Not to be too sexist about it
He doesn’t want to be “too sexist” about it and he knows he’s being “crass” in asking a group of professional journalists
(who happen to be women) about their choice of attire, but… Shashi Tharoor appeals to the women of India “to save the sari from a sorry fate.”
On recent visits home to India I have begun to notice fewer and fewer saris in our public places, and practically none in the workplace. The salwar kameez, the trouser and even the Western dress-suit have begun to supplant it everywhere. And this is not just a northern phenomenon, the result of the increasing dominance of our culture by Punjabi-ised folk who think nothing of giving masculine names to their daughters.
Emma has a response here.
Also: Here’s Tharoor’s NYT op-ed on the Americans and cricket. (via Siddhartha of Sepia Mutiny)
as an aside:
“I remember being struck, on my first visit to Japan some 15 years ago, by the iniquitousness of Western clothing in that Asian country. ”
Why did he think its wicked or morally bad in principle or practice that Japanese were wearing this garment? His next lines lead me to believe he might have meant ubiquity.
n!
Comment by Neela — March 29, 2007 @ 4:12 am
Why doesn’t Mr. Tharoor wear a dhoti and save it from its no doubt sorry fate and thereby uphold indian tradition (which last I checked didn’t include trousers).
n!
Comment by n! — March 29, 2007 @ 4:14 am
comment number 2 LMAO…heh heh..
Comment by madhuri — March 29, 2007 @ 6:11 am
bah ! women as upholder of culture… when will we ever be released from this burden !
Comment by apu — March 29, 2007 @ 10:57 am
n!: Why a dhoti? Surely the appropriate traditional attire for cavemen is raw animal hide - sensually draped, of course.
Comment by Falstaff — March 29, 2007 @ 2:11 pm
Thanks Uma, for the link. I am glad to see that I wasn’t the only one incensed when I read it.
Comment by Emma — March 30, 2007 @ 1:08 am
Thanks Uma for the link. I am glad I wasn’t the only one incensed by what Shashi Tharoor had to say.
Comment by Emma — March 30, 2007 @ 1:09 am
After cricket, the sari. Maybe Tharoor has just lost his marbles and - of course I hate to be sexist - like most post retirement Indian men rambles on and believes his ramblings need to be made public.
Best ignored.
Comment by Shama — March 30, 2007 @ 2:17 am
Maybe his intelligence was in his hair. You know, like Samson. That would account for it.
n!
Comment by n! — March 30, 2007 @ 7:01 am
n! - lol at the iniquitous/ubiquitous mixup!
apu: amen to that.
falstaff, emma, shama :)
Comment by Uma — March 31, 2007 @ 12:24 pm
My response to Shashi:
http://pujathakur.wordpress.com/2007/04/27/reply-to-shashi-tharoor-by-gurdas-singh-sandhu/
Comment by Gurdas — April 27, 2007 @ 8:20 pm