Of the many definitions for the word 'clutch', the one that best relates to this post would be this :
clutch
[kluhch] –noun
Also called clutch bag, clutch purse. a woman's small purse that can be carried in the hand and usually has no handle or strap.
After I graduated and started a career, I realised the need to own a decent handbag. Shamefully, when I was studying, I owned nothing remotely resembling one. Most times, it was a fabric(or any other suitably sturdy material like canvas/jute etc) "holdall"(that which has now been fashionably renamed a 'tote'). It was a dumping ground for notebooks, pens, paper, a small wallet for cash and change(credit cards were unknown and unaffordable at that time) and a school/college ID card.
So post-graduation, a fancy, stylish handbag was the need of the day. There wasnt a need to lug books or lunch boxes. I was quite at sea debating what to carry in a hand bag. Just for my appeasement, I'd carry a novel(since I used to drive, there was really no point in doing so, but oh well), the same wallet carried over from college and some pens(being a teacher's daughter-pens were dime-a-dozen at home and Amma was always a hoarder of some interesting looking ones). Now it was a pathetic sight when I bought an oversized handbag to hold these paltry items.
Over time, the wallet has grown to hold about 20 different cards for various purposes, specially after moving abroad- library card, video rental card, credit cards, gas card, grocery store card not including the key tags which is a separate chain(literally and figuratively) in itself. I am constantly trying to minimize and simplify this card hoarding mentality. But some of them are just unavoidable. These days the items that need to go into a handbag include keys, a cell phone, this bulging wallet with cards and cash, a pen, some lip balm, a tiny-foldable hair brush, a small case with business cards, important contact information, family wallet-size photos, God's pictures, some vibhuti and a prayer book.(Ok ok; no need to gape over reading this-what to do, we are like this only!)
Which brings me to my dilemma. How do people fit these bare-necessities in a tiny bag? Either they dont carry so much(and I need to be downsizing) or they carry miniature sizes. And I have a problem with oversized holdall handbags. My cell phone gets wedged deep in its recesses some place and it takes me forever to grope around and I find it hard to receive calls promptly or I am having to invert the contents at unexpected locations like the landing to my house in a desperate attempt to find the keys. I have also seen handbags with holders for every item conceivable...if I were that organized to put everything in its right place in a handbag, I'd be Martha Stewart for sure. Now that I am coming to the end of my devious route to get to the point of my post, let us all mouth the word "clutch" in chorus, to begin. 
I see many celebrities and aam junta carrying one of these for socialite events and parties. Granted, it looks fancy, hep and cool. For the bourgeois that I am, a more important point would be- HOW do people "clutch" this throughout parties and such? Some time between chatting up with people, eating and other diversions that are common in any party, I'd have totally set the clutch aside someplace and forgotten about it. Because, you see, for the likes of me, when I am at a party(which isnt the talk of the town or anything) or shopping or plain jay walking, I need a handbag that I am not "clutching" with my hands. I need hands free. I've seen the sophisticated Shabana Azmi with one of these and she places it under her arm and walks about casually. That seems a like a lot of discomfort to me. 
Some years ago I got this pretty sequined purse with a metal chain, perfect for parties and such, as a gift. Tried and tested, over time, I realised I could only carry a dainty card case with a total of two cards(a driver's license, a credit card and some cash), a cell phone and keys in this delicate darling. I tried to learn the etiquette of going to parties in style. 
More recently I got gifted this ornate, brocade "clutch". Now I am flummoxed.
Case of a clutch
Tuesday, July 01, 2008Posted by Altoid at 3:24 PM
Labels: We are like this only
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7 mint(s) of wisdom:
It is so hard to find handbag we like and so hard to decide which one to buy!! Uff!!!
Love the post, I like clutch bags too,but with kids and all, it's not practical any more.I need big sling bag to stuff all of my stuff!:D
Love the Zari Clutch bag!:)
loved reading about contents in your a-hem, tote. But what, no eponymous mints?? :)
Clutch under the arm is not uncomfortable at all. And I find larger clutches easier to hold than the really tiny ones. As for style and fucntion, you can have both. I take my clutch with an id a credit card, a lipstick and cell phone and stash the rest of my tote bag in the trunk of my car which has stuff i use everyday.
And I loved your two bags. The secind one is perfect for summer!
Know what! Yesterday I got myself a LOVELY and I mean LOVELY dark copper huge bag , perfect for office , it holds my fruit box ,oats box(yes we are to be dieting AGAIN)wallet, cell , ipod , that amulya malladi lady's book(its been in my bag for ages , she writes that bad I say).I dont recognize the lovely black sequined bag , how come u never get it to merabharath mahaan?? :)
Nice post , maybe one with all your shoes in the next?
I love those clutch purses too and I don't know what I'd do with them and so don't possess single one. Leaving it some place and forgetting - precisely the kind of thing I'd do.
I think you can carry a clutch if you had someone to drive the car, someone to pay for everything and someone to serve you the drinks and food - so you can remain clutching the purse which contains some tissues, lipstick, compact and your cellphone.
The ones you have posted are all lovely. I wonder where they got the jacquard one from!
Seren, where did you buy that bag. Sounds precisely like the bag I am looking for.
They look good, don't they? But practical me doesn't like to carry those. I have my standard black bag (and I paid a hell of a lotta do') that I carry everywhere. May be, someday when my kids are grown up, I can try to look as elegant as some of these 'clutchy' people .
Asha : Tell me about it! Its a minor panic attack for me everytime my handbags give in on me, or the wallet has worn down. Finding the perfect size, color, type is a project in itself.
DotT : Mints came about much later :), back in apna desh as a student with meager allowances...
Seren : Is that from the outlet place Amma was telling me about? You want a post with a pic of my current shoe collection? Its dwindled my dear...thanks to my exporting some over to your ilaaka :D.
Usha : That sounds like a perfect scenario to be able to survive with clutches! The jacquard one must be available some place around..like Gandhi Bazar. I have to find out...
Munimma : Even with no kids, I dont know if I want to put up with that kind of challenge to look elegant :D. Ya practicality rates first in my list as well.
ohh..GOd tell me about it :)
i have never understaood it either... hw do u get yur things in it...but last month .. i went ahead and bought one :))
it can hold my cards pouch and my cell phone..no keys nothing :(
so well... the keys are always in the car and the car keys... hehee! dnt knw where to keep... carrie dit once... when i was people who could carry my keys with them :))
i love your black number and the new one ..looks beautiful :)
tell me hw u used it :))
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