Liberal Raiments?

Of the various issues that rock the sensitivities of my susceptible mind one thing stands out glaring, mainly because I am myself subjected to it. The issue of dressing.

The Homo sapiens ability to dress as they choose and as much as they choose or otherwise, is one of the traits that sets it apart from others in the animal kingdom. It also reasserts the notion of man being a social animal. Even in the cave days (as history books would have us believe) a leaf/leaves were strategically placed to be the forerunners of what is today termed ‘modesty’.

So dressing/clothing is something what everyone has to do, at least to a minimal acceptable level, irrespective of the altitudes of the mercury level.
Closing in on home, we have, over the years developed the craziest of ideas when it comes to attires. And by this I don’t mean the designer/label mania to have gripped our fast turning hedonistic society. What I had in my ‘back in time, grandma’ mind is how easily one mode of dressing was flicked aside as behooda while another was a much preferred one. I remember my dadijaan urging my sister and myself to wear something more appropriate like a gharara or a pajama instead of the shalwars we were usually attired in (paired with proper kameez and dupattaa of course). Herself , the stately lady, I presume, had never worn anything except a loose kurta pajama. This dress bias partly could be because of the various cultures that made up the Muslim Diaspora in undivided Sub-continent. A change in geography doesn’t necessarily entail a change in mind sets. But the idiot box taking over households has managed to achieve a level of homogeneity that the turbulence and sacrifices of the freedom struggle failed to inculcate in us. For better or worse is for one to decide for himself/herself.

Standing today we have a washed down, altered and adopted dress and style sense. Whatever and whoever confirms to it ‘keeps in with times’ and is ‘liberal’. Who doesn’t is ‘conservative’ and ‘parochial’. But the again, isn’t stereotypical thinking that has ailed our impressionable society.

I have never been able to fathom how one mode of dressing may make one person conservative while another dress sense or the lack of it thereof makes another liberal. Aren’t these two things something to do with mind sets and thought processes? Or have we, as a society, parted ways with anything that calls for the slightest work of grey cells, brushing our hands off it saying ‘good riddance’. So much for the brain, a non entity.

What guarantee is there that there is no wolf in sheep’s clothing?

What exactly is the modern dress style that one has to adapt to in hopes of coming out as a beacon of forwardness; to appear emancipated and hence more tolerant. If one is to ridicule others covered more or less than he/she thinks would suffice, can this behaviour be termed as that of tolerance?

Suppose a lady doesn’t give two hoots to what the darzi has done to the cloth he was entrusted with to make her suit and smugly struts about brandishing as much bare skin as she could dare, sans dupatta; but is not allowed to attend a co-education institute, on a pretext of it being too immoral. Would you term her family as a liberal and open-minded one?

Then there’s another girl who enshrouds herself in a big chadar before stepping out of the house and lays claim to the country’s highest seat of learning as her alma mater. Throughout her ‘beyond the chardiwari’ experience her dupatta doesn’t slip off her head. Would you label her as ‘backward’?

The former may be wont to coquetry and the latter is assertive and bold enough to get along with the world and be respected as well.
Appearances can be deceptive, you say. Touché!

How a person chooses to dress is entirely his/her prerogative and not necessarily a reflection of him/her and surely not a parameter for others to judge and label him/her.

There’s much more to a man/woman than the colour of skin/eyes/hair, built and bank balance.

Monkeying western wear, popularly perceived as liberal, doesn’t equate with being modern. Blatantly following trends that are not inherent to our indigenous milieu simply signifies a bankruptcy of the intellect. Can you think or talk like an Englishman if you dress up in a three piece suit in the sweltering heat of June? Just as a dhoti clad rustic doesn’t have to spew out a torrent of the vernacular. But if you condition and cultivate in yourself the very essence of education you may be held in high esteem despite being clad in an ara pajama with a resham ka kamarband!

Isn’t the very term ‘liberal clothing’ paradoxical with what it denotes; while it means an excess of clothing, it is something that is and can be reduced as per a person’s dare!

Why then damn a person because of what he/she wears and rave over another for what he/she discards as non-essentials? Why oversimplify and stereotype when it is a well known fact that each human is unique to himself/herself.

And most importantly, why not broaden our understanding of people instead of opting for the easy way out by our stubborn belief in ‘first impression is the last?’ Think over it…