‘Conti’ before the boards

new delhi: baveen gupta, counsellor atmodern school, barakhamba, has had many students coming in and asking anxiously:‘‘do you think i’ll look good in a sari?’’ and‘‘i can’t go, i don’t look good in a suit.’’for class xii students cramming up for their board exams, history dates and mathformulas are not the only things on their minds. there’s an added worrynow: looking good for their ‘conti parties’. while conti parties— the out-of-school ‘continuation’ of the official farewellgiven by class xi students to the outgoing batch in school — have been thetrend for a while now, what’s new is the scale. from small informalget-togethers at a student’s house, now they are mostly glamorous,expensive night-outs in five-star discotheques or hotels. teachers are invited,but not welcome. and with hrithik, movies and mtv setting fashion trends, thepressure to toe the dress code is almost as great as the pressure to get a 90per cent aggregate. it’s black shirt, black suit and grey tie for theguys; lehengas and sequinned or lace sarees for the girls. and no, daddy’sold blazer or mum’s old sari won’t do. for parents, this means amajor expense: ‘‘we had to go out and buy a whole new suit down totie,’’ say the not-too-happy parents of a dps mathura road student,who had their farewell at mirage in surya sofitel. the outfit cost rs 4,000,plus another rs 1,000 for entrance fee and spending money.‘‘there’s a lot of peer pressure to dress up well, as well asto attend these parties,’’ says gupta. it’s not easy for thestudents either. ‘‘i know it’s unreasonable, but i wouldrather not go than turn up looking unfashionable. i’ll feel so out ofplace,’’ says a springdales student whose parents also had to coughup nearly rs 4,000 for the event. springdales had to settle for thenot-so-trendy ashoka hotel, because they couldn’t get a booking for taj.the modernites were also supposed to have their conti party at a five-star, butthey couldn’t collect the rs 1 lakh deposit needed. bluebells studentshave already had theirs at the grand hyatt, and shriram had it in a sainik farmsfarmhouse. ‘‘it is definitely a big event and everyone wants todazzle, look their best, what’s wrong with it?’’ says kanikabatra, also from springdales. ‘‘our parents understand it’s abig day for us, so why should they object?’’ she counters.there’s another reason why they might object. the pre-party planning takestime away from studies: many of the girls had their hair and make-up done atbeauty parlours. kanika agrees that clothes and looking good matter to hergeneration. ‘‘you see so much on tv, there is so much awareness andthere are so many good clothes coming in,’’ she says.‘‘i’m already planning what to wear next year,’’says class xi student niyamat bindra, of vasant valley.‘‘it’ll be a chiffon saree.’’‘‘it’s become important to be correctly dressed, to look cool,to sport the right brand name,’’ agrees gupta. she says schoolsdon’t really encourage these conti parties, but then, things are notreally in their hands.