A Guy Wearing A Bra At Presidency Shouldn’t Be The Main Concern. This Isn’t Real Obscenity!

There followed a lot of controversy when the media spotted a boy wearing a bra and shorts in the premises of Presidency University.

Tamaghna Haldar, a pass out of Indian Statistical Institute, and joining for a doctorate degree in the University of California, was the one whom the media used as a weapon for defaming students’ movement in the Preseidency University. He had opened up on Facebook that on that very day he was engaged in a protest demonstration against the saffronisation at FTII.

He was a participant in a gathering that was taking place at College Square, Kolkata. The mass from the gathering channelled into a rally towards the BJP quarters. He was in that very rally, which was stopped midway between Calcutta University and Medical College. There was a bit of unrest between the police and the protestors. A few were injured. On that very spot a saffron dummy “swastika” was burnt. And on the other side Tamoghna was stripped off the film reels he was wearing over a white bra and shorts.

The bra had “Khuli Khidki” written on it, which is a film by Gajendra Chauhan. Thus, Tamoghna was left with that attire. The person who was carrying his bag, an FTII student was far apart from him during the rally. He could get his bag just when the mass was mobilised through the gates of Presidency University. He was in a bra and shorts when he entered the premises. He was spotted by cameras and he was portrayed as the “uncouth and the indecent boy” heading the protests by the media. He walked up the staircase where sloganeering was going on. He put on his clothes and came down to the portico.

He said that if he was to apologise to anybody for this “nudity”, he will do that only to the students of the Presidency University, as it might unnecessarily have put a bad mark on the ongoing movement there. He has deactivated his social media accounts.

Most of the people have criticised this as “indecent” behaviour. It was ridiculous when gender activists who fight for gender equality and shout against sexist people and boast of their progressive mentality, say that wearing a bra is obscene.

Tamoghna had a tough time dealing with this. He was scared if anybody harmed him. He was also warned and threatened by certain people for such “audacity”.

The worst part happened day before yesterday. The police was sent to visit his house and for what reason? He wore a bra in a protest scene. The police could not find him or his family. On inquiring, his neighbours said that he was a very polite and soft-spoken guy.

Irrespective of any movement in any institution, why should lingerie be a point of concern when students have been injured by the police and forces?

A bra on a boy seems to draw all the attention of the media and thus, the common mass. They say that it was sheer “uncouthly” of the boy to shout slogans wearing shorts and a bra on which “Khuli Khidki” was written boldly. It attracted negative attention and thus had a negative impact on the common mass about any general students’ movement this day.

I bet it would not have been the same if the boy did not wear anything, or had just wrapped a towel around him, or a petty lungi. He would not have been blamed for “vandalising the culture with obscenity”.

How many of us do not encounter men wearing just a “gamchha” and bathing publicly, somehow exposing their parts? I do not intend to say they are wrong or creating obscenity.

All I hint at pointing is “obscenity” lies in the eyes of the beholder. Today this guy might seem obscene to you, tomorrow a girl wearing a pink saree might.

And about the ideas and criticisms of such a form of protest to be too “open” and “uncouth” to your eyes, I hope you have heard about Kiss of Love, Periods, Slut Walk and women walking nude in a rally in Mizoram to support their respective causes. I shall serve you more examples if you require.

People around us wear bras and lingerie too. Just because he is a guy and he has not concealed that he has worn it, does not make him a criminal.

Bras and other lingerie give people culture shock, when used in protest and not for entertainment. Incredible, isn’t it?