The variety of women's clothing in Bangladesh renders this country a sort of sartorial museum. Take the lovely women in the south-eastern hills. There are many tribes there, and some of them still practice slash-and-burn cultivation, which, I am told by Chakma men and women, is undertaken mostly by women. The Chakma, Marma and other women wear the thabin and angi, and the thami and blouse. They tramp mile after mile of hill and jungle in these clothing. Would I want that they give up their traditional clothes and adopt the saree and shalwar-kameez, the dresses of the dominant majority? Would I want to impoverish myself by the loss of diversity that would entail? Emphatically, no.
The westernization of clothes marks the progress to 'modernity'. The peer pressure among young people to don unisex clothing must be enormous. A paradigmatic shift is beginning to take place, albeit only in the realm of clothing and among the affluent. Mind you, the shalwar-kameez is just as unisex as the jeans-and-t-shirt: in Pakistan, men and women both wear the garb.
And the variety of the shalwar makes one giddy: today, the hottest shalwar in fashion is the 'dhoti cut': this is a shalwar with the leg bifurcated at the back a little to give the effect of an Indian 'dhoti' Equally popular is the 'chooridar': a shalwar with very tight legs that cling, and the garment gathers in folds at the ankles. The effect is one of subdued eroticism.
As for the saree, it can be worn in many ways. Modest women wrap it around themselves fairly closely. The more adventurous like to show a bit of flesh, and wear 'micro-blouses' that reward the male gazer with a generous view of their backs. Still more 'daring' women wear the saree below their navel, and, on a higher scale, wear sleeveless blouses and fold the garment only once about the chest with some diaphanous material that leaves little to the imagination. Indeed, the saree is an elegant outfit, and the wearer reminds one of the Greek maidens in their flowing, rippling attire.
"My usual uniform for a hot summer evening -- jeans, sandals and a comfortable cotton tunic -- is putting people out of business", observes TIME journalist, Jessica Puddusery, from New Delhi, with, she admits, a little guilt. In the last two decades, the popularity of the saree has declined in India's capital, and thousands of weavers are losing their livelihood. Imagine having to lose your livelihood because some body-covering makes a woman feel 'modern'. "Youngsters feel like it's more 'oldy' stuff," notes an obviously young girl. "I think it's just gradually dying out with time."
Now the final question remains: when do we date the beginning of modernity? For it cannot be claimed that Europe was always 'modern'. In fact, 'modernity' is deliberately contrasted with what came before in Western Europe: the Dark Ages. Interestingly, the source of this 'modernity' was China, with its gunpowder, printing press, compass, and, above all, the horse collar. But then, as we have seen, China became unmodern!
When should we set a date for 'modernity'? I propose the year 1492, when Columbus 'discovered' America and brought back some human samples as slaves to Spain, while humanely dumping the sick ones in the Atlantic as shark fodder. This, then, was the beginning of 'modernity'. This scandal has gone on for over five centuries, and yet the outrage is glorified by the word.
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