Jeans forever

So the other day, I opened my wardrobe and almost screamed.

No, there was no dead (or worse, alive) lizard in there. I had just seen something rather shocking.

When your wardrobe starts to look like 'a huge random pile of tangled messy things', and you can't tell where one piece of clothing begins and the other ends, it's time to call for help.

My crazy schedules leave me no time to maintain a neat wardrobe. I'm lucky if my droopy eyes can spot something to pull out at 6:30 in the morning from the big pile, pull it on and rush to work.

But the shocking sight was too much for me to take. I decided to do something about it.

So I asked a friend who'd come over to help me sort the clothes because it looked so intimidating it was beyond my humanly capabilities to handle it myself. We took everything out and started folding and sorting the clothes into neat little stacks on my bed. Soon you could not see the bedcover. Stack of trousers, jeans and three-quarters. Stack of T-shirts. Stack of shorts. Stack of short skirts. Stack of long skirts. Stack of 'clothes that are too fancy to wear to office'. Stack of night dresses. Stack of singlets. Stack of formal clothes. Stack of Indian clothes. Stacks and more stacks.

And during this process, I discovered some clothes from ancient days. Clothes that I had forgotten existed in my life. Some very special ones at that, that I used to simply adore. As I picked one up, and stared at it in suprised amusement, it struck me suddenly.

The clothes in our wardrobe are like the people we meet and become friends with.

They come in all sizes, shapes and colours. We acquire more and more of them as time passes, and we lose many of them along the way. Sometimes we look for them consciously, and sometimes something just catches our fancy and we grab them before they can slip away.

Some are favourites. We're seen most often with them. They make us happy.

Some seem to hug you, others make you uncomfortable.

Some only make sense when put together. Others can hold their own.

Some are with us all the time. Even though they may not be visible on the outside. But they are there all right.

Some are very bright and cheerful, and it's not easy to ignore them. You can spot them even if they are at the bottom of the huge messy pile. You can't get them out of the way, no matter how much you try. They have that spark, that quality to make their presence felt.

Some just seem to complete you.

In the case of some, you feel proud to have discovered them. Even though they were there for everyne to see, it was you who found them. And they're all yours to keep. But one fine day, someone else - a sister, a friend or a cousin - likes them so much, they just take them away and never return them. And you have no choice but to let go.

And there are some you just have to give away. Just because the time and situation demands so. No matter how much you love them, you have to let go. You just don't get along any more, and you have to face it things are not the way they were in the beginning. They just don't make you feel the way they used to.

Then there are the fancy ones. You're only seen with them once in a while. Those are the ones that get mixed reviews. Some people feel that you can't pull off something that fancy, while others see a new you.

Then there are the secret ones, which you'd rather not disclose to anyone. You got them when you were on a shopping-high, and you really like them, but they don't really go with anything else in your wardrobe. So you hide them deep down and hope no one ever spots them. But you never throw them.

Some look great when you first see them, but after you've brought them in, you realise they are not what you thought they were. Perhaps you'd seen them in a different light earlier.

You need pegs and hangers to hold some, otherwise they will slip away. Others will stick around no matter how rough a treatment you give them.

Some need more care than others to last longer. If you don't follow instructions, they may change colour.

And sometimes, you see some and sigh, "I had one exactly like that... years and years ago..."

And finally, there's that pair of jeans which stick with you for years and years. And years.

Because when it comes to comfort level, nothing else even comes close.