You have not mentioned the hems: those damned broad hems, hemmed in in reserve, to be let down after a couple of years' growth and contrasting ever so starkly with the rest of the worn out apparel!
I can imagine how much more poignant it must have been for the girls, even more so as the reserve-pleats of their dresses were let out as they grew plumper.
Answered your querries bellow.
A still shuddering Alfred!
Pity, you din't think of popularizing it as 'la mode' as you did later, in Bombay, with your shreded jeans!
ca 4th std, at 12 years old. 1956. A Roamer.From: Cecil Pinto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [The Goan Forum d-list] Vaddtea angar - Child Trauma in Goa Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 18:02:39 +0530
When I was in school I always wore school uniforms that were stitched two sizes bigger so that I could 'grow into then'. By the time I did grow into them they were faded and only fit to be discarded. Effectively this meant that I never wore a smart fitting new school uniform right through my 10 years at St. Thomas School, Aldona.
To a lesser extent the same holds good for shoes, slippers, banians etc.
This practice of stitching/buying oversize clothing for growing children is referred to as 'vaddtea angar' in Konkani. Generations have grown up never having once worn an article that was a perfect fit on day one. And by the time it fitted it was no longer new. Bummer!
I am studying the psychological and sociological implications of this and would like inputs from any of you who have gone through such psychological and social trauma in their childhood. Also a few other questions: - Is this 'vaddtea angar' phenomenon true of even the developed countries where people are relatively affluent? - Do you still follow the 'vaddtea angar' principle when purchasing/stitching clothes for your children? - Did 'vaddtea angar' have any permanent debilitating psychological effects on you as an adult? - Can I sue my parents?
To know if you were from an affluent family in Goa, as a child, please answer the questions below truthfully:
- At what age did you get a wristwatch? Which year was this?
- At what age did you get a cycle? Which year was this?
A little later, 2nd-3rd hand; Parker pen at SSC
- Did you constantly wear hand-me-down clothes from siblings/cousins?
There were no such creatures conveniently situated.
- Did you share ice-candy (referred to as ice-fruit/ ice-prate/ ice-crut) with classmates for reasons of economy?
No, never ate them, shunned them since I had caught a couple of icekrut-wallahs pre-sale licking them.
Shared beer though, when I could bum it. Had no way of sharing the altar-wine though, since I inbibed it in the Loyola sancristy. Eventually caught red-handed and barred thenceforth from serving Mass, for doing which so readilly, I had been so very much complimented earlier. Had been held up as an example, to be emulated, by the rest boys. Earned me the nickname, Holy Man.
Cecil Pinto (Psychological Researcher - Goa Specific)
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