Sergio Carvalho
I am not surprised that Priyanka Chopra was at the receiving end of malicious and nasty trolls, from her beloved compatriots, because of her knee-length dress, when she met PM Modi recently! I am not surprised, because some time in 1955/1956, I experienced this backward mindset in Delhi, the capital-city of India.
I went to Delhi for some work and stayed in the “Goa Sadan”. By sheer happy coincidence, a dear friend was also there, but was leaving for Brazil, the next day, where he was/is a faculty member of an University there.
He asked me to accompany him, to buy some khadi kurtas. Soon enough, we found a Khadi-Bhavan.
My friend asked them to show him a kurta. To see if it fits him, he took-off the Nikon Camera, kept it on the counter before us, removed his shirt and put on the Kurta. As it was quite tight, he asked for two size bigger, chose four Kurtas put on his shirt and was going to put on his Nikon Camera … but the camera had vanished into thin air!
A shop owner near the said Khadi shop, seeing us disturbed, offered to help find the camera. He asked us to sit with him for a “chai”.
Even as we sat down, a friend of his turned up, and was invited for the “chai”. The said “Shop-Keeper” (SK) immediately began “educating” his “Friend”(F) about all things Goan, because most Indians had not yet come to Goa then.
SK—“When I am tired, I fly down to Goa and stay a few days there,” he announced proudly.
SK—“You will be surprised to know that in Goa, there are Motorcycle-Taxis”.
F—“Motorcycle-Taxis?” he asked us.
US—“Yes, that is true.”
SK—“And in Goa, there are liquor shops everywhere.”
F—“Everywhere, really?” he asked us again.
US—“That is true”.
SK—“Above all, you can get girls everywhere in Goa!”
US—“Where?” we asked angrily.
SK—“In your land (gaum)” he answered as-a-matter-of-fact.
We were shaking with anger and helplessness. We left the place doubly dejected and furious.
That evening, I was invited for dinner by a Goan lady Professor of the Delhi University. When I told her of my mortifying experience, she informed me that no woman, young or not-so young, would dare enter even the University Campus, wearing a knee-length skirt or dress, because she would run the risk of being stripped, for according to most Indian men, any woman who exposes her legs, is a prostitute!
Barring the middle-aged and elderly Hindu women, some Christian women and our tribal Kunbi women, all Goan Hindu and Christian women, always wore skirts or dresses everywhere.
The irony now is that thousands of young desi women-tourists who come to Goa, can be seen at the parties or riding pillion on two-wheelers, wearing very short shorts, low-neck tops and generally making a skin-exhibition of themselves.
Personally, I have no issues with the way they dress or don’t, but wonder if they move around in their own States, attired in this manner. Also, it is good to note that what the Goan women and men wore decades ago, the women and men all over India are wearing now. All Bollywood actors and actresses, high-society, upper, lower middle class and even the poor in India are wearing what Goan men and women wore decades ago.
It is now impossible to ask that “Shop-Keeper” about his slur against Goan women. May his soul rest in peace.
