A shirt with a difference

SINCE I LEFT school in 1970, I have only worn a shirt and tie on occasions when I can not avoid doing so. Frankly, I hate wearing ties and formal outfits, but unfortunately, I cannot always avoid engagements where this get-up is obligatory. Usually, I wear a tie with a long-sleeved white shirt.

Some years ago, there used to be many street sellers’ stalls on Bangalore’s Mahatma Gandhi Road (‘MG Road’). One day, we spotted a stall selling white 100% cotton shirts for formal wear. They were ridiculously cheap. The seller was asking 100 Indian Rupees (approximately £1 Sterling) for one shirt. The shirts were new, probably surplus stock. I bought two of them.

One of the shirts was perfectly satisfactory, but nothing exceptional. The other one had a feature that I only noticed when I first wore it. On its left sleeve cuff, there is a beautifully embroidered Mercedes Benz logo. Otherwise, there was nothing untoward about it. One label inside it bears the words “New England Gentleman” and near it another informs the wearer that it was tailored in Honduras. I suspect that the shirt was part of a batch made for a Mercedes Benz dealership, Whenever I wear it, I do not feel short changed (shirt changed ??), but instead I think that owning it is the closest I have got to possessing a Mercedes Benz.