Don't roam in Bombay in dhoti, wear English dress - an old man advised me

On January 12, the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, I was going to the Bombay University to watch a play (for the first time in my life) based on the life of the great saint. Sitting besides me, in the local bus, was an old man, perhaps in his late 60s. I was in my usual khadi dhoti-kurta attire, and I was confirming with him whether the bus would go to Kalina, where the University campus is, and also asking him as to how long the journey would take. He said that the bus would take me there. I was relieved to hear that even he was to get down at the same stop as mine. I was definite to not miss the stop. But what he said next was not something that was heartening. There will be traffic in this route and it would take half an hour, he told me. The play was to begin at 3 PM and the time was already 2:40 PM and the bus driver had not yet come. I was getting restless, for I did not want to miss even a single scene of the play or the introductory talks. 

The bus ticket from Kurla station to Kalina was Rs 10 and because I did not have change I gave a hundred Rupee note to the conductor. He returned the balance amount in notes of tens. I was counting the notes, and as I did I was slowly arranging the notes so that all notes had the 'Gandhis' on one side. As soon as I was done and kept them safely in my wallet, the man sitting next to me asked, "Are you new to Bombay?" I was, by now, quite used to getting this question from people primarily because of being clad in a dhoti in a city where even old men have switched to trousers, and also because of my Hindi which had a strong non-Hindi slang. As usual I smiled and said yes; I told him that I was from Kerala. 

We then started talking casually and I was asking him where he was from, what he was doing, et cetera. When he told me that he was working in an automobile finance firm I wanted to know from him if he knew places from where I could get a used Ambassador car in a good condition. Our talks then shifted to old Ambassadors and Premier Padminis, and how they have almost disappeared from the Indian roads. He was eager to know whether these were still common in Kerala. We kept talking.

I did not realize that almost half an hour had passed until he grabbed his bag and signaled to me that our stop had come. He walked towards the front door and I followed him. As soon as we both alighted he told me, "Dekho aap Bombay mein aise lungi mein na ghoomna. Angrezi kapde pehen lo. Warna logon ko jaldi pata chalega ki aap bahar se aaye ho aur vo aapko ullu banaenge." (Don't roam in Bombay in lungi - dhoti is what he meant. Wear English dress. Or else people can easily understand that you are from outside and they might fool you.) He also told me not to ask auto-rickshaw people for routes and directions, and also to prefer asking old people to school or college going students as the former would guide better. He extended his hand for a handshake and then after the handshake I joined both my palms and told him namaste and dhanyavaad. 

As soon as we walked apart I started rewinding the advice he had given me. The point about asking directions to old men than to students was in a way, and largely, correct, and not asking rickshaw drivers was even more true. What struck me, however, was his suggesting me to wear "English clothes." Our minds are still colonialist, it seems. 

This is not the first time that I have heard or experienced such things. Once when I was taking leave from my neighbour's house saying it was time to leave for the railway station to catch my train to Madras, he had shockingly asked me if I was going in a dhoti. He had then almost ordered me to wear a trouser to which I smiled and said a no. On a previous occasion when I was in Bombay and was to attend a family wedding clad in a dhoti my relatives had close-to forced me to wear a trouser, or at least a pyjama, which again I had desisted. My father had unsuccessfully opposed my going to Delhi in a dhoti. I had attended my engineering degree convocation in my khadi dhoti-kurta attire. When my batchmates, seniors, and juniors saw me in that they laughed. Few asked me what was I doing and I said that since I wear this always and since there was no special dress code prescribed I did not find anything wrong in what I was doing. I had put the convocation robe that was mandatory over my kurta. And when the Governor of Tamil Nadu Mr K. Rosaiah, as the University's Chancellor, walked into the auditorium to give away the degree certificates, he was in the same attire as mine - dhoti, kurta, and a robe on top. I smiled and told my friends sitting next to me, "See the Chief Guest of the function is himself in this attire, and in this large gathering of over 1000 people only we two are in the same costume. It is rather a proud moment for me." 

Wearing a dhoti is seen by few as something that is "inferior." We have to become more "English," they feel, just like the gentleman whom I met in the bus. Dhoti clad men (save politicians and saints) are "lower" or "illiterate" some others feel. Few feel that dhoti is fine but only for specific occasions or when going to a temple, and not for regular use. Few others feel that in cities one should do away with the dhoti, it is fine in rural areas. I refuse to be impressed by any of these arguments. To set the record straight, I must say that I have earned both ridicule and respect for being a habitual wearer of dhoti. Except when a dress code to the contrary is prescribed I feel no reason to do away with the humble dhoti and adopt a "gentleman" or "English" trouser. Thus when I go to Law college to attend classes I am in a white shirt and black trouser, the uniform prescribed for male students.

