Among the modern day alterations to the normal attire of an ordinary man is doing away with the top pocket by the shirt manufacturers. In the most informal tees or bush shirts & even in formals, a utilitarian top pocket no longer exists. The reasons may range from saving on cloth to a statement of masculinity to dispensing with need for pockets. With advent of digital modes like e-purse & wallets, one’s mobile serves as a Mini-Bank !
But for old-timers like us, the shirt’s top pocket has always provided a sense of security. Apart from it’s easy accessibility in retrieving the important papers, cards, currency etc. they remain close to the chest being our private possessions. Also I have been trained a certain way during my days as a daily commuter in Mumbai’s local trains- be watchful of pick-pockets. Cash in a wallet in hip pocket was risky, but top pockets were much safer.
Recall that in good old days of manual transactions and of paper-trails, office-goers and specially stolid bankers would always be found with a functional pen tucked in the top shirt pocket. That wasn’t all, for it served as a reservoir of small visiting cards, IDs, bills, photos, even shopping lists from the Mrs, for ‘groceries’ to be brought in the evening. There were no mobiles, ear-phones & fancy gadgets then to be squeezed in the trouser pockets. These were used for the handkerchief, small purse & ‘Wills Filter’ by smokers !
Having said that, ‘pockets’ have been used in a variety of English phrases, playing a vital role not only in sartorial ways, reflecting one’s behavior patterns and exuding a life-style that’s upbeat. School teachers reprimanded us standing with hands in pockets as ‘lazy’ and at the workplace our Bank stressed on recovery of it’s ‘out-of-pocket’ expenses as it impacted P & L.‘Having deep pockets’ meant possessing substantial financial resources and at the national level, the Govt. loves to talk about putting more money in people’s ‘pockets’ so that spending & consumption goes up, which helps the economy to grow.
Somehow talking of ‘pocketing’ the proceeds sounds like money being wrongly acquired though the poor pocket never had anything to do with it. As one writer said ‘ True wealth is not of the pocket, but of the heart and of the mind’ but what’s the feeling like having an empty pocket ? Even if shirt manufacturers start putting back top pockets on shirts, it would be ironical if most people had very little or no earnings to put in their pockets !
I remember having read a novel fascinatingly titled ‘The World in the Pocket’. Those with enormous wealth and power, have that headiness that makes them feel mightier !
Working on Living 