Author and government official Daribha Lyndem’s love for sarees goes beyond her workwear uniform

The government official, who is also a published author, tells us about her style evolution and her love for cotton sarees

If you scroll through Daribha Lyndem’s Instagram account, you’ll find her 13,000 followers fawning over her home interiors, her clothes and her skincare regime. Her ‘grid’ is as aesthetically pleasing as “a Wes Anderson movie,” as one of her followers pointed out. But Lyndem is neither an influencer, nor is she a designer. She works as a government official during the day and moonlights as an author by night. Her debut novel, Name Place Animal Thing was published by Zubaan Books in 2020 and was shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature last year.

Apart from juggling two jobs, Lyndem has an eye for design that extends to her wardrobe, more prominently her collection of sarees which is well documented on her Instagram account. Born in Shillong, Lyndem’s love affair with sarees goes back to when she was 23 years old. “I wore one to the first Hindu wedding I ever attended. It was a sea green, net saree and I felt like a meringue,” she says. Since then, the author wore it more often for her training sessions at the National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics. “It's what most of us wore at a formal event. It was considered a dressier option to a regular salwar kameez. Every time there was an occasion to wear a saree, it turned into a thing; it fomented a sense of camaraderie because the girls who did not know how to drape one would be rushing all over the hostel to find someone to help, and the girls who knew how to drape loved helping out. It was fun,” says the now Deputy Commissioner of GST.

“Six yards of diffidence”

As a government official, it’s not rare for Lyndem to wear a saree to work. “I suppose it's expected of women officers to look ‘demure –whatever that entails–and a saree checks these boxes for them. Six yards of diffidence. Sadly, I am taken more seriously at work when I wear one.”

This ‘six yards of diffidence’ comes in the form of cotton or linen sarees which Lyndem often pairs with brogues, sandals or Birkenstocks. But it’s not her only uniform, although she admits she wears it more often than many of her peers who don't work in government jobs. “There are days I wear a salwar suit and many times I will go in trousers; it all depends on how early I have woken up that day, the weather and where I will be going [later] that day, among other things. The universe has to align for me to decide to wear one,” she explains.

Now based in Mumbai, Lyndem’s wardrobe has a range of cotton and linen sarees, whether it’s a designer one from Raw Mango or a smaller homegrown textile label like Karustuti. “The sarees I wear are usually picked up from emporiums or Instagram stores. I’ve been trying to wear clothes made of natural fibers only. Apart from that, I wear what makes me feel comfortable,” she says. Besides the comfort factor, the weather, too, plays an important part when it comes to wearing sarees. “Living in humid Mumbai allows for mostly a cotton or a linen saree. If I could, I’d love to wear a silk saree to work. Right now, I have a fondness for jamdani but in general, I like sarees with smaller motifs,” says Lyndem, who is scared to count the number of sarees she has in her closet.

Beyond sarees

Her fondness for muted colours and micro prints extends to the rest of her wardrobe as well, which consists of salwar kameez and midi dresses that she gets tailored herself. Although a mood dresser, Lyndem’s style, like her jobs, have dual identities. “At work I will wear what I feel is most suited. But as an author, I do not feel as limited–I wear what I want. Of course, there is this expectation that writers should be stodgy, serious people, and I suppose many writers do not pay any heed to their physical appearance. I worry I will appear frivolous if I care too much about my appearance,” she explains.

But when it comes to clothing and dressing up, Lyndem has learnt to push away such thoughts by citing an example of a literary giant. “When I went to the Charles Dickens Museum [in London], I read that Dickens loved to spend money on clothing, he loved to dress well, so much so that people started calling him a dandy. I found this piece of information to be very gratifying,” she concludes.

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