When the water tastes different only from one faucet in your house, you are justified to check only that faucet. But when it tastes different everywhere, you better check in the overhead tank.
The Dhoti-controversy is not just about clubs. After all, TNCA was following a dress-code that they saw fit (In fact, the explanation to adopt the same is actually reasonable in a comical manner- you do not definitely want to see dhoti-less drunkards wandering around in a prestigious institution). Jayalalitha and Co. may find themselves in a slippery slope if they start to interfere in the norms around the dress code that every private institution should adhere to. While her reaction in this case is properly justified, stretching it to form an all-encompassing law would be a transgression on the higher principle of freedom that our constitution envisions for private entities. We just need to wait and see how the law will actually be worded, but my opinion is that these kind of practices with shades of colonial hangover has a deeper root that needs to be unearthed and exposed.
The more important questions are: Why is it that the formal dress code throughout the country exclude the traditional attire? Why is there a lack of respectability for traditional attire in a formal corporate and institutional environment?
I hail from Kerala, where a form of Dhoti - the colorful and patterned Lungi - is an informal casual wear, while the white Dhoti has traditionally been a formal attire. I was taught by numerous teachers who wore Dhoti. I would presume that almost every region of India has similar concepts of formal and informal wear traditionally.
But, in the globalized world, the concept of formal wear is always attributed to the Western attire. In many new generation companies, there are days that are earmarked for "Traditional wear". The normal formal dress-code in such places is strictly Western. That means that, if I wear my traditionally formal white Dhoti to my office on the normal working days, that is actually considered as "not formal". In other words, the context of being formal in a traditional attire is fast becoming an oxymoron. This has taken deep roots in men's world. For women, Sari is still considered to be formal, but there are clear indications to the trend towards considering Sari as a "traditional" attire, instead of a formal attire.
This tendency towards alienating formality from traditional attire underpin most of the dress codes in our country. It is not confined to a few selected clubs. It is prevalent everywhere. Educational institutions, Hospitals, Shopping malls, Workplaces, where not? Perhaps, for some weird reasons, our representative assemblies - local, state and center- seem to be the only exceptions. Traditional formal attires has become a uniform for politicians. But, for the larger working middleclass Janta, such an attire is strictly "traditional", not the everyday dress.
There could be a number of reasons for this trend. Convenience for daily grind, Options to introduce utility variations to the attire for different purposes as well as occasions, Variety in selection and a Global outlook seem to be the most definitive reasons. While these are genuine reasons to adopt a particular dress code, attaching a certain out-of-the-norm untouchability and the ensuing lack of respectability to the traditional wear is a disposition that need to be confronted openly. I remember an incident from my schooldays when I happened to attend a coaching camp for students across the state. On a day when I wore white Dhoti to attend a seminar while the rest of the students wore Jeans or Pants, the trainer looked at me with an unmistakably condescending expression that even a fourteen year old could not mistake for something else.
But, the thought think that this disposition can be confronted by reducing the discussion to a few clubs is misplaced. A pervasive mindset, even if bottled up through a law in a few cases, will find expression through a number of channels, perhaps more subtle. I do not think that anybody is an outsider to this mindset. One way or another, all of us have promoted this. The options in front of as fairly straight-forward: Either accept that we actually like the different taste in our water. Or acknowledge that overhead tank needs to be cleaned up.
The Dhoti-controversy is not just about clubs. After all, TNCA was following a dress-code that they saw fit (In fact, the explanation to adopt the same is actually reasonable in a comical manner- you do not definitely want to see dhoti-less drunkards wandering around in a prestigious institution). Jayalalitha and Co. may find themselves in a slippery slope if they start to interfere in the norms around the dress code that every private institution should adhere to. While her reaction in this case is properly justified, stretching it to form an all-encompassing law would be a transgression on the higher principle of freedom that our constitution envisions for private entities. We just need to wait and see how the law will actually be worded, but my opinion is that these kind of practices with shades of colonial hangover has a deeper root that needs to be unearthed and exposed.
The more important questions are: Why is it that the formal dress code throughout the country exclude the traditional attire? Why is there a lack of respectability for traditional attire in a formal corporate and institutional environment?
I hail from Kerala, where a form of Dhoti - the colorful and patterned Lungi - is an informal casual wear, while the white Dhoti has traditionally been a formal attire. I was taught by numerous teachers who wore Dhoti. I would presume that almost every region of India has similar concepts of formal and informal wear traditionally.
But, in the globalized world, the concept of formal wear is always attributed to the Western attire. In many new generation companies, there are days that are earmarked for "Traditional wear". The normal formal dress-code in such places is strictly Western. That means that, if I wear my traditionally formal white Dhoti to my office on the normal working days, that is actually considered as "not formal". In other words, the context of being formal in a traditional attire is fast becoming an oxymoron. This has taken deep roots in men's world. For women, Sari is still considered to be formal, but there are clear indications to the trend towards considering Sari as a "traditional" attire, instead of a formal attire.
This tendency towards alienating formality from traditional attire underpin most of the dress codes in our country. It is not confined to a few selected clubs. It is prevalent everywhere. Educational institutions, Hospitals, Shopping malls, Workplaces, where not? Perhaps, for some weird reasons, our representative assemblies - local, state and center- seem to be the only exceptions. Traditional formal attires has become a uniform for politicians. But, for the larger working middleclass Janta, such an attire is strictly "traditional", not the everyday dress.
There could be a number of reasons for this trend. Convenience for daily grind, Options to introduce utility variations to the attire for different purposes as well as occasions, Variety in selection and a Global outlook seem to be the most definitive reasons. While these are genuine reasons to adopt a particular dress code, attaching a certain out-of-the-norm untouchability and the ensuing lack of respectability to the traditional wear is a disposition that need to be confronted openly. I remember an incident from my schooldays when I happened to attend a coaching camp for students across the state. On a day when I wore white Dhoti to attend a seminar while the rest of the students wore Jeans or Pants, the trainer looked at me with an unmistakably condescending expression that even a fourteen year old could not mistake for something else.
But, the thought think that this disposition can be confronted by reducing the discussion to a few clubs is misplaced. A pervasive mindset, even if bottled up through a law in a few cases, will find expression through a number of channels, perhaps more subtle. I do not think that anybody is an outsider to this mindset. One way or another, all of us have promoted this. The options in front of as fairly straight-forward: Either accept that we actually like the different taste in our water. Or acknowledge that overhead tank needs to be cleaned up.
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