I was born and brought up in a village. About six decades ago, dress meant to be covered with clean clothes. There was no categorisation like today of Formal, informal casual, festival etc. For most occasions the dress was same(mainly because only a few were there which got repeated.)New dresses were purchased only on very few few times like school reopening, birthday and Deepavali/Onam. This was the case for majority of the people then. So as children w never felt any complex on dress.
In UP and HS, there was school uniform. At home it was old and worn out dresses. For some special occasions we wore the less used ones or the new one purchased on a latest occasion.
It was only after getting a job and moving to a metro that I started to understand different dresses and seen people who were conscious about appearances. As I had been in a job with public interactions and a certain responsibility, I took care to look decent and clean and aptly behaved to suit my job. Other than that I did not bother about dress or make up. I took care to appear civil, decent and suit my age. I have never gone to any fashion saloon, and stuck to the local saloon at every place, the local tailor, etc. When the tailoring charges became more than the cloth cost, I started buying normal readymade shirts.
Even now I continue as a normal average person of my age in dress and appearance. I have not dyed my hair and am happy to look my age. The only make up I use is the normal talcum powder after bath, and homemade hair oil. Occasionally on travel I use the Dabur or other hair oil for the convenience of carrying and using. I give priority to personal cleanliness and hygiene, normal etiquette and courtesy only and not much on any made-up appearance.
