Author: Jerry Pinto
Publication: Moneycontrol.com
Date: June 14, 2006
URL:
http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/news/lifestyle/fashionmenswear/tobecomfortableyoursecondskin/10/37/article/219664
I wonder why all of us men of the East have
no confidence in our own traditions as far as dress codes go. Japanese men
won't wear kimonos to work and Indian men won't wear kurtas. As soon as a
young man earns his MBA, he retires all his Indian clothes and gets himself
a wardrobe of suits. Never mind that the suit is completely unsuitable for
tropical climates.
But then it seems to start young, with men.
First, they climb into jeans, which don't suit our climate either. They are
so hot in summer that when you take them off, you actually feel the trapped
heat escape. In the rains, they get wet and take ages to dry which means you
walk into an office - which has been air-conditioned to keep the men in suits
cool - and you stay wet and cold all day. In the winter, they're fine but
how many cities in India have a winter?
And yet we don't think of anything except
triple spun cotton as denim. We want to be hot and uncomfortable. We choose
it. What is this about? Masochism? Or simply a lack of confidence?
The argument is that men in Indian clothes
do not look businesslike. I don't understand this argument and I don't buy
it. If a woman in a salwar-kameez looks businesslike, then a man in a kurta
should look businesslike. If a woman in a sari looks like she is ready to
take on the world, a man in a sherwani should look like he is ready to schmooze
with foreign clients. This is one of those few instances, in which the world
works better for women and where being a male works against men. (The other
instance I can think of is being a male model!)
I am not arguing this from some swadeshi stance,
although I do think India produces some pretty nice things and we should use
them. I am not arguing this from some strange 'Indianness' position, because
I would not be able to define it or even describe it. I am arguing this from
the position of comfort, of ergonomics.
A kurta would keep you cool in the sun; it
would keep you warm in the office. Pyjamas of some natural fabric would let
you breathe, and they would dry fast if you got them wet in some thundershower.
And the cut of the outfit is far more flattering to Indian men than western
clothes. Put a pot-bellied old plutocrat into a well-cut kurta and a multitude
of sins of commission (too many buffets, too much chaakna, too many expense
account martinis) and sins of omission (days skipped at the gym, the golf
course or wherever), will be flatteringly hidden.
Now, all we need is for someone with a great
deal of self-confidence to go and do it. The rest wouldn't follow. The rich
and powerful are status quo-ist at best and at worst, afraid of change. But
it would be a beginning.
And we would all be a lot more comfortable.
Jerry Pinto
(The author is a poet and editor. His last
book was 'Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb'.)
