Tuesday 13 April 2021

The Colonial Uniform in Schools

 

Summer heat
Socks and shoes
Colonized Minds
Glad our daughters schooling years were in the village school. Where slippers, or barefeet, were the norm. As befits a tropical country.

We, as a people, have stopped even asking simple questions of why and how of clothing choices. What to say about deeper issues of mental colonization, loss of self, and slavery of the west.
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There is this nearby school where the uniform for the boys is kurta pyjama. If I had a son I would have admitted him there just for that.
Why does a tropical country, free of its colonial masters for decades, still only imagine a tight pant and shirt for school uniforms ? I grew in a school where we wore ties and belts also !

16 Comments

  • Aparna Jandhyala Damaraju
    We are pretty stupid that way.. Even our laws are from British era.. Sigh
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    • 5y
  • Sailesh Bhupalam
    When we wated to gain independence, this anticolonial sentiment made sense. But we are independent now and wear whatever we want on our own volition. So which colonization should we reverse? is it just the english? What about the aryan invasion, this land was occupied by people from central asia, should we reverse that too? i think we all came from Africa anyways, until then there were only animals in India, millions of years ago. Where do we stop this and why?
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    • 5y
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      • 5y
    • Sailesh Bhupalam
      for me sensibility depends on three things 1> there should be a clear utility to society and the person
      2> there should a certain value that we are upholding
      3> it should be able to develop a virtue in people
      Wearing kurta instead of pant or shirt, i don't see any specific utility, value and virtue maybe protecting our culture.
      We don't need to reject everything just because we were colonised once. It's like saying just because Brahmins oppressed dalits we are going to reject whatever they say. They might have some good things too. i don't think rejecting everything western or eastern and eulogising everything indian is sensible at all. It only shows our biases.
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      • 5y
    • Aparna Krishnan
      🙂. think nore deeply of what western language and western clothing 'signifies'.
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      • 5y
    • Sailesh Bhupalam
      it doesn't signify anything unless we see it that way. The present and the future are more importnat than some perceived threat to self created identity based on kurta pajama, as far as i see it. But then everyone can have their own opinions.
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      • 5y
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      • 5y
  • Mahima Thangappan
    Kurta pyjama is a risk when naughty boys run jump and climb 😛
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    • 5y
  • Ananda Ganesh
    I encourage people to wear Indic dresses wherever and whenever possible.
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    • 5y
  • Shyamala Sanyal
    And in Pondicherry the girls wear shorts !
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    • 5y
    • Aparna Krishnan
      everywhere. my only concern is the colonized framework we exist in though some choose to deny it. A woman in an ordinary saree is seen as lower in status. A child in a pavadai as poorer to a child in shorts. Unless the Indian clothes are expensive enough to be Ethnic !!
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      • 5y
    • Ananda Ganesh
      Well said Aparna Krishnan. The movies and TV serials sponsored by unknown sources create such impressions.
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      • 5y
  • Swarna Latha
    Perhaps the coats and suits are needed to justify all those ACs!!! Because businesses prefer to build glass houses.
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