A Delhi-based journalist talks, tongue-in-cheek, of starting a magazine on street fashion. In a recent Sunday Times of India column MJ Akbar spoke about the 'young Hindu woman': "There is change wherever the eye falls, in whatever the senses pick up: dress, public icons, sexual mores." Hindu or not, yes, the way young women dress invites plenty of comment. It's a befuddling area. And I, for one, have been increasingly puzzled at how the average young woman on Delhi's streets is choosing to dress.
More than fusion, it's confusion. I can't make head or tail of it, seriously asking myself, "What is she wearing?!" Why the layers, the unfathomable parts to an outfit, the leggings of various lengths, the flounces, the many sections. All this apart from the flash of lingerie: the coloured bra straps that must show.
The compartments to her dress fascinate. Because what she wears is not a kurta, but she wears it with a churidar or tights/leggings/lowers, whatever you want to call them. The top part is a dress in itself. With smocking, designer gaddas (holes) here and there, promising zippers, garish flounces, sub-sections...what don't they wear. Aesthetically wanting perhaps, but a dress nonetheless.
It's an assembled identity, give or take a few parts depending on the audience. I'm told these are coordinates. That's not what coordinates meant in the 1980s or 90s. Never mind. When today's young women are in friendly circumstances or are partying, they simply drop the lowers, and take off the demure textile portions that hide shoulders and neighbouring areas. They promptly pull them back on when they head back home, not to fob off parents as much as to fob off inquisitive landlords and ladies. Looks like once they're in college and more so when they're part of the workforce, middle India girls are caught in the middle. Dying to wear smart dresses, held back only by excessive amounts of parental caution and internalized dress mores of areas to cover up.
This dual-identity dressing intrigued so off it was to Sarojini Nagar. And, man, was that a revelation. There are two kinds of stalls selling 'street fashion', most manned by young Biharis who are very familiar with what the shopper-girls ask without voicing, yearn for without daring. Rows and rows of flashy risqué-for-Delhi dresses hang limp plastering walls and tented shops, diaphanous straps, filmy shoulder-less stuff, see-throughs, tubes, pluuuunging necklines, chic halters, cavernous backs, saucy minis, you name it, they got it.
And fantastically, gorgeously, right alongside these stalls are the cover-ups. Tiny jackets that barely cover shoulder and bust called shrugs, though that's not strictly what 'shrugs' used to be. Skin-fit leggings that can pass off as stockings. Skin colour thigh-covers that look like what divers wear (I'm no fashion junkie, know no style jargon). These are supposedly for girls ready to flaunt legs but ankle to knee, as it were. Tiny tight vests, mainly in black and skin to tantalisingly cover that cleavage.
The buyers were middle India in every colour, shape and size, north-easterner slender beauties in hot pants, 40-year-old aunties envious of the north-easterners who, truth be told, are the only ones who can carry off the portioned clothing in vogue today. Maybe because they wear fewer portions, carry less cargo in their minds. As I take it all in, I'm much amused. The loud prints, the block colours, the snappy cuts, they're all smart as individual pieces. It all goes wrong when they're, uh, coordinated together. But Sarojini Nagar's street fashion and fashionistas helped me get an idea of the many tugs and pulls influencing a girl's wardrobe today, ready to more than experiment, but not quite there yet. And then I saw the Vision.
I'll start toe up. Straw chappals, black lace leggings, denim short skirt, frilly noodle-strap blouse in green, same shade shroud, sorry transparent shrug, and horror of horrors, 'chura', those red and white 'coordinate' bangles mostly north-Indians wear post-wedding and well, on several other myself-married occasions too. But what caught my attention, and that of plenty others too, was her bosom. She'd give Dolly Parton a run for her money, only if they were hers to begin with that is. Because there was something strangely unreal about 'them', if you know what I mean. But that's a different story, for another day.
Teoh Beng Hock's life was not worth RM2,000, because he had nothing to do with the money. Which, in the first place, was not even misappropriated. His life was worth zero sen.
You must be very happy, Najib. That's the way to treat those ‘pendatangs' who refuse to return to China or India, no?For the family of Teoh, let's pray together and do our utmost best to effect a change from this hideous, racist, unjust and swindling government, and I sincerely and very strongly believe that all our good fellow Malaysians will never let this matter rest until it is properly and rightfully put to rest.We shall never rest; we shall never close this chapter unless the truth is unearthed. Teoh was not a common criminal.If there is no closure to his death, racism, bullying and persecution will perpetuate. Yes, never rest.
