mannequins and more

In our little town of Vellore, around  10 years ago, Raymond’s opened a show room at one of the main junctions. It was respelent with a mezzanine floor. It was staffed by polite well dressed young men. It was an anomaly. It actually had readymade trousers (I am not calling them pants) and shirts.

Till then we had a few shops that sold “material.” The gent’s “shirting and suiting “ was upstairs. The ladies section below. The same salesman (often in a lungi) followed you to both sections. He did not have a clue about colour coordination, trends or fashion. There were no ties sold anywhere.

Raymond’s had large glass display windows in which they had male models. The men had enviable figures and their heads were adorned with luxuriant black wigs. They also had a half naked Roman warrior complete with sword and shield. (I don’t know why, He was not in a shirt and pant). Vellore had never seen anything like it.

On Friday mornings they changed the clothes on the models. A crowd invariably gathered to watch the proceedings. They  spilled out on to the main arterial road. Traffic got blocked and was reduced to a crawl. People on motor bikes craned their necks sideways to see what was happening as they drove forwards. Sundry pillion riders fell off. There were several accidents.

The police finally posted two extra men with lathis on Fridays. They chased away pedestrians and hit vehicles. Voyeurism was reduced and traffic moved smoothly.

To add to the excitement, a “ladies innerwear “ showroom was started on  the opposite side of the road. It had sundry mannequins in “innerwear” adorning the glass windows. They too received a change of attire of Fridays. It was interesting. The salesmen pulled off sundry arms and legs and sometimes even a whole head to get the innerwear on.(They looked like psychopaths).  In the process wigs (and sometimes whole heads  fell off) and bald headed or headless mannequins were exposed, much to the delight of the crowd. There were hoots, whistles and derisive laughter. A large number of the male school going population of the town seemed to congregate there.

Some one protested and two salesmen started holding up a bed sheet  in front of the mannequins as the change was affected. It did not deter the voyeurs.

 Between watching the Raymond’s showroom and the ladies’ shop opposite driving on was a real hazard on Fridays. There  was no way the road could be avoided without taking  a  long detour around the fort.

The shop was shifted recently. It went into one of the shopping complexes and is on the fourth floor. It  can no longer be seen from the road. The ladies show room went broke and had a distress “closing down sale.” (Wonder if they sold the mannequins also).

Means while the police have installed traffic lights, so  traffic and life is smooth and safe once again.