Of Bindis and Bangles

Growing up, i wore all sort of dresses, right from frocks, skirts, pants (in those days jeans were a luxury) and of course salwars and churidars. By the time i reached my tenth class, i settled to salwars and churidars. All those years, whenever i visited my grandparents' i was haunted by one question. How could my cousins bear to expose their mid-riff? Being brought up outside of AP, i gravitated towards salwar, while my cousins used to wear half-saris. They never understood how i could expose my legs and i never understood how they could expose their mid-riff. But that was long long ago, almost three decades back. Later i fell in love with saris and realised how a sari can be a Nirupama Roy's outfit as well as Sridevi's. Now i try to wear them as often as possible. Now, i realise that salwar is not an outfit of south India and that it was borrowed for convenience from the north. Same as now we are adopting jeans and other western outfit. My friend once commented that we Indians do not have the structure suitable for western wear. But more than the structure, i feel what we lack is the attitude. I for one can never feel comfortable in western outfit. And that discomfort shows in my body language when i wear one. And that results in the ugly look. I am more comfortable and confident in my salwars. That is the reason I have worn it without hesitation all these years, whether i worked in London, or USA or India.

After dealing with all the frustrations and conflicts, we see most of the girls these days ditching the Indian wear and adapting the western outfit. There are many reasons given - right from job requirement to comfort  levels (how a skin tight jeans and t-shirt is more comfortable than the airy cotton salwar beats me). These days the bone of contention is bindi, bangle and for married ladies mangalsutra. Girls are trying to ditch these too, and the older generation is trying its best to preserve the last final link to our tradition or culture. I feel the objection to discarding the bbc (bindi, bangle, chain) is more vehement when compared to the one raised for the outfit shift. The youngsters see it as an outdated fashion statement to be discarded along with the outfit, while the elders see it as the remnant of our culture. Elders are not able to convince the youth, the need of bbc. What is its value? Why do we need to wear it? Apart from saying that they are part of our tradition and that all girls need to wear them, there is no other strong argument coming up.

I am also lost for words, this is one argument where i am not able to decide which side to take. When i see a girl without bindi, i feel that she is not dressed properly, that something is missing in her. That's something i am used to seeing growing up, all girls wear bindis. But then, when i realise that its a Christian, Muslim or a north Indian girl, i don't find it odd. Am i prejudiced? or hypocritical? Is following tradition blindly such a bad thing? It is not hurting anyone, it is not like rejecting allopathic medicine in favor of ayurveda saying that it is not our tradition. There is no harm in following elder's word, right? Of course, counter argument would be what is the need to wear them when they are not benefiting us in any way. Point noted. 

Call me conservative if you like, but a girl does look beautiful with a bindi, even if it is foreigner. And that's my opinion, so hang me..........