TV viewers have generally been subjected to non-stop coverage of inane topics and boisterous debates on those topics. But past few days have been different. Viewers have sat glued
MCA chief Dr Chua Soi Lek, people sue because they are defamed. The suit is not a 'gag order', stupid.RM1 billion scandal was the Talam debt recovery exercise.A deputy minister and ex-CFO (chief financial officer) who cannot read company reports, that's just embarrassing. MCA made two ill-prepared attacks on DAP/Pakatan Rakyat last week and came out severely bruised. Such is the quality of leaders in MCA today. Chua's son Tee Yong's motive is purely to raise his personal profile to enable his father to nominate him for a full minister's post should he manage to win the next GE, and should BN retain power. one thing is for sure, Chua Jr sure has inherited Chua Sr's ultra-thick skin.Notice how Chua Jr has gone all quiet now? Even if there was an intra-party plot to discredit and get rid of him and his infamous father, being an ‘accountant', he should have been aware of the possible fallacies in his assertions.Unless, of course, as many have said, his degree is not worth the paper it's printed on.MCA members who are more senior will have to make way for him. Tee Yong's dad is not sure that he himself would be fielded and whether he can win even if fielded, so Junior is being prepared to take over.Remember, the Internet is more powerful than BN's mainstream media. Most youths go for Internet news. So lies and half-truths won't work like they used to.
A person who doesn't know his debits and credits, who is not prepared with facts and jumps to all sorts of misleading conclusions is a miserable representation of any party. It just goes to show the lack of talent in BN and MCA. Of course, Chua Sr is unfazed. Should the presiding judge find MCA guilty and impose a fine, it would be paid by his party and not by him. But that will certainly not endear him and his son to most of the party members.MCA insiders have their knives out for Chua Jr first and then Chua Sr, preparing to finish them off as they know that the duo are liabilities to the party come GE13.Someone, in his eagerness to wrestle control of the Selangor government, was making use of this bunch of uniformed hooligans to extract certain admission from DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock. And when the interrogators failed in their attempt, coercion was used that finally caused Teoh's death.PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, you ask DAP leader Lim Kit Siang why he hates you so much, but it is we who hate you for your spreading of racial hatred, for pitting the Chinese against the Malays, so that in the meantime you can get your filthy hands on the country's wealth for yourself, your family and cronies.
MCA is only doing the only thing that they know - spreading lies, slanders and defaming political opponents. Is it any wonder why the Chinese rejected them wholeheartedly in the last GE?If Malacca MCA chief Gan Tian Loo is telling the truth, why doesn't he repeat the allegation outside the assembly? 'Berani kerana benar, takut kerana salah.'Penang CM Lim Guan Eng's wife is clearly the victim here. Well, MCA, you can kiss your Chinese support goodbye with this stupid and thoroughly pathetic act of cowardice.So far, all we have are insinuations and innuendoes. The thinking public must decide whether to believe a philanderer and the coward who hides behind the immunity of the state assembly.Any person can say anything, whether true or not, in the state assembly but if he does not say it outside the assembly, why should we take him seriously?"Service her husband". What kind of low-life despicable political scum would utter that type of demeaning and downright offensive remark?MCA chief Chua Soi Lek really pity your poor wife for having to put up with your womanising ways, as well as your lack of respect and appreciation towards her role as a wife. You have already hurt her enough by your many indiscretions.On her behalf, I strongly urge you to evaluate yourself and start developing some decency in your attitude towards all women and wives in general.This isn't a request. It's a demand if you still harbour any hope of remaining a national leader of any prominence.Touche! What excellent counter-attack that lays bare yet again the trespasses Chua Sex Lek has committed against his own family.
What an excellent contrast - on the one hand, the MCA president who was caught with his pants down and having no other recourse other than to confess and try to spin it as the contrite act of a 'hero' willing to face the errors of his philandering ways, and on the other, lies spun by MCA to destroy the family of an innocent man by attacking his wife.
So, it would seem that Chua Sei Lek loves to use lies to hurt his own wife and family (until he was captured having sex on video), and now he uses lies again to hurt the wife of an innocent man.It is no wonder that our country is in so much pain. What we have in the daily media are all slanders.Our leaders have lost their sense of direction, and greed and power have made them obsessed with bringing one another down.With the recent financial crisis around the world, and what is happening in the US, UK and Europe, you would think that our leaders would go back to the fundamentals.Instead, they use the political arena to bring chaos to the administration and also shame to the country.
"Chew said as a woman, she urged Chua's wife to stop such ‘cruelty' from her husband."
