Skip to main content

The hegemony of dress


Who should decide what you will wear? India has a Prime Minister whose sartorial elegance is world-famous now. No other Prime Minister of India including the stylish Indira Gandhi – and arguably no other leader of any country in the world – has displayed an ardour for dressing up as Modi has. He has appeared in hundreds of various styles of dresses including something that looked like a sari.


But, ironically, in Modi’s India certain people are denied the freedom to choose their dress. The present controversy about hijab in Karnataka’s colleges is just one example. Why should any political party decide what a community of people will wear especially when that party’s topmost leader keeps changing dresses and colours according to situations?

I am not a supporter of the hijab and the burka. I am of the firm opinion that women should be free to display their identity. Someone who is covered up from top to bottom looks more like a piece of baggage than a human being. Even the hijab, which does not cover the face, is a redundant piece of clothing as far as I am concerned. [My hijab-inspired short story: Shahina lets her hair down] But I will be the last person to impose my likes and dislikes on other people. I can express my opinions. But the choice belongs to them.

The Sikhs can wear turbans and sport long beards. A man who is wearing the garb of a yogi can be the chief minister of a state. The Prime Minister can look like a fancy dress competitor on occasions. But people of one particular community cannot wear the dress of their choice! That’s not fair.

Is it about dress at all? Or is it about hegemony?

Comments

  1. DawnanddewFebruary 9, 2022 at 6:06 PM

    Oppression in any form is condemnable. Freedom is the birth right for everyone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 9, 2022 at 8:00 PM

      Oppression is the norm in India today. How many media agencies have been shut down, how many writers killed, activists arrested, NGOs blocked...?

      Delete
  2. Yamini MacLeanFebruary 9, 2022 at 8:58 PM

    Hari OM
    Well said, sir... While I would not agree with the decree that drives the wearing of the hijab, I have to say that there is something very feminine about it and that (here in the UK at aeast) the Muslim ladies who choose to wear it do so with panache and fashionable style. That is an aside to your point, however. For any ruling authority to order the exclusion of an item of clothing is authoritarian in the extreme. As for Modi's attire... for some reason I cannot help but think about The Emporer's New Clothes... YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 9, 2022 at 9:10 PM

      I'm actually looking forward to the day when a child will shout those words to Modi about his inner monstrosity.

      Delete
  3. Rajeev MoothedathFebruary 10, 2022 at 3:10 PM

    On this matter though I beg to disagree. At the school level, it is appropriate that each child wears the school uniform and not religion on their sleeves . By opposing this, I think the others are playing into the hands of the ruling party in Karnataka which wants exactly that with the elections in the state due shortly. In fact, the controversy was triggered by the CM who issued a circular recently to the educational institutions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 10, 2022 at 4:11 PM

      I teach in a school where many Muslim girls come wearing the headgear. I find it rather funny and irritating at the same time. But the school, a Christian institution, respects religious sentiments and lets that be. I would wish that the people realise the absurdity of the practice and change it themselves.

      Delete
  4. Jose D. MaliekalFebruary 15, 2022 at 1:26 PM

    Young friend, I do not agree a wee-bit with any bit of what you say. But I will defend with my blood, your right to say that. - Voltaire

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 15, 2022 at 3:57 PM

      Precisely. That's just the point. I don't accept the hijab but i defend the people's right to wear it if it suits them for whatever reason.

      That child who will have to shout out to the naked emperor is inevitable. Time will bring him/her on.

      Delete
  5. Jose D. MaliekalFebruary 15, 2022 at 1:31 PM

    Yaaaa... I am just waiting for the day, when the child in the Body Politic of India will call out. “ The Emperor has no clothes.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
37 comments
Read more

Sanjay and other loyalists

AI-generated illustration Some people, especially those in politics, behave as if they are too great to have any contact with the ordinary folk. And they can get on with whoever comes to power on top irrespective of their ideologies and principles. Sanjay was one such person. He occupied some high places in Sawan school [see previous posts, especially P and Q ] merely because he knew how to play his cards more dexterously than ordinary politicians. Whoever came as principal, Sanjay would be there in the elite circle. He seemed to hold most people in contempt. His respect was reserved for the gentry. I belonged to the margins of Sawan society, in Sanjay’s assessment. So we hardly talked to each other. Looking back, I find it quite ludicrous to realise that Sanjay and I lived on the same campus 24x7 for a decade and a half without ever talking to each other except for official purposes.      Towards the end of our coexistence, Sawan had become a veritable hell. Power supply to the
12 comments
Read more

Thomas the Saint

AI-generated image His full name was Thomas Augustine. He was a Catholic priest. I knew him for a rather short period of my life. When I lived one whole year in the same institution with him, I was just 15 years old. I was a trainee for priesthood and he was many years my senior. We both lived in Don Bosco school and seminary at a place called Tirupattur in Tamil Nadu. He was in charge of a group of boys like me. Thomas had little to do with me directly as I was under the care of another in-charge. But his self-effacing ways and angelic smile drew me to him. He was a living saint all the years I knew him later. When he became a priest and was in charge of a section of a Don Bosco institution in Kochi, I met him again and his ways hadn’t changed an iota. You’d think he was a reincarnation of Jesus if you met him personally. You won’t be able to meet him anymore. He passed away a few years ago. One of the persons whom I won’t ever forget, can’t forget as long as the neurons continu
16 comments
Read more

William and the autumn of life

William and I were together only for one year, but our friendship has grown stronger year after year. The duration of that friendship is going to hit half a century. In the meanwhile both he and I changed many places. William was in Kerala when I was in Shillong. He was in Ireland when I was in Delhi. Now I am in Kerala where William is planning to migrate back. We were both novices of a religious congregation for one year at Kotagiri in Tamil Nadu. He was older than me by a few years and far more mature too. But we shared a cordial rapport which kept us in touch though we went in unexpected directions later. William’s conversations had the same pattern back then and now too. I’d call it Socratic. He questions a lot of things that you say with the intention of getting to the depth of the matter. The last conversation I had with him was when I decided to stop teaching. I mention this as an example of my conversations with William. “You are a good teacher. Why do you want to stop
14 comments
Read more

Victor the angel

When Victor visited us in Delhi Victor and I were undergraduate classmates at St Albert’s College, Kochi. I was a student for priesthood then and Victor was just another of the many ordinary lay students. We were majoring in mathematics with physics and statistics as our optionals. Today Victor is a theologian with a doctorate in biblical studies and is a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission in the Vatican. And I have given up religion for all practical purposes. Victor and I travelled in opposing directions after our graduation. But we have remained friends notwithstanding our religious differences. Victor had very friendly relationships with some of the teachers in college and it became very helpful for me towards the end of my three-year study there when I had quit the pursuit of priesthood. The final exams approached and I needed a convenient accommodation near college. An inexpensive and quiet place was what I wanted during the period of the university exams. “What a
10 comments
Read more