Essays

Each one of us is born unique. There are no two persons who are exactly alike. Yet, despite our unique individuality, we constantly become slaves to whatever that is currently in fashion. As a result, even though we are different, we strive to dress alike, use the same slangs, eat the same food and share the same hobbies. So much so, that many times even our thought and behaviour patterns are also governed by the ruling fashion-rage. Then in the midst of such mental slavery, if d bright individual strikes out on his own in another direction, then others see him admire him and then join him. It becomes fashionable to be like him. His individuality gives birth to another fashion statement.

Before the emergence of 'rock and roll' in the fifties, it was fashionable to listen to melodious music and to dance the rhumba. It was the 'in' thing then. However, such a fashion could not last forever. Elvis Presley and the other rockers burst into the scene and created an uproar. Youngsters started wearing drain-pipe trousers and did slicked-back hair. Leather jackets and steel-studded shoes became the vogue. Every young boy wanted to be Elvis. The sale of guitars shot up. Slavery to the Elvis' trend bred young rebels. However, these young rebels, in the process of asserting their individuality, rather became slaves to rock and roll.

These rock and roll slaves can still be seen around, even though now they have gone bald and their grandchildren rebel against their drain-pipe trousers.

'Be a rebel'— again became a style statement in the sixties when the hippies and the flower people made the taking of marijuana (ganja) and LSD the fashionable thing to do. Gurus—real and false-appeared all over the place. The 'in' thing was to go against the establishment and social order. It was fashionable to dress in rags and have babies out of wedlock. Nobody over thirty was trusted. It was the age of long hair and to get 'stoned' was considered cool.

The hippies have more or less faded from the scene. They are no longer fashionable. However, they left behind a drug culture that continued till the eighties. In fact, even today, drug menace is one of the greatest scourges of the present world. It is still fashionable to take drugs—despite its devastating effects. Anybody who gets addicted to drugs is doomed to a life of hell. Unless he can get rid of his addiction, there is not much hope for him. For society as a whole, unless drug-taking goes out of the fashion, addicts will abound and the associated problems will persist.

Thus we can see the impact of a powerful drive of fashion. One fashion paves the way for its successor and the chain goes on endlessly. Though with time, fashion style keeps changing, but fashion maniacs are forever caught by the claws of current trend. In the process of trying to be different from others, fashion enthusiasts end up becoming replicas of one another Only a rare few succeed in retaining the originality of their personality.

So, next time you take a trip to town, reflect on the clothes you are wearing, the food you are going to eat, the things you are going to buy and the thoughts you are thinking, Notice how many of these things are influenced by the current wave of fashion. See if you can find anything you can genuinely call your own.