Hola! This time, I have a dear student of mine attempting to do the difficult task of connecting two extremes. The first part of the mail would be hers and the second shall be mine. So do read both and show some love!

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Shubhra Arora’s Version

Mornings are tiring. Honestly. And when one has work to do at 6 in the morning or has to get ready for a job, school, college or just in general get their family members ready, it becomes a goddamned worst hour of the day. You crave for one good thing to happen or see just in the hope that it might get a little better. Maybe that’s why toothpastes, brushes and cups are made this cute and pretty. They are officially the first thing you see. Maybe the companies hope to put your head in a calm state because you’re seeing something beautiful? No one knows their advertising strategy. This is just my theory.

Right. Now back to our minty sweet and slightly-burning-on-the-tongue toothpaste. May lord save your day if the toothpaste tube was on its last squeeze and the blob drops down in the sink bowl.

Have you ever looked at the toothpaste you put on your brush right in the morning and watched the white little squares being thrown anywhere in that gel? For one, I am always fascinated by those. And like all of you, I have tried taking one of them and putting it on my tongue just to see what it actually tastes like. 

No mint, nothing. Was it bland? No. What was it? I don’t know, but it did satisfy my curiosity about knowing what it was. I continued my daily routine of brushing my teeth and washing my face as usual. Yes, I dissected my face wash blob as well because I could see little particles in it. They dissolved into soap and I was convinced at least the soap companies just made us fools by putting in different coloured little balls of soap particles with probably different consistency to seem like they added something different to their product and sold it like hot cakes.

But that’s what we are. Curious little hoomans. Trying to live out of the FOMO (fear of missing out) and trying each and everything while we can.

But why do we try to get an experience of only the most exotic things or overhyped things? Why did we never go to that canal that’s right behind our house, or get into that sewing programme just because we believed it was so uncool?

Did we ever think of walking down that lane that looked like it led to the weakest sections of society? The kacche houses and random goats running kept us off those areas.

Maybe we’re just attracted to beautiful things? Maybe we tend to ignore the simplicity that stumbles across our way every minute. However, simplicity is again, relative. Subjective. Varies from person to person.

Simplicity doesn’t need to grab our attention. It is content with being how it is. It knows that someone will appreciate it and it might be beautiful for them. 

Like an empty house. It’s got nothing in there. Not even a sofa to sit on. But for a buyer, it’s their to-be home. It’s beautiful. It’s homely. It’s worth spending their hard-earned money on. See? relative.

Or a trial room. Have you wondered how small trial rooms are? They have 3 mirrors on three walls and a door on the fourth. What else? A hook? Maybe a shelf to keep your phone and wallet? lights? Hopefully, not a hidden camera. They are the most simplistic and yet the most needed in shopping malls and clothes stores. 

But it just feels like the trial rooms are a whole new world. For me, it’s the silence. I kid you not, I feel like that small space is completely detached from the world. Like it is just me and my three mirror images. 

I am forced to look at myself from all three angles. I am forced to analyse how my body has turned out to be. And some days, I appreciated my reflection’s cute thighs, like when the jeans fit perfectly. On the other days, I criticised her bloating stomach because the dress didn’t look cute on her. But it is still so personal. No one hears me except my reflections. Apart from the trial rooms of numerous malls that I’ve been in, never did I ever get the chance of looking at myself. The rush of life didn’t let me observe how I grew up. So when I see myself, everytime something is new. Maybe I reduced a lot. Maybe I developed good muscles from all the gymming I’ve been doing. Maybe my hair looks weird. 

The trial rooms gave me a breath of fresh air where I didn’t think of anything else. It only mattered if the clothes I am trying on looked good on me or not. I was able to live in the present. I was understanding what suited my body. No stress of the future, no regrets of my past. Just me and my present. Maybe that is why trial rooms feel like they are another realm? 

A place as trivial as a trial room can affect our mood. We might begin to love ourselves, or we might just cry in there. Haven't those places seen a lot? All kinds of emotions. Anger, awe, sadness, love. All of them. 

Regardless, it doesn’t judge us. It takes in, and absorbs whatever we give. The emotions, the reflections, the vibes. All of it. And don’t we all need a non-judgemental space?

A place where our insecurities are not our enemy, our scars are our pride and clumsiness becomes funny. Like when we dropped our toothpaste blob, but sometimes we just secretly picked it up and used it, heheheh!

