Life etc...

Too few sarees at the IPL... It's just not cricket!

Can a woman go watch an IPL game in a saree? Can she dress like that and sit in the Wankhede Stadium press box? The teams have uniforms, the cheerleaders are uniformly cheering. No surprise then, that uniformity has spread to the galleries as well. You could be a generous size 16, or somebody who has never really felt her best in the tee and jeans look, but when it's match day, there is no alternative.

Two unrelated incidents occurred last week that got me thinking about Indian women in sports-related spheres of work and women who turn up for a game. The first was a response to my piece on Abhinav Bindra which said: ‘You look like a pale Aunty.' This has been the cause of much mirth among my friends (yes, yes, they are not very loyal) but not enough for me to go for that image makeover. All I can say to this observation is: Dude, guess what... I am a pale Aunty. But what does that have to do with my writing on sport?

The second incident was when I chanced upon a photograph of Sharmila Tagore with M.A.K. Pataudi, watching a game in England. Just do an image search for Sharmila and Pataudi and you will see it - believe me it's a stunning image which I would have used here, but could not since it's credited as unknown. They are sitting on a grass mound near a quaint scoreboard, and Pataudi is all togged up in a suit and Sharmila is the picture of poise in a saree and jhumkas. We keep looking for an Indian equivalent of Posh and Becks, but Bollywood met cricket long before EPL met British pop. Note that Sharmila is looking this glamorous in a chiffon saree. Remember, this is an actor who thought nothing of wearing a bikini for An Evening in Paris, and who was extremely comfortable in Western wear unlike most of her contemporaries. Yet here she is in England, wearing a saree and looking like a million bucks.

There was a certain construct of what a woman who works with sport should look like, around a decade ago and it has not entirely disappeared. She should be androgynous, sporty to look at, tom-boyish in attitude and most certainly be uncomfortable in anything feminine or ‘traditional'. The assumption being that if you are dealing with sports (boys' zone basically), you should have spent your youth scraping your knees rather than filing your nails. There have been times when I have felt like a manicured misfit.

What's worse, these parameters don't hold for men, and they come in all forms ranging from six-pack to beer belly - a fact that can be borne out by a glance across the press box at any sports venue.

Today, when all things Western are upheld as "hi-fashion", even when it does not really suit our climate or the way some of us are made, women who want to watch sports are also pressured into assuming a certain sporty look when they go to the grounds. I feel troubled when I see these women tugging at their tees and looking ill at ease. God knows that Indian stadiums are challenging enough, for us to not challenge ourselves further with image issues. During the IPL I saw many women uncomfortably slouched in team t-shirts, clearly out of sorts. Comfort is of the essence at all times while watching a game, and style and sophistication are not achieved only in Western wear. Many of us look better, feel better in Indian clothes and there is no need to feel less smart in a salwar-kameez than in a shirt and trousers. The drawstring comfort of salwars in muggy Kolkata is incomparable and I cannot figure out why women feel the need to wear those Lycra-mixed business suits when they can be crisp as a toast in a cotton kurta.

Live and let live, and everyone must wear what they want to - no question about that. However, a corollary to that is that we must not be brainwashed into wanting to wear something only because it's behenji (or pale aunty!) not to. In trying to be fashionistas we must not become fashion victims.

Today we have a generation that thinks it's uber cool to be uncomfortable in a saree, and that West is best for all things sartorial. I would ask them to draw inspiration from Sharmila Tagore, who straddled both styles with ease, four decades ago. We often forget: to be a global citizen, one has to be confident and proud of one's own identity and culture. If sports is celebrated as a meeting ground for various cultures, why should we be embarrassed to showcase our Indianness?