The Dress Code

A Great Russian reformer Leon Trotsky once said… “In inner-party politics… the party organization substitutes itself for the party, the central committee substitutes itself for the organization, and, finally, a ''dictator'' substitutes himself for the central committee”… Even though things have not gone this far, the trend is beginning to emerge and it has got most of us worried. Most of us being people who have always cherished our independence and freedom, who have always cherished our right to self determination, who have always cherished our self esteem and most important of all cherished our pride in retaining our culture without having to impose Taliban like diktat on ourselves.

I have always taken pride in the fact that Darjeeling is unique, a place which is unlike any other place on earth. A place, which though shares cultural affinity with mainland-India, Nepal, Tibet, Bangladesh, Bhutan, north-east India and even China; is entirely different from any of these places. A place, which has similar customs and traditions to these places; but a unique charm and ways of celebrating it. A place, where the language spoken is a unique blend of Nepali-Hindi-English-Marwari-Bhojpuri-Tibetan-Bengali. A place, which one of my western friend calls the “Manhattan of the East… the ultimate melting pot.”

Darjeeling has always been a place where a person from all walks of life, from all ethnic or cultural background, from all religions or races have found acceptance without question or doubt. Darjeeling has always been a place where freedom of expression has been celebrated in true sense. A place where a Marwari family is seen stating Momo as their favorite dish, where a Bihari child is heard singing Deusurey louder than others, a Nepali family will exchange Khada during auspicious occasions and a whole Tibetan community celebrates Lhosar by dancing to the tune of “Gorkhali ko Chora Mo… Gorkhey Mero Naam”… Darjeeling, a place we all know is “OUR HOME.”

From time to time, we have had political necessities infringing on our unique culture and tradition. The Bhasa Andolan days of 70’s and the very recent 6th Scheduled Debacle, when politics has directly entered our cultural stream comes to my mind. The Bhasa Andolan days of 70’s were very different than the pre-6th Scheduled days of 2000’s…. During the Bhasa Andolan days people wore their cultural dresses as a matter of pride and true support for the cause they believed in. It was a matter of cultural recognition, and people came out wearing their cultural attire without anyone having to request or order them. The pre-6th Scheduled days were at the different end of the spectrum; Ghishing out of his understanding of the situation told his party supporters to wear their traditional clothes. He went a step further and said, wear the clothes that belong to your particular caste, so that we can show our tribalness. I remember lots of people even performing in Chowrasta wearing clothes made from “Unieu ra Nebara ko Paat.” We were told not to pray to idols, we were told do drink Janr and Raksi, we were told to take pride in being a Gurung, Thapa, Newar, Bahun, Tamang, Rai rather than being a Gorkhali. It is evident to everyone how all that debacle ended.

However, all this pales when we compare it to the situation today. We have not been requested, or told rather we have been ORDERED to wear Daura-Sural and Dhaka-Chaubandi. If anyone dares to refuse, there is a warning hanging in the air “Action Liney Chaun”. Hmmm!! Let me come back to the basics here… and ask a question “WHY??” A friend of mine explained it to me, “it will show that we are different than rest of Bengal and people who will visit Darjeeling during puja season will see that difference.”  I asked him, why order everyone to wear this particular dress rather than whatever they feel like, and his answer was “it will show that we are united.”

Well! Perhaps my friend and GJMM policy makers do not see the obvious, we are different than Bengal and it is evident and it is noted and it is recognized world over and not just in India. We don’t have to wear a particular kind of dress to prove that we are different. What we rather need to do is be different by actions, be different in the way we treat our guests, be different in attitude and views, and be different in our thoughts and deeds. If wearing one particular dress would make us different/similar, then I guess West Bengal government would have ordered everyone in the hills to wear Dhoti-Kurta long time back to quell our demand.

I am not against wearing my traditional costume, I am not against showing that we are different than Bengal, but I am dead against someone dictating to me what I can and cannot do. Where is the originality? Why are we demanding Gorkhaland if our each and every action including our dressing and eating habits will be dictated by others? The idea is noble, to promote our culture, but there are other means of promotion, force is not the solution. All we need to do is look at the doings of Taliban and ask ourselves “do we really want a society like that; even they were preserving and promoting their culture?” I don’t know about you all, but I don’t want my society to be like that.

Freedom of expression is an inalienable right of every human being and it includes people who are demanding Gorkhaland. Just because we wear Chaubandi Cholo and Dhaka ko Saari won’t make us more patriot, in the same manner it won’t make some one less dedicated to Gorkhaland if he refuses to wear Daura-Suruwal.

I have seriously started to question the judgment and rationality of GJMM leaders in general and advisers in particular. I wonder why don’t they wear Gorkhali dress when they go to Delhi and Kolkata for negotiations? Obviously it will get more media attention and will show to the whole nation instead of few tourists that we are different. I further wonder why should they wait for the particular date (October 5th) to arrive before even they wear the dress? If wearing traditional clothes will help us achieve Gorkhaland earlier, easier and smoother… than I wonder what’s stopping our leaders? Can’t the lead by setting an example?

I request our leaders and humbly suggest that our identity is Gorkhali and if we have remained Gorkhali by wearing Jeans and T-shirts so far, we will remain Gorkhali in all the days to come. If anyone wants to take pride in our culture and tradition, let them do so and support them, but do not impose your diktat on people who do not want to wear a particular kind of dress. Remember on any given day unity in diversity is better than disunity in similarity.

Finally, I leave you all with the immortal lines by the great author William M Chase "Diversity…is not casual liberal tolerance of anything not yourself. It is not polite accommodation. Instead, diversity is, in action, the sometimes painful awareness that other people, other races, other voices, other habits of mind have as much integrity of being, as much claim on the world as you do… amid all the differences present to the eye and mind, reach out create the bond that will protect us all… We are all meant to be here together."

Hope! I made some sense.

Upendra