I wear a dhoti because it is our traditional dress. I feel pride in wearing it. And I wear only khadi ones to promote khadi and the rural artisans who are dependent on this. Not once have I felt ashamed for wearing a dhoti. In fact, I do feel ashamed when people tell me all sort of reasons in an attempt to convince me to give up wearing our own traditional dress and adopting an "English" trouser. 

My mind is open to those who argue that a dhoti is not as comfortable as a trouser or a jean. Personally, I had initially found it very difficult as my waist line was thin and a regular length of dhoti had to be folded way too much before being tucked. I used to, and still do, cut a part of it to fit me. With practise I have managed to get the dhoti stay on without getting loose for almost a whole day. I now find it as comfortable as a trouser. But I do wear a jean, for instance, I did when I was travelling from Bombay to Ahmedabad on a winter night. But that is for protection from the bitter cold which a khadi single-length dhoti would not have given.

To all those who tell me to give up wearing dhoti, I say, I have no ill-will. Come up with a logical proposition that will satisfy me and I shall change. Not reasons like I have to be "English," or modern. I am traditional but not orthodox.    

Jai Hind!                                

A picturesque, pristine & peaceable place in Kerala which hardly shows any sign of human intervention

Coffee shops, malls and restaurants have become the most sought-after meeting place for friends. This is largely because these are found in plenty, as against quiet and organic settings. Yet, the time spent in a perfectly beautiful natural environment is something all together different; an experience that is unbeatable. This article is about one such experience.

A 40 km travel from Palakkad town towards Nenmara will take one to Karimpara, a small village with considerable tribal population. Pothundi Dam, considered as an entry to the Nelliyampathy hill station, is just 6 km away from this water-self-sufficient village.

Karimpara is royally picturesque and has a small, perennial stream passing through it, the origin of which is from the mountains of Nelliyampathy. During the non-rainy season, the stream is quite narrow and shallow; one can walk through its knee-deep waters. Originating from the hills and passing through dense forests, the water is cold, crystal clear, and sweet.

A walk through the stream is an experience in itself. All through its course, the stream is surrounded by lush green shrubs and trees which makes one ecstatic; and the cold water makes the legs numb. But one cannot walk carefree, for there are high chances that one might stumble. The stream bed is made up of rounded rocks, over which, because it is completely undisturbed, there is algae in abundance, making it very slippery. Probability that one can walk the entire stream till its end point without falling at least once is minimal! Though big trees have bordered the stream they do let the sun rays fall on the water. This enables one to see the entire depth of water clearly. Fishes and other smaller marine insects can also be spotted easily.

All though the water-walk to the end point is more than a kilometre, one will not find it stressful. Rather it is thoroughly enjoyable. What makes it even more pleasurable is that at the end one finds the deepest point of the stream, and the most beautiful. There is a huge rock at that point, and it is over it that the water coming from the mountains makes its fall into the stream, which has, therefore, made the point the deepest. Though during monsoons the water gets to 12-15 feet high here and the entire stream itself becomes unapproachable, other times it is just neck deep. The depth isn’t sudden, but gradual, and thus one can very safely stand there and enjoy the pristine nature at her best. One can swim around that point. Once tired, nature has provided nice rounded stones at the borders where one can rest.

The most wonderful part is that all through this wonderful journey through the stream and its surroundings there is not a single trace of any plastic! Usually such beautiful and less populated places are used by people to sit and consume alcohol, and thus one finds liquor bottles and plastic cups. But here that doesn’t happen. One isn’t that safe! Nature has provided her own security guards, and they are wild boars and elephants! During summers when water in the high forests get depleted they come down from the forest to the stream. Early mornings and evenings are the times when these come down. Maybe it is because of this risk factor that people do not come here for consuming alcohol. Even otherwise, the place shows hardly any trace of human intervention. Perhaps, this is one of those few places on earth that is yet to be exploited by man.

For anyone wanting to visit, there is good road facility till Karimpara. One can park the vehicle and then take a half an hour walk through the forest to reach the stream. Walking further inside the forest, one reaches the place where the tribal community lives. There they have a pond which never gets dried up, from which they get all the water they need.

