Culture, clothes and us
Written by Amutha on July 21, 2008 – 1:06 pm
While I can’t remember the exact post, I remember reading a blog post of a fellow Malaysian Indian blogger criticizing Malaysian Indian girl’s clothing. Something that pointing out that sexy and Westernized clothing (and character) of them are ‘killing’ the culture. Yea, something like that.
No, I am not going to argue on someone’s post here. That is not an ethical thing to do, but I would rather argue about so-called burden of preserving the culture that many think only need to be shouldered by women. That would be something I will never agree as a woman and as a person. For example, it is alright for our men folk to go to a temple in jeans but it is not okie for women. While I am not saying it is not okie for a girl to go to temple in a punjabi suit/saree, I’m wondering why men are exempted from such unwritten rule.
Being an alumni of a local public university, I am well aware of the ‘orientation month’ that our students used to have (and I believe they are still having it). There was a rule insisting our girls to wear traditional clothes during the whole ‘orientation month’. Some defended it saying it is to identify the freshies and some attacked the idea. But no one ever asked the boys to wear dhoti or jippa.
Why is the double standard when it comes to who-should-take-care-of-culture? Why parents who are so particular dressing up their daughters in traditional clothes doesn’t seem to mind what the sons are wearing? Why would modern-dressed girls looked down while whose in traditional attire regarded as family-type girl? It can always be the other way around, you know?
Besides, I was just wondering about this - I am able to tie a saree within 5 mins, how many men here able to tie a dhoti in 10 mins?
Posted in Culture |
July 21st, 2008 at 4:17 pm
i can.. with the help of a belt to hold up my dhoti of course
July 21st, 2008 at 4:43 pm
“I am able to tie a saree within 5 mins, how many men here able to tie a dhoti in 10 mins?”
aaaahhh.. ithu periya savaal la.. en misai thudikkirathu… hehehe
July 21st, 2008 at 10:21 pm
The pancha in Telugu, called dhoti or doti in Hindi, Laacha in Punjabi, mundu in Malayalam, dhuti in Bangla, veshti in Tamil
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:21 am
true enof…..
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:38 pm
@ kavilan
tht’s cheating!!
@ raaja
misai thudolerathe irukattum, savvale jeike mudiyuma?
@ kavi
thanks but ethe true soleringe?
ammu.
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:41 pm
brother, veshti is not tamil, sanskrit.
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:46 pm
ammu, i’m teling wat u say is true….
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
@ subash
tamil class teacher
@ kavi
oh.. appo okie thaan!
ammu.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
what is Vesti in Tamil?
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:37 pm
actually vesti is very easy to tie.. enake rendu style theriyum..
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:19 pm
100% agree with what ammu said. it is normal for us to see the burden of so called ‘preserving’ culture is only being put on the female gender. This is another good example of how man-made rules which came from the male-dominated society still exist.
its sad to see even in today’s world we can have ppl to say such a thing. highly irresponsible. Culture is not preserved solely by wearing one type of cloth only, but it is certainly one aspect to it.
but ammu..wearing vesthi/dhotti sekejap je kot
hngehehehe
raaja will represent the guys in this potti!
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:13 pm
@ rujj
respect la!
@ mahen
appada.. finally someone talking about the real issue in the post. thanks!
so, can i expect myself to see mahen wearing dhoti to temple from now onwards?
ammu.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:42 pm
@ rujj
i think we all know how to tie, but the issue is, u wear vesti or not to temple…hehehe
@ Mahendran
naa redi
Adappaavi
–
some dont like to wear vesti because its not “user friedly”, abit transparent and can “collapse” anytime…
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:59 pm
vesthi is veryyy the open source
nalla kathommaa irekkem
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:20 pm
I am with Amutha on this one. There definitely is a bias for women to look after culture while men simply live their lives.
I blame it on mothers. Darnit! Men should be tied around in veshti so they know the trouble women go through. Then the next time, they won’t complain why women take hours to play dress up.
You think veshti is non-user friendly? Try the saree man…
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:07 am
it is not mother’s or men fault..
i think the community had ignored the culture..and culture, solely not represented by our clothing, saree or dhoti. there are other things too..
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:21 am
Jom.. next gathering all pakai veshti go midvalley makan
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:14 am
@ raaja
nalla kelvi. do u tie one?
@ raaja & mahen
wht u guys means its non-user friendly and would collapse? hello!! wanna try saree and see? then u know what ‘non-user friendly’ really means!
ammu.
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:19 am
@ tzarina
finally i have a woman with me in this post. i hv just scrolled up and realized that there was not a single comment from a female blogger/reader! u saved the day!!
thinking about what you have said, i also realized my mommy or daddy never pushed bro to wear a dhoti and i never seen daddy wearing one (except in his wedding pics!!). ah.. injustice!!!
@ murali
“i think the community had ignored the culture..and culture, solely not represented by our clothing, saree or dhoti. there are other things too..”
I don’t quite understand. but i’m not saying culture is not ONLY represented by clothing but in fact, culture is ALSO represented by clothing. so, when women are pushed and expected to shine in traditional clothing, why there is an exception with men?
ammu.
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:21 am
@puvanan
cannot go Midvalley mall like that but we can have a small prayer in KL Mariamman temple or Midvalley temple, and see how many turn up in dhoti!
ammu.
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:25 pm
If you can in 5 mins and u challenge in 10 mins ..I can do in 2.5mins
But I am sure you cant do it in 10 mins. Anyways the task to preserve culture is a job for all. Till date I see most girls still keep in touch with the culture (with some upgrades), I think man should start to wear jippa and so on. I am in Pakistan, I see more man wear the cultural wear even in office, and many girls wears saree and punjabi dress (as we call it). And to my observation I don’t see the man wearing cultural wear on normal occasion in India or Sri Lanka. We will be lost of culture…if we go on like this.
psst: Don’t get a wrong impression about Pakistan…blame the media. Here in Pakistan people are nice and respectful and friendly and warm.
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Vesthi or Dhoti , tamilil ena peyar?