Pants vs Skirts

You know why pants were made? For horseback riding. Because people needed something comfortable, and to protect their legs. And there are some who say that the first trouser was invented by a Queen – a woman.

But if you are a woman wearing pants today, at some point you are asked the question ‘why do you dress like a guy’?

Our dresses have evolved over centuries, wherein certain garments became popular with men and some for women. Trousers veered to the men’s side mainly because they were out working, doing tasks that required horse riding, and jumping on fences and other things that did not need a garment getting in the way. And women continued with the airy (and then not so airy) garments of skirts and dresses.

Now that women are back out on the streets again doing things, why not go back to that simple garment of pants? It is comfortable. It gives you pockets to shove your keys, cellphone and money into. It means you can sit with your legs up without worrying about your dignity. It means you do not have to worry about a strong wind and flying dresses. It means you stay warmer.

Luckily for women, we’ve had the freedom to take back certain items of clothing. For men, not so lucky. Wouldn’t a guy want to wear something loose and comfortable to work in this heat? Except for Americans, and some parts of Europe, there are forms of a ‘skirt’ still popular, if not in the workplace. A mundu / lungi / sarong is quite popular in Asian countries. Romans wore long tunics, ensuring they survived the hot summers.The Greeks wore some version of it. So why not bring it back? If men will (and that’s the tough part) why shouldn’t they be allowed to wear skirts to work?

When India Starts Walking Back

I did something that I never thought I would do.

I googled Malllika Sherawat. Her name was trending on Twitter and there were a variety (pun intended) of jokes about her. All leading to her one statement (apparently in a pseudo accent) – “India is a regressive country.”

Now, I don’t particularly care about the woman. She’s in a long line of big-boobed women who’ve walked the halls of Bollywood. But there is something to be said about the way she’s managed to climb the social ladder and even grab a small interview in Variety. And even if said in a pseudo accent, her statement does hold a lot of truth, as very nicely supported by the banning of lingerie-clad mannequins as a measure to prevent rape.

Rape of women, not mannequins, just to clarify.

Anyway, now that we’ve given her the two minutes of fame… There was another small news article that almost missed by attention.

The Taliban have a new enemy apparently and its balloons. Yep. Pink balloons were handed out as a part of a ‘peace’ mission to people on the street. But the Taliban believe this is yet another attempt by the West to destroy their culture. 

I can’t help but draw a parallel between the laws passed in Mumbai today and Taliban’s extreme reaction to everything in the world. We, Indians, claim we are not like the Taliban. We claim to be a progressive country and that we highly value and respect individual freedom. 

But the closer we look, and more instances in the past few months makes me wonder if we aren’t actually regressive wearing the mask of progress. 

We are not able to handle criticism to anything and our reaction is to typically throw the baby out with the bath water. 

So far, in an attempt to protect Indian culture, we have beeped out all the ‘dangerous’ words on TV. These include, but are not limited to, ass, kissing, sex, fornication, weiner (!), butt, boobs, other sexual body parts and slangs for the same. We grossly edit out all instances of kissing on english sitcoms, while we happily play scenes of rape and pillage in hindi movies. We refuse to play movies like The Dirty Picture on primetime TV, but we are quite happy to show Indian versions of Big Brother, Roadies and other sleazier shows. 

And in our deep respect towards women, we ask them not to work beyond 10 PM, we try to force them into not being out past 7 PM, not being in pubs beyond 10 PM, not working at nights, wearing ‘full clothes’, not using cell phones. And our attempt to control rapes include calling the rapist a brother, not wearing short clothes, banning lingerie displays on mannequins as this creates a frenzy of lust in men, not eat fast food among other measures.

Of course, the solution for after rape has occured – assuming the survivor can prove her (I would like to say his but male rape is something that our country will not even begin to comprehend) pure character is to ask her to marry the rapist. Then the rapist is allowed to go scot free and his act isn’t considered a crime. 

Almost every college in the city has prescribed salwars as the ‘dress code’ for its students because it wants to make them aware of professional wear. 

But still, we are considered progressive.

Oh yes, we also believe that one needs to buy a license from the government every time he / she wants to drink in a particular city. We believe that people are old enough to vote / get married but cannot drink in some cities. We also believe in shutting the city down at 11.30 PM in an attempt to ‘reduce crime’. 

Of course, our culture would not permit legalising prostitution, creating strip bars or any such avenues of sin. 

Because we are progressive, as affirmed by our very patriotic Priyanka Chopra, former Miss World and current Bollywood actor. And yes, a pop star who had to go all the way to Hollywood to record her song because our country was too progressive.

Now, I love my country. We’ve a lot to proud about. But I’m never to agree that we are progressive as long as we have archaic laws like these and refuse to change them. As long as the cop on duty at 11 PM asks me why I’m out so late and alone and automatically assumes the worst about me. 

Perhaps it is the same in ‘developed’ countries. I don’t care. I’m not comparing ourselves to them. I want us to be better. I want people to realise that rape isn’t a sexual act and it is genderless. I want to stop wondering when the government will pass a law asking all women to stay at home after 10 PM or prescribe a dress code for daily wear. 

Till then, as outrageous as it seems, I strangely do agree that our country seems regressive.

Entourage. Of all sorts.

Nearly 7 AM. I should’ve been asleep 4 hours ago. I’ve a full day. I’ve a full weekend actually.

But I came home and wanted to finish up a few chores. And those chores required multitasking so I started playing Entourage Season 4. And though I meant to watch it only as long as I was working, I watched the entire 12 episodes. Why? What hooks me to this?

It is fluff. When I’m done, if you ask me to explain the whole plot in an interesting way, I really can’t. But it still gets me… perhaps it is the friendship of the 4 guys, the loyalty, mixed with a few moments of lightheartedness. It is funny… though I simply cannot bear Johny Drama. I pretty much fast forward most of the scenes that has only Drama and Turtle. Eric is the one that gets me.. the shy guy who has some surprises hidden in him. Vince is the guy I’d date but never more. And Ari…he’s exactly the kind of guy I’d fall for. Lol. He’s the hottest… and the arrogance… gotta love it.

The show I hear wasn’t really that  much of a hit. Not surprising… how many people would wanna watch the glitter of Hollywood, big boobs and naked asses on a weekly basis on television, with ad breaks if it was not with other purposes? And if I didn’t watch it at a go, it would probably be a little slow. But there is something interesting… not about the working of Hollywood because despite having various appearances of familiar names, this thing doesn’t show shit about the way Hollywood really works (mostly) but this is about a group of friends and living it big.

It helps it has a few good looking men… but I’m not sure what audience it was aimed at. Sex n the City was aimed at all the women out there… True Blood is from the teens to the vamp fans who love a good love story or some such thing. This one… not sure. But for late nights, it fits me.

***

On the side, I pretty much froze my ass off at work today cuz the AC was finally working after 2 fucking years and it was jammed. So the temperature couldn’t be regulated nor could I really shift the blast of air, so it was on my hair and my fingers were frozen. I was so glad to get out of it that when it was time to go home, I got into the cab, loved the warmth and said to no one in particular “I bloody froze my ass off. They just didn’t turn the fuckin ac off!”

The guy in the cab heard it and for some reason he felt compelled to play back this speech he had downloaded from some Osho ripoff called Osho Rajneesh or something… and this was about the use of the word ‘fuck’. It went on about how ‘fuck’ was the most used word in english and could be used in so many ways and went on with some examples and about how the word simply was… the most pitifully used. Perhaps the intention of making the speech was funny, but the intention with which this guy played it was a little annoying. The speech was interspersed with people laughing in the background and while K went on about how brilliant this was, I said I found it a little annoying. He did get the hint and switch it off but i wondered what gets peoples back up when women swear? I know I mentioned this a little while ago but seriously… I wasn’t referring to a person or swearing at him.

I would’ve perhaps let it ago if I’d frozen my ass off earlier and was a little cranky and for the little fact that yesterday the cab was a little like being in the locker room. By some strange coincidence, a bunch of guys who hadn’t met each other in a while got into the same cab. And I was the only girl. So I plugged in my music and would’ve spaced out except their conversation was louder than the music my earbuds could bear. They spoke about people getting married, women in their departments and some weird jokes about people they knew.

Nope, I do not understand what gets their back up but I think K got the point when i made it a point to use the f-word in a couple of other sentences where I really didn’t need to use it to make a point.

Song of the day: Superhero – Jane Addiction (Entourage theme song for the unenlightened)