With growing affordability and incomes, the middle class India’s once-cherished symbols of achievement, like the plastic table cover, were gradually replaced by clean lines and modern designs New Delhi: Not so long ago, in the heart and hearth of India’s middle-class households, there was no greater symbol of sophistication than the plastic table cover. That gleaming, translucent sheet—often adorned with floral motifs—became a statement of pride, protecting the sanctity of the prized dining table beneath. Assumably to protect the wooden table , or many a times, even a plastic table, from wear and tear and any food spillage on it.
Paired with those flower-design plate mats, this completed a vision of aspirational middle-class living. For many families, the arrival of guests meant a full ritual: the careful unrolling of the table cover, its edges smoothed out, and the plate-mats strategically placed. It was a declaration that they had ‘arrived.
’ All these had to be ready, to ensure that the tiny tots or rather the youngest generation in the household had to execute the performing-tasks in front of the guests. Show off the latest multiplication table the Munna knew, or the latest poem he learnt, or the Hindustani raga that Gudiya was learning, or at worst even the school prayer song. Now let’s focus our attention back on that plastic table cover.
It was more than just functional. It was an emblem of middle-class ascent, a tangible showcase of success, and a signal .