Why bring Chua's wife into this political game? She is an ordinary housewife and not alegislator like her husband or like LGE (Lim Guan Eng) and you? Why stoop this low, Chew?
BN is bankrupt of ideas and the only idea left is to concoct slanders, lies and sex allegations without any substantiation.First it was Anwar, than Guan Eng's son and now Guan Eng and his wife. CSL, you should be ashamed of yourself and you do not have any moral authority to talk about others. Let those who cast the first stone have not sinned!
The only one loves to play low here is Don't Play-Play. CSL's wife has suffered; I am sure most other women would, if their husbands are made to admit publicly of their infidelity.
So in that context, it is logical to remind her that other women may be in the same situation, more so if the allegation is not true. It has nothing to do with whether or not the wife is a legislator or not.I suspect this is the game plan mooted by MCA and Umno. Umno had used the sex issue on Anwar Ibrahim without success. They are now trying their luck on LGE.Chua Soi Lek looks like a very desperate man craving for power. He knows that should MCA cannot get more seats than the last election, he had already promised that no MCA will be represented in the cabinet. As such, his son will not lose his deputy minister's post.
Can we see the baloney of all these? We have someone who committed adultery. He then goes around assuming that others, particularly his political opponents, also did the same. And he asked them to admit to the misdeed even though there was none.Then there was this Umno Youth leader who accused LGE's son for sexual misconduct, but it was proven beyond doubt that the allegation was not true. Did this individual apologise? No, he pretends nothing has happened.How then could the MCA president and the Umno Youth leader ever talk about contribution to society, nation building and making a better life for all.
Disgusted by the depth to which my party president is willing to stoop. He has shown himself to be immoral and is certainly not fit to be a leader, much less a leader of the Chinese community. My sympathy to Betty Chew for having to bear with such insinuations.
Bystander: Frankly, I am not at all perturbed with such personal problem, even if it is true.My question is why Chua Soi Lek was not charged for his offence of unnatural sex, which is of the same severity of sodomy?Two sets of laws in Malaysia? How does the government under BN expect its citizens to obey the laws?
After the still-cooking-on-sim Ambedkar cartoon fiasco, here's another one to whip up a fresh frenzy. The furore this time is over another cartoon that depicts the anti-Hindi agitation by Tamils. MDMK head Vaiko has written to 'Dumbledore-like' Sibal (as the nation’s The Principal) saying it’s terribly upsetting to see that a cartoon in a class 12 NCERT book makes the Tamil agitation look like the work of people who knew no better. He says, “The anti-Hindi agitation is a glorious chapter in Tamil Nadu's political history. But the cartoon in the textbook depicts students (of Tamil Nadu) as if they were ignorant and merely indulging in violence. This is a total distortion of history and hurts the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu, maligning the historic Dravidian movement”.
While we stew this in the political cauldron, the words he uses are interesting. ‘Distort’ for one. It’s not textbooks of distorted history that our kids are falling prey to. Of bigger concern is what our kids are learning from watching political leaders today. Our kids are closely watching MPs in Parliament, watching the news, having fun talking about sleazy CDs and discussing how many zeros in the multi-crore scams.
It brings to mind a recent incident in a private south Delhi school. To help kids really get involved, students of Class 8 were asked to go through the election drill. Parties formed, candidates chosen, campaign speeches made, so on and so forth. Impressed by the children’s all-out enthusiasm and genuine commitment to the process, the teachers decided to take it further. After all, this was civics becoming great fun. Let’s not lose the tempo and take it to completion, said the teachers. Elections were organised, voting done. No one got a clear majority.
Before the teachers could guide the children to the next step, all hell broke loose. No one doubts the intelligence or confidence of our children nowadays: give them the tiniest support and they excel. They observe their surroundings keenly and soak in all that they see. What happened in this particular case was interesting to say the least. Some of the more enterprising children from one group (read party) had started promising treats, offering cash, gifts and ‘rewards’ for other group/ party members to join them so that they could form ‘government’.
A mad scramble followed, teachers explaining to kids that’s not how it works, and kids refuting ''But that’s how it’s done. That's the process. That's what our MPs do.'' Needless to add, the real-life exercise was abandoned, and it was back to the textbook. Too much reality can outrun the ideal.
Vaiko and the rest of India’s political class may want to back off from textbooks. Before fixing history, they may want to fix the present which they have so completely, to use Vaiko’s words, “distorted”. What our present political class does --- to use Vaiko’s words --- ''hurts the sentiments of the people''.
They have caricatured themselves into such puny beings that cartoons pale in comparison. And nowhere does it show more than in the issues they choose to raise.
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