I was
watching a Bengali movie some weeks ago. Swade Alhade. It was about how a woman
steps up and takes charge of her life after leaving her abusive husband and in-laws.
While it was a truly heartwarming movie and did send across a great message,
one thing struck me.
As soon as the protagonist decides to achieve great things
in life, she ditches her beautiful saris for a salwar kameez and western
clothes. And this transition was not specific to Swade Alhade alone. The names
of a host of other movies come to mind where empowerment of women is portrayed,
either directly or indirectly, by her moving on from the graceful and
traditional sari to salwars, kurtis and western wear.
Not just on the big and small screens, we see this syndrome
spreading in our own lives too. Wearing a crisp white shirt with fitting
trousers is the preferred alternative to a cotton sari in the boardroom. Even
the shyest of us prefer a kurti and leggings to a sari for a lunch with the
girls.
While I'm always pro-choice and never, at least consciously,
judge people on the basis of their attire; and have nothing against any form of
clothing and do wear all kinds of clothes myself, I do lament the decline
of the sari. The gorgeous six yards that has graced our women for generations
is now relegated to the background and is worn only on special occasions- that
too with so many mutations that some forms are almost unrecognizable.
Of what I've seen and heard, many women shy away from
donning the sari due to preconceived notions of it being a difficult garment to
wear and manage. All I'm saying is- those ideas aren't really true in
most cases. The difficulty is often just in our heads. Let's give it a chance
to get a revival. Let's give it a shot. Let's ask our moms and grandmoms if
they didn't wear a sari while cycling, swimming or even climbing trees.
The sari does not make a girl frumpy or too traditional. It
is not a symbol of repression and submission. One can be as much a strong and
independent woman in a sari as she can in any other attire.
It is graceful, beautiful and liberating. Just like any
other attire.
Remember, it is not your clothes that define you but you
that defines your clothes.