The Hindu : Kerala News : Teachers hail new clothes norm

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Thursday, Feb 07, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala

Teachers hail new clothes norm

— Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

Teachers’ new clothes: Teachers are happy to switch over to Salwar Kameez from Sari in the wake of the government order allowing them to wear this dress in schools from Tuesday.

During a television interview recently, writer Shashi Tharoor, while talking about the importance of tradition, quoted from a conversation he had with a woman friend of his. “Try catching a bus in a sari, you will never want to wear sari again,” she had told him.

But, a female school teacher in Kerala had, till as late as Monday, February 4, had no option but to wear a sari, whether she was catching a bus or a train, or riding a scooter, or walking to school on a rainy, windy day. The government order passed on Monday, however, has liberated her from the confines of a sari: teachers can now wear salwar kameez – called, somewhat wrongly in Kerala, churidar – to school.

And the teachers are delighted. “This is something the Government should have done long ago,” says P. Vijayalakshmi, a retired school Principal. “If male teachers are free to wear trousers, why were women forced to wear saris? Salwar kameez is so easy to wear and it is dignified clothing.”

P.P. Jisma, who teaches at Devadhar HSS, Tanur, also welcomes the government order. “Many teachers in my school came wearing salwar kamiz on Tuesday itself and they all looked very happy,” she said. “Though I personally still prefer to wear sari at school, I am glad that we have been given the freedom to choose our clothes. Wearing a sari is so very time-consuming and it is pretty difficult to handle.”

M.K. Jaishath does not have a choice, though her profession too is teaching. She cannot wear a salwar kamiz at work because she is a college lecturer. “It would be great if we too were allowed to wear salwar kamiz,” says Jaishath, who teaches Zoology at Malabar Christian College, Kozhikode. “Even some of the senior lecturers I know would prefer salwar kamiz.”

Very few garments have caught the fancy of the Kerala woman the way salwar kamiz has. This traditional wear of Punjabi women became a common wear in Kerala only in the 1980s.

“When we were students, there was no salwar kamiz,” recalls Vijayalakshmi. “We used to wear half-saris at college.”

While half-sari has virtually disappeared from Kerala, salwar kamiz has emerged as the most popular clothing for girls and young women. “Over the last couple of years, I have found that even older women switching to salwar kamiz from sari,” says Sumitha Sheril Raj, a Kozhikode-based fashion designer. “And salwar kamiz is undergoing changes every season; the bottoms are getting wider, the tops are getting shorter, dupattas come and go, and sleeves too keep changing. Mega sleeves and Patiala style bottoms are in now.”

P.K. Ajith Kumar

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