Dress code.

Jairam Ramesh  discarded the gown & hat  at the graduation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Forest Management,Bhopal.He opined, that, one should be comfortable with clothes being worn & hence do away with medieval legacy.

I couldn't agree more.In a tropical country like India,one can wear a  loose dress & not  a gown which is just too suffocating.Moreover,in our nation,wherein, more than half the people have hardly any thing to wear,it is a crime to go for dresses  which use reams of cloth just, for some ceremonies ! They  can be better utilised in covering the have nots.Hats are also a big no. Hats have never been  part of our culture.Again,the same argument, is that in our hot & humid climate,it is better to keep the head cool by keeping it uncovered.

I have found it quite amusing that lawyers  & judges continue to wear the gowns in High Courts.I just cannot understand, all this adherence to the British system of dressing .Agreed,that we have borrowed heavily from the Western system of jurisprudence but, still ,we can improve, as time marches ahead.Looks, like we are still struck somewhere behind.So,we still insist on dress code for advocates & judges in our courts long after temperatures have risen drastically in the tropics.I am sure,the frayed tempers in courts have a lot to do with the gowns worn by the lawyers & judges.If the gowns are done away with,I am sure,many will keep their cool in the sylvan atmospheres.Even productivity will improve !We will have less of a backlog.

My daughter has to wear tie to school.I feel, it, is like the noose on the nubile necks of kids.It is so hot that with the tie ,it becomes a torture.It is worse than the noose of the hanging as one experiences it only once ( if any ) but the kids have to endure the noose on a daily basis.Moreover,the tie fits snugly only when the collar button is put in place.So it is a double whammy for the children !

We can easily do away with ties,gowns,etc from our dress codes for schools,courts,college ceremonies etc.Even the corporate culture of wearing suits ought to be done away with .Moreover,experience has shown that appearances can be deceptive .Dresses make up for appearances which are quite contrary  to the nature of the wearer. This will translate into being green as well as less stuffy clothes will mean more coolness & hence less of power to run fans,air conditioners etc.So,one can save power as well.I think, it is ridiculous, that people wear suits & go to office & then turn on the air conditioners to cool off.In a power starved nation as ours,we ought to do better, than, indulge, in such wasteful expenditure.


I think , Jairam Ramesh has echoed what many of us have been trying to say since years.We need to ape good qualities from others taking into account ,our own circumstances & in this case, our surroundings, inclusive of climate.