After the strict supervision of school, most of us who go to college, a little part within always stays excited about the fact that the rules will loosen ultimately. Not having a fixed dress code or hairstyle is one of those reasons for the sheer eagerness to attend college – admit it or not!
But how would you feel if suddenly your college authority sends in a circular which says – wearing jeans or leggings might cost you a heavy fine? Sounds insane, right? Yes, that is exactly how I felt when I first heard about this crazy circular that was sent in the Sairam Engineering College a few days ago!
The Sairam Engineering College is located in the suburbs of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Being a co-education college, we can consider it to be a moderately liberal college. But records tell something different. This college always remained an oppressive one, more like a prison cell.
The age at which we generally go to college actually is the age of exploration. We go through new phases, cover unknown journeys, discover things, find our passion – at least that is what I learnt from my institution. But if a college becomes oppressive or more jail like, how do we cope up and face that?
A college which sends in a circular that practically puts a bar on female freedom, a college that sends in a gender biased list of rules, how do you answer back?
But first what is needed to be questioned is why are such circulars still made? Don’t we talk about progress? Then what is obscene about a jeans or a tight churidar? I have always felt if we actually talk about the fact that body parts are projected in such dresses then why is everyone ok with sari? Body parts are visible in a sari. Why not put a bar on that even? Do these people who send in such audacious circulars work in their senses? If you really want to critique the western culture or the way it is imitated in the third world countries – dear authority come out from your air-conditioned rooms and start living in clay huts, hold onto to the Indian culture, maybe.
Students who came out to protest against such impudence were detained. Yet they did not stop. More students joined, and the protest is definitely gaining mass.
Here is a list of the things that have been forbidden among a few others:
- Jeans
- Leggings
- Tight churidar
- Black shirts and t-shirts
- Shorts
- Half-saris
- Talking to the opposite sex
Now dear authority if you refer to the half-sari I understand it is worn during practices of classical dance. Is that not paradoxical? You tend to uphold your tradition yet you deny it. How can you do both at the same time? You need to give serious explanation here.
About talking to the opposite sex what about the professors who lecture in the college? If a male professor has to teach ten female students will you stop the course altogether?
This is to the people who are passing out such circulars. You seriously need to give a thought to what you are doing. Obviously every institution should have its own rules and regulations, and if necessary prohibitions too. But that does not mean you can state any rule and expect the students to follow that. We live in a free a nation and thinking free is our right. Choosing the dress we wear or making friends should be absolutely our concern. Obscenity comes when you see it that way. It is a very relative term I think.
I solely congratulate the students who are standing against this madness and protesting. Do not ever compromise with something that goes against our free will. My solidarity is with my fellow mates. Remember we have the power to bring the much needed change. Fight till the end. Long live student’s movement.