Harsh’s Version

I have discovered a new liking for shopping. Especially clothes. I remember one of the days when I was with my dear sister and we went to buy jeans. This was back in 2016 when I was in college and I had just started living on my own. Before that, I would only shop when my mother had asked me a thousand times and I would give in to her request to add clothes to my wardrobe.

Once, I went with my sister to purchase jeans. I had not shopped alone for clothes before so I was sceptical about my choice and also, very disinterested in shopping for clothes. As we went to a few stores, I looked at many pairs of jeans and none of them seemed very interesting or comfortable. Finally, I picked up some of them and tried them in the trial room. They felt good on me and I was very comfortable wearing them.

As I came out, my sister asked me how is it and how do you feel about it. I told her that I am fine with it and I also did a tiny dance to ensure that it does not feel tight or get torn as soon as I stretch a bit and show off my flexibility. I did not know what I did right or wrong but all I remember was that my sister started laughing. It was a good pair of jeans but was out of budget so I had to drop them. Aah, student issues. I went to the trial room to change the jeans.

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That started my bond with trial rooms. From that point to today, I have a keen eye to spot the clothes I like and would like to experiment with. I have gone to various shops and each of them had a different variety of clothes but more importantly, the trial room had a vital role to play. I remember one of the stores having absolutely no provision to hang any of my clothes. I do not know if they thought of me as a Hindu God with multiple hands or saw me as a supremely genius who would be able to levitate the clothes. I somehow put them on the floor and went through this process.

Trial rooms are often neglected when people make their shops I feel. They think a room with a mirror is enough and maybe a hook or two. This works well mostly but there is no attention to detail. The light has a huge role to play. Good or bad light would make sure that the clothes are as they look and would not look funny or dramatic when we reach home in or with them. Not everyone is Ranveer Singh who can pull off every type of clothes.

Interestingly, trial rooms are also a safe space for vulnerability and insecurity. Any person who is going to try a cloth would feel vulnerable cause they are not aware of how the new one would look on them. It can make them a superstar or it can make a fool of themselves. But before they come out with it, they judge themselves in the mirror. Most people would stop at this point if the idea of themselves does not get portrayed with the clothes they are wearing. For example, if I have worn jeans and a T-shirt all my life and suddenly, I am asked to wear Harem pants and a Kurta, I would be baffled at how I look. The new feeling would not be accepted immediately. Even if I look the best in the pair I picked, I would not come out wearing it from the trial room because I am uncomfortable and more importantly, I have judged myself before someone can even think or say something about me. Those who are able to come out with a weird-looking pair of clothes are either super confident and secure about themselves or Ranveer Singh.

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I managed to wear the pair and buy it after burying my insecurities and fear of judgement, but when I came back from the trial room, I was greeted with a splash of oil and grease on the way. The worker at the shop was trying to fix the squeaking hinge and make sure that we all can enjoy a horror-free evening in case the power is cut. Poor guy was drenched in guilt and drowned in an ocean of apology. I told him that it was not a concern as I am prepared for all these events. I removed the small tube of toothpaste that I have in my bag ( Read Bags and Batman) and asked for a little amount of water to which the store helper happily obliged. The stain was gone in some minutes but the shock and the surprise on the face of the shopkeeper as well as the worker never left.

They asked me how did toothpaste manage to get rid of such a strong stain without much effort and then I went on to explain how powerful toothpastes are. When 9 out of the 10 dentists recommend brushing your teeth with a particular toothpaste, the 10th one is okay with any type of toothpaste as he or she knows how toothpaste functions and how powerful of a cleaning agent they are. A stain on clothes? Toothpaste. Hazy and stained mirrors? Toothpaste. A vehicle full of dirt, grease, and sand? Toothpaste! Want to clean the chain of a bicycle or bike? Toothpaste! Want to clean your laptop? Definitely not toothpaste. ( I am looking at you, Gopi Wahu)

Toothpastes are never given their due except in the advertisements. And they are only shown in a particular light. X toothpaste makes you kiss ready and says paas aao. Y toothpaste makes you jump out of bed because you brushed with it. Z toothpaste talks about its legacy in between movies with Alia Bhatt wanting to become a PA. Everyone finds a way to market this product. But no one knows that it is much more than oral hygiene. It can be a super cleaner. Just like any fizzy carbonated cold drink.

Oh, wait. They are used as pesticides. Life is all about cheap thrills, ain’t it? Let me go back to cleaning my room with toothpaste or my mother would send me a chappal from Rajkot itself. Probably with the cleaning cloth too. I can see if the chappal fits me in a trial room, maybe?

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