If you read my written ramblings here a couple of weeks ago, the last time I rambled, I wrote that my wife had prepared a list of things that needed to be done around our house and property. Clearing out my boxes of valuable treasures, junk according to her, I had stored in the attic was in item on the list. One of those boxes contained some clothes I’d saved for the day when they came back in style so I could wear them again…or maybe wear them as costumes.
Buried under my disco shirts, hippie attire, and decomposing forms of unidentifiable animal life in the clothes box, was my Nehru jacket, which I removed and tearfully tossed in the trash. Yes, I actually have one and even wore it during the three hours it was popular in 1968. Mine is made of satiny sky blue material with narrow, muted horizontal stripes. You younger readers may be wondering where the Nehru name comes from. Is it the sound you make when you sneeze? Neh-RU! No. It is the surname of Jawaharlal Nehru, a former prime minister of India. The Indian children knew him as Chacha Nehru, which in Hindi means “Uncle Nehru,” not to be confused with famous golfer ChiChi Rodriguez, ChooChoo Charlie of Good & Plenty fame, or Uncle Fester of The Adams Family. None, as far as we know, ever wore a Nehru jacket.
The jacket’s design is an adaptation of a choga, a long garment worn by India’s rich and powerful during the Mughal years, not to be confused with a toga, worn by John Belushi during the Animal House years. In later decades, the choga became the achkan, a garment worn until it became threadbare. The owner would then galvanize it and use it as a container for garbage.
Contemporary Nehru jackets are shorter than either the choga or the achkan and not galvanized. They’ve been worn by the likes of the Beatles, James Bond’s enemy Dr. No, various other movie villains, Sammy Davis, Jr., and, as previously stated, me. Oddly enough, prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and this is true, never wore one, so please disregard the preceding few hundred words.
The same day I tossed it, I learned Nehru jackets are making a comeback, so I pulled mine out of the trash and tried it on. Mysteriously, it had shrunk. So now, if I want to be hip and in the “In” crowd one more time, I’ll have to buy a new one, even though I’d be better suited to a Lawrence Welk jacket. You younger readers can search on the internet for him. My brain is too tired to explain who he is.
Now for a public service announcement. In case you are unaware, the West Branch of the Aurora Public Library is up and running at full speed. The Library remains where it always was, sharing a building with Washington Middle School. It’s been given a beautiful facelift and is back to regular operating hours the average human can relate to. You West Siders should make it a habit to visit often, because saving the West Branch was high on your priority list. As you read this piece, it may not be obvious I’ve spent many hours there over the years broadening my extensive knowledge of the world, later discarding it all to continue writing a column filled with interesting, but useless information. And while you’re there, why not check out (Warning! Shameless plug ahead) my book, “The Militarized Zone: What Did You Do in the Army, Grandpa?”
Anyway, just come on out and see what programs, services, and materials the West Branch has to offer you and your family.
And the disclaimer: I am not a librarian, although I play one on television.