I like to keep myself updated with the things happening on and around our planet earth. But the subject of politics makes my spine shudder. How can something so ubiquitous be only benefitting the 0.01 and ignoring the rest 0.99? It is, at times, impossible to make head and tail of all the reservation policies of our country giving the maybe entitled undue advantage. Also, there is this perpetual ‘Goonism’ as I would like to call it between our political parties. But this is something I would not want to express my opinions on.
In 1921, Mahatma Gandhi had led one of the most revolutionary movement to unite the communities and create a sustainable economic opportunity for the fallen handloom weavers. It was called the “Swadeshi Movement” of boycotting English products or the boycotting of the foreign cloth and it was all for khadi. Khadi additionally called khaddar is a characteristic fibre that is hand spun and hand woven is a many-thousand-year-old art that Mahatma Gandhi revived more than one hundred years prior in India. He understood that Khadi was the response to rural India’s financial independence and fought for the village economy stating: “It takes a village to make Khadi” and also called it the fabric of Indian independence. This not only was our first stand towards fighting for our independence and rights, but it was also a revolution in our fashion industry.
As a kid, I loathed news channels, not because it cut into my precious TV time, but also because it had people shouting at the top of their voices trying to prove a point and who knows, their opinions might not even be their own. But the one thing I would always question my parents, constantly badgering them until I made them bustle from anger, was about why Sonia Gandhi isn't wearing a bright-coloured saree or Manmohan Singh shying away in a tux for the Republic Day parade; about why politicians of Indian have not seen a change in their costume for years? The staple clothing for our political leaders till date has been the humble Nehru Jacket and the Cotton Sari wherever they might be.
It was Indira Gandhi who set a trend for women politicians, stepping out in rose pink Tanchois, elegant Benarasi saris and crisp handlooms. Her style was always minimalist and modern. The psychology behind it later dawned on me; it was for what the subtlety of understanding what the people would find acceptable and the sense of identifying them as one of their own in terms of their cultural sensibilities and hence the moderate wardrobe was adapted as a sense of making the community feel secular despite the existing differences. So, does this mean we look for modesty in honesty? Does this imply we search for simplicity and necessity in this world of chaos? If we look for this subtlety in the wardrobes of people who are going to voice us, then why not in ourselves? I’ll let you ponder on this until my next article.
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