(The post first appeared in The Yatra Diaries)

A Book Exchange activity that is now viral

By Sangeetha Sekar and Siddharth Mohan Nair

Social networking sites have been used for a variety of good causes; the latest instance where it was put to great service was the relief work carried out by scores of Twitter and Facebook users to help people stranded in Chennai floods. In the recent past, these social networking sites have also been used to raise resources through "challenges" like the Ice Bucket Challenge, Rice Bucket Challenge, etc. They have also been used for fun discussions like #BreakUpIn5Words, #YourLoveIn5Words.

This time around, some person, of whom we have no clue yet, has started a wonderful "ACTIVITY" called the Book Exchange. It lets a bibliophile connect with others of his creed, gift a book to some person (perhaps even a complete stranger) and then get book(s) in return. The activity involves a person sharing a post asking people to buy and send one book to a person and get 36 in return!

How it works 

The activity is simple. For a moment let us keep the figures aside.

1. The person, say X, who posts this is contacted by people, say A, B and C, who are interested in taking part in the activity. 
2. A, B and C are sent a message which contains the name, age, and address of a person to whom they are supposed to send a book. Also included in the message would be the interests of that person to whom the book is being sent, just to ensure that he gets books that he likes reading. 
3. Next, A, B and C are asked to share the original post of X so that the chain isn't broken. X's address and interests are asked to be shared by A, B and C to all those who contact them, say M, N and O, wanting to join the activity. They are supposed to send books to X. 
4. M, N and O are part of the activity now. To those who contact them, they share the addresses and interests of A, B and C. 
5. Thus every person in the activity buys and sends only one book but, quite likely, gets more in return.

But what is to be kept in mind is that there is no guarantee of minimum or maximum number of books that one may get in return. Plainly, it is based on luck! Yet, the idea is brilliant. Kudos to that unknown person whose brainchild this is.

On reading about this incredible activity chain of buying or sharing books, one cannot help but compare this to the other book sharing platforms and networks. Fierce bibliophiles do follow bloggers who write book reviews and websites like goodreads which suggest to you the next good book based on your interest. There are other book sharing platforms like bookmooch.com where people can join the network for free and share books they no longer need in exchange for books they may like to read. Similar desi version is an application called Clapshare started by a couple of IITans from Bombay. This application offers its members a book sharing platform, minus the hustle and worry if your book will reach safely or get lost because of some careless delivery guy. Your book is completely safe with them and you can even track your book.Their first delivery is free after which they charge Rs 25 for every delivery which is alright to pay in exchange for a book. But they are currently operating only in Mumbai.

Ms Apoorva Mandhani, a law student from Pune, who is really excited about this online book exchange activity has already done her part. She has sent a book to a person who is a complete stranger to her. She has sent 'A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption' authored by Ms Laura Hillenbrand. Though she hasn’t read the book herself, she said that she did some research going through book reviews to select the best book possible. To her, the whole idea of selecting a book for a stranger was exciting and she is hopeful that the person likes the book. 

"I also sent a small hand-written note along with the book.  It reminded me of the days we used to have pen pals. Well, the feeling is mutual and we hope everyone in the chain finds a pen pal from the most unassuming of places," said Apoorva.

However, the activity isn't completely free from criticism. Mr Nikhil George, an engineering student from Thiruvananthapuram is of the opinion that this is "scam." He compares this to a pyramid scheme and opines that this is impractical and is akin to cheating people. "Thirteen levels deep, you’ve already surpassed the entire human population on earth. But usually such pyramid schemes fizzle out long before hitting such numbers. One reason being is that at some point, your friend circle is going to overlap and get saturated. The second reason being that your scheme will run out of people who are interested in participating," he says in his blogpost.

He explains it as a geometric progression of the number of people and says that as the progression progresses (excuse my pun) the people at the bottom of the pyramid are simply left without people who will share books with them or just run out of people in general, and thus as the chain expands the people who join later in the chain are left out and don’t benefit from the activity.

But not all think in the manner Nikhil does. Many book lovers simply turn around and say, "We love books more than anything. We do not see this as a scam or an act of cheating, it is just that it involves a bit of luck. Those who buy lotteries do not always, or hardly, get the prize."

The activity, apart from giving and getting books, involves thrill, a thrill in sending books to complete strangers like what the Apoorvas enjoy, a thrill also in getting books as gifts from strangers or friends. It also helps in making new friends. Completely worth a try!