Udaan/ उड़ान
What does the Odhni/Orhni mean in today's India? For a project, as we journeyed from Bangalore, Allahabad, Patna, and Calcutta, we encountered different answers. One person said, the Odhni completed her ensemble. Even if she wore jeans and kurta, a dupatta or Odhni was the final touch. Another person said, it made them feel safer while walking through unknown streets. One person said, she hated wearing it; forced by her in-laws, she had to wear it even while doing household chores, and it made her very uncomfortable. One person said they now wore it as a fashion accessory, and played with different crafts and techniques, and their wardrobe had one of each craft they encountered, be it phulkari or madhubani. One person wore it only on occasions, a nod to tradition and the past. One person said, once they started becoming more independent, they stopped wearing it; not having to answer to anyone.
So, what does the Odhni/Orhni mean in today's world? Is it a marker of culture? A fashion accessory, an aesthetic choice? A tool of patriarchy? Of course, there is no one answer. Class, caste, gender, and other dimensions influence and shape the garment, and people negotiate its meaning in multiple ways.
As I sat mulling through these different answers, I imagined the Odhni, usually draped across one's chest, flipping, and draping that person's back, seeming as if they had undulating, shimmering wings.
What if one day you woke up and you had wings?
What would it mean to have wings, and the the freedom they represent, as a normal statement of fact? What if having wings, and all the possibilities they stand for, are as banal as wearing clothes? It struck me that the word 'Udna', which means to fly, is phonetically similar to Odhna. In playing with the image of having wings, word associations, two lines took shape, written below, from which a poem formed. The poem is called 'Udaan' or flight.
एक दिन मैं उठी
और,
मेरे दो पर थे।
which roughly translates to,
'One day I awakened,
and
I had two wings'.
What if one day you woke up and you had wings?
How it would be like, if freedom was something we didn't aspire for, reserved for a distant tomorrow, but a reality here and now? That is my hope for the young girls I met during the journey, that freedom is not something distant they aspire for, but a lived reality for them, here and now.
