A man can wear a kurta at six months and at ninety, and it will be right both times. Few garments follow a life so closely. Here is one man's life told through the kurtas in it, from the first one to the one he wears while his grandchildren climb onto his lap. It is not any one person's story. It is the shape of a story many families share.
The first kurta
For many babies, the first kurta is for a first Diwali, a naming ceremony or a first birthday. It is small, soft and put on by three people at once, and it is photographed more than anything else the child will wear that year. Both our shops carry kurtas for babies from about three months, and they are coming online soon.
The school function
A little older, the kurta turns up at the annual day, at a festival assembly, at a cousin's wedding where he is the smallest in the family photograph. It is the age when a boy first learns that a kurta is a thing you stand straight in.
The teenager who hates kurtas
There is always a year when he refuses. It is itchy, it is formal, his friends will see him. Then comes a cousin's wedding, a Diwali party or a date, and he asks which colour suits him. Our guide to a kurta for each of the five days of Diwali is written partly for him.
The first festival on his own
He buys his first kurta with his own money, often in navy or royal blue, because it is the colour that can do everything. It goes to the office Diwali party, to a friend's house and to the puja at home. It is the beginning of a wardrobe.
The wedding years
Cousins' weddings, friends' weddings, his own. He is a guest in a haldi yellow one year and the groom's brother in a rich maroon the next. The kurta moves from function to function, a different colour for each: see what men wear to each and the groom's brother's plan.
Becoming a father
Now he is the one dressing a small boy in a kurta, usually a smaller version of his own, for a first Diwali or a first haircut. He looks at the photograph afterwards and sees his own father in it. Many families dress father and son alike for a day, and no one has to explain why.
The host of the house
He sits at the front of the puja now, with the thali and the diyas. His kurta is quieter and calmer, chosen for the sitting, not the dancing. See what to wear for the Diwali puja at home.
The kurta of the grandfather
At seventy, he wears what is easy. A soft colour, a loose cut, a pocket for his glasses. The grandchildren know him by it. When he is gone, the family will often keep one, folded, in a cupboard, and a grandchild may wear it years later at a wedding. That is how a kurta becomes a memory.
The same garment, different hours
That is why the kurta suits every event. It does not change. The man changes, and the kurta changes with him: the size, the colour, the work, the day. It is the quietest way a family has of keeping time.
If there is a kurta in your family's story, tell us about it. With your permission we will share it here, in your words.