Tuesday 29 January 2008

Not again

Oh Dear God, its started again. I mean the moral policing business in Chennai. What is happening to my dear state in recent years? First there was a huge uproar for a sensible talk from a pretty actress and then there was this new dress code for college students and now Shriya’s dress. A dress of all things on Earth!

I grew up in a Coimbatore and went to one of those super Godly catholic schools run by strict nuns. The uniform I wore was a white shirt and half skirt. I had worn that for 12 years and no one even winked. The same school has a salwar kameez as uniform now. All the government/municipal schools which had half saris as uniform have changed to Salwar kameez. Are we retreating into some kind of old Victorian world and the current 50 somethings are steering us towards that era? I really don’t get it. I am of the opinion that ancient Tamilians (those who wrote all the sangam poems) were very liberal when it came to clothes. In one of the old Puranannuru poems, there is a sentence describing the clothes the leading lady wears. It describes that the material the lady wore was so fine that one could see through her dress. Can’t imagine what the Moral Police would do if someone was to write a similar poem, let alone wear such a dress.

Is this Talibanization of TamilNadu? And oh, as if there is not enough on the platter, Tamilans can no longer celebrate New Year in April, instead it will be in January. Is there any sense amidst this madness or is it madness to search for sense?

4 comments:

Pascal said...

Good on you Devi, everytime I go home to Madras I feel the same. I cannot understand why we have to lose the half sari and other ancient customs. Senthamizh Naatu Thamizhachi...........Where are you?

Devi said...

Pascal thanks for dropping by and it is Chennai not Madras anymore. Your comment made me wonder what happened to Senthamizh Naatu Thamizhan, if ever there was one.

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Jayakanthan - ஜெயகாந்தன் said...

This reminds me of what Indra Nuyi said in an interview about packing cloths for her daughter when she went to madras err. chennai. She packed all traditional dresses and when her daughter landed in chennai, there were not many (or very very few) that still wear traditional dresses outside. I guess convenience and fashion takes over tradition. I am not sure if I would be going out with a white dhoti in the US! I grew up in coimbatore as well and our school (co-ed) had the same policy for all girls (and no full pants for boys as well!) until 8th grade. Nice post.