Turbans make a comeback

Audiences gathered around the narrow entrance of a passage, spelt trouble for organisers who repeatedly requested ‘Only two at a time, please’. Some felt like a kid of bygone era, surrounding the bioscope man while others prepared themselves for a theatrical performance. But what followed, turned out to be a surprise for all concerned.  

 

No tickets, no fighting for good seats and no normal set up marked Dinesh Yadav’s installation project ‘Pagadi’ at the recently concluded 15th Bharat Rang Mahotsav. At the entry, a girl pasted stickers on foreheads which read ‘Mind Your Head’ and asked viewers to duck and cross the entrance. A brick wall passage followed, where a dummy head adorned with a green turban was stationed. Just beside it were headphones which had pre-recorded conversation.

This was repeated after which the audio turned visual as actors in a room staged a melodramatic marriage of a wedding in a Rajasthani village. Here a bride’s father puts down his pagdi when he is unable to fulfill the dowry demands. A few steps ahead and a row of variety of turbans adorn the heads of sticks (which have spring at ends) and appear to be moving. Mirrors formed the backdrop of this section which ended at a man singing folk verses in his melodious voice.

Another visual installation stationed shows a girl tying a turban to the beat of a dholak placed in front of the television screen. The journey now leads to a wider area where a mare is mounted by a girl decked as a bride. The picture is completed with a popular wedding band playing popular music as flashy lights in a small truck add to the old world charm.

“Santa Ram, the carpenter who works with us was the inspiration behind this idea,” shares director Dinesh Yadav narrating the man’s love for turbans. “I saw Santa Ram take a cloth and tie it on his head like a turban for hours on end and as he performed this leisurely activity, he sang songs in a Rajasthani dialect.
This inspired me to showcase turbans because they are worn differently – from princes to peasants. Whether worn without or with ornaments a turban is a statement and goes far beyond being just a headgear.”   

“In costume, the most important part is a turban,” says Dinesh. “Many cultural and economic differences are related to the style in which people used to tie turbans. If Shivaji’s turban had a slight bend backwards, that of Maharana Pratap had a certain height. A turban is symbolic of class, caste and status. Even phrases in Hindi such as ‘pagadi uchalna’ refer to the significance of turban in Indian society. The turbans of kings used to be embellished with precious gems and even protected them from any injury on head.”

“The style of tying a turban varies from one region to another. Within Rajasthan, there are around 400 types of turbans,” adds Avantilal P Chawla, who is a guinness book record holder and assisted Dinesh in the project. “A plain cloth can be rolled or folded in various ways to create different types of turbans. These were worn with pride before but this culture is fading now,” he says sounding a little depressed. But initiatives like Yadav’s should go some way in helping restore lost traditions.