Sigh. I’d like a salwar kameez, I think I could think of a few places to wear it. Maybe.
I’d like a salwar kameez, I think I could think of a few places to wear it. Maybe.
