Playing Dress Up!

I can't believe it's Halloween again! It seems like just last week I was ordering the clear umbrella for my Jellyfish costume for last Halloween. Not everyone got it, but such is the fate of us creative thinkers! :P

Halloween is such a fantastic concept. Here's a whole country of people (and their dogs!) that wear the most outlandish clothes once a year and parade in the streets - Wait, I'm in the US - make that everyday. But seriously though, this whole be-a-character-for-a-night holds great appeal for the eccentric exhibitionist in me.

I have a strange relationship with costumes. I absolutely love getting into one but some of my most disastrous experiences have been while in costume. In the spirit of writing a Halloween blog, I've decided to share a couple of moments of ignominy from my costume chronicles, lucky you. You're allowed to laugh, but you know you share some of this pain, so MIND IT!

Disaster no 1 was in 1st standard, when I was the world's smallest Jhansi Rani Lakshmi Bai. In full regalia, weaponry and all, I was waiting to get on stage so I could recite my Hindi lines. I didn't understand what the heck they meant..all I knew was I had to yell them out and pretend to be pissed off. Unfortunately for me, I was also probably the world's wussiest Jhansi ki Rani, because of the class bully sitting next to me off-stage..aptly dressed in a "Rowdy" costume, with fake stubble and a mole growing hairs. He was really in his element, and started making fun of my costume, and pulling at my jewellery, armor..you name it. He actually managed to rip my earring off my ear, which promptly started bleeding. To make these happenings more memorable, my name was called at that very moment I discovered my ear was bleeding. I went on stage blubbering, continued to blubber through my lines, and finally began a full fledged bawl that ended my lines with -"Miss, Rajesh made my ear bleed Miss!" on the microphone no less. I didn't win a prize, but Rajesh was duly punished by the teacher, and his mother got a talking-to, plus my mother bought me a whole bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk that I didn't have to share so all was well in my world. I had won this battle!

A second costume travail that is imprinted in my brain was while playing Shiva for a school play. I must have been in 7th standard. The teachers decided to use a whole sari to tie into a dhoti on me, so Shiva ended up looking pregnant, with disproportionately swollen hips. Oh, and did I mention my wig was perilously perched on the side of my head, and threatened to fall every time I moved? So the whole time I was on stage, it looked like I had a headache, and was clutching my head in pain! Very Godlike and respectable.

I never understood why as I grew older I always had to play a dude!? Seriously. My sister got the glamorous roles like Miss. Universe, and I was always some unstylish frumpy guy in an illfitting costume, and awful, awful hair. Does wonders for a sense of feminity and self-esteem.

My idea this year was to reverse all that and go as Mystique from X-Men..when I remembered I was missing a vital component of the costume - Rebecca Romijn's body.

Ideas, anyone?

P.S. Looks like Slumdog's made Party Pig extend their repertoire this year!