A short history of nighties

My friend S recently brought me a joke present from Kolkata a maxi Kindly dispel images of Lara Dutta in halter neck tangerine maxi and return to Andheri Maxi yaniki printed cotton nightie worn by bustily bossy Bengali ladies I was pleasedWe might think what you wear to bed would at least be spared judgement but nighties are considered infradig dowdy and ldquobehenji typesrdquo Irsquove often wondered what word is the opposite of behenji All Irsquove come up with is snob I find it funny that people find it funny that I love nighties much as in my youth people were surprised that I loved Hindi film songs then considered maha uncoolIf one goes by Hindi film songs though and I always do it wasnrsquot always dial nyet for nightie The nightie was a necessary accessory for the Modern Girl in movies from the 1960srsquo70smdasha sexy suggestion the dress code for fantasy Saira Bano was the ultimate nightie ambassador Two of her more famous nightie songs Bhai Battoor and Unse Mili Nazar embody the ldquonighttime routinerdquo one read of in foreign magazines via a sort of reverse striptease She begins in a bubble bath rolls into a towel gambols in a house coat while brushing her hair in outward waves until wrapped in an extravagantly frilly nightie she goes to her silken bed A woman who has an abundance of privacymdashher own bathroom her own oval mirrored dressing tablemdashand fantasies to spare she discusses her nazuk nazuk jawani wondering ldquoab jayenge kitni doorrdquo yaniki shall we go all the way or whatOther leading ladies of the time too feature in nightie songs Nanda has a nightie in white satin on a moonlit terrace siging ldquoyeh sama sama hai yeh pyaar kardquo Leena Chandaverker frolics in a formfitting nightie as Sanjeev Kumar sings ldquoyahan haath rakhna yahaan dard hairsquo his heart what else you dutty people There is a comment on the YouTube video of this song which I think should apply to nightiescoffersmdashldquo176 dislikes karne waalon aao kabhi haveli PErdquoWhy are nighties scoffed at Because at some point they were repurposed by middle and workingclass women into homewear and homework wear Because you can buy them in unfashionable and glorious markets like Lajpat Nagar or station bazaars for Rs 200 My childhood summer holidays in Bombay always involved an excursion to a particular shop on Hill Road for batik kaftannighties in high demand among the Delhi department of my family The kaftan Shabana Azmi wore several in Arth is a way for middle class ladies to set themselves apart from the cheap floral nighties worn by lower middle class women But they are identically used Nighties donrsquot need ironing are easy for housework and allow you to slap on a dupatta if you need to ldquogo for marketingrdquo yaniki to buy sabzi not sell meetha jhoot about overpriced sack dresses pretending they are not nighties as Bombay bhabis routinely doRecently my friend M tweeted about the delight and discovery she and her teenaged daughter felt when wearing her mumrsquos nighties when they stayed over A nightiemaxi is the ultimate donrsquotcare power wear You can work in it you can sleep in it and you can also spend Sunday in it while watching nightie songs on YouTube Irsquove given you a playlist EnjoyParomita Vohra is an awardwinning Mumbaibased filmmaker writer and curator working with fiction and nonfiction Reach her at paromitavohramiddaycom