Our denims blue, fading
Gradually unmistakably
Against a neon blue sky
Blue was the colour of your
Smile, the Anglo-Indian girl belted out
Blues in a lonesome Park Street, Kolkata
Restaurant, we blended in those few
Moments, outside the colours grew
Darker, we finally climbed
Denims fusing on to Beatle's
Number, oh, I believe in yesterday...
Footnote:
A small-time cloth merchant named Narayan Mangaldas based in Ahmedabad sent me pieces of Denim by post in the seventies which he called Bleeding Madras. He manufactured the first Denim in a borrowed factory and started selling and hawking to neighboring cloth dealers. The Mangaldas Denim was a hit and overnight he received orders for thousands of meters. He borrowed more factories and within days he became the Denim king of India. The first outlet for Denim jeans and accessories named aptly, Jean Junction started at Connaught Place, New Delhi. There used to be a queue, I remember, buying bleeding jeans from that outlet. Soon American brands of Levi's, Lee and Wrangler reached out to Mangaldas. Welcome to the Denim Revolution in India. Narayan Mangaldas ji has passed away but Mangaldas outlets selling the best and the finest quality Denims still continue to be the bestseller.
