Edition 50

Why Pajamas Mean More
Than My Farewell Saree
Anjali Singh, Columnist, 2019-20
We were just 15 minutes into our class when we
huddled in the back bench of the classroom and
my friend turned her notebook to the last page.
She began sketching blouse ideas for our farewell
sarees. Much before we knew what ‘quarantine’
even meant, all of my girlfriends had blocked dates
on their calendars to flock every shop of Chandni
Chowk and Lajpat Nagar for the infamous farewell
saree shopping. Confession: while we did attend
the farewell last year for the love of our seniors, it
would be a lie to deny that we were secretly scanning
everyone and crossing out the shades and styles of
the saree we would don the coming year.
However, this isn’t an ode to that 2-meter-long,
rectangular piece of fabric, but rather, to the polkadotted
pajamas that have seen every day of my
undergraduate life. Ever since the beginning, they
asked for nothing. A stroll to the market next door
is all that it takes to get a pair for yourself. What’s
more? It doesn’t even dig a hole half as deep in your
pockets as a saree would. Basically, pajamas are the
low maintenance friends who are ever-ready for a trip
to GTB or to bless you with notes the night before an
exam. But this still isn’t why my overpriced ‘farewell’
saree will not remind me of college as much as my
prized pajamas will.
we wore them around the campus. Let’s admit it, a
throwback to college life is never complete without
a mention of what made it our home – the hostels!
It’s in these matchbox-sized rooms that while being
always surrounded by people, we learnt how to be on
our own.
A look into the future and I can imagine myself
sipping coffee on the weekend, touching the hem
of my pajamas and wondering how much I miss the
kittens that tugged on it while I sat in the SNH mess
with a plate full of tasteless food but an earful of spicy
gossip! While my farewell saree would have found a
place in the photographs, it’s the pajamas that’ll rule
the memories in my head.
The story starts ages ago when I stepped in as a first
year. Thankfully, it didn’t take much time to realize
that this might be the only time in my life when I
can live in the comfort of my pajamas on weekends
and weekdays alike! Knowing this, I made sure that
I unfriended jeans, blocked trousers, and went on
to form some of my fondest memories in a pair of
pajamas in a pair of pajamas. One look at their polka
dots takes me away to the night we stargazed at the
OAT, and the very next day, dared each other to attend
Engifest in the very same pajamas. Here’s to the 8 AM
classes we went to in the thick winter fog and to the
evening jogs to Rohini market to get our admit cards
printed on midsem-eve!
Pajamas were a trademark of the hostellers, and
we felt a hint of privilege over the day-scholars as