YOUR WORK SPEAKS

Posted On November 22, 2020

Your work speaks – not your attire!  Let me explain with a live situation. As I walked into my  new office, I was a little uncomfortable when everyone looked at me as if  I was some alien. Some chuckles and giggles and some undertone comments like , ‘uff yeh behen ji hai’…( slang for a village damsel) . I walked with a smile and with my usual self-confidence I  didn’t pay heed to these snide comments.  You must be wondering,  why alien ? That’s because I was wearing a saree to the office , in other words a corporate world if u may say.  

Though I am extremely comfortable wearing western attire otherwise, I have made a conscious decision to wear only sarees , the Indian traditional attire to the workplace. The days passed by and my collegues in the office restricted their interactions with me only to work related matters. I was well aware that this was because of my wearing sarees, but being a professional I couldn’t care less.

Did she crack the deal ? Then came a day , when we had a foreign delegation coming over to our office to crack an important deal. Since I was heading that project , I was pretty excited. I overheard comments from others that ‘hope she has the sense to come  in some formal wear at least  for the presentation tomorrow.’ .  I smiled to myself and as always , the next day I came wearing a formal attire – a saree from my collection! My meeting with the foreign delegation was a success and I did swing the deal – And the rest is history !

In India, why is it that only western dress is considered as a suitable formal wear for ladies in the office ? Why is our Indian traditional saree not considered a suitable dress code  for business/work atmosphere?  Are we still enslaved to Western ideals of dress code? In reply to all these queries, I have only one strong point to make – I want to emphasize that , your work speaks not your attire. I am by no means stating that one should come  improperly dressed to work. But certainly one can carry off a saree with grace and dignity.

Have you ever seen any other nationality aping costumes of another region for business meetings? Then why are Indian women obsessed with  western clothes ?  Many people have told me , its difficult to drape sarees and it is a task to  wear a saree and work with ease.  Nothing is difficult  if you have the will to do so. Of course, if the nature of the job requires a specific type of dress code like a nurse’s uniform or  safety coveralls, you have to adhere to that.

On a broader perspective,  if we wear Indian clothes like sarees , we are also promoting the weavers, artisans and karigars. So it has a ripple effect for creating employment and generating revenues for them. Somewhere as an Indian we make  a little difference to our traditional economy . Well this is one of the beneficial aspects. But primarily,  it is our mindset which has to change. Nothing is inferior,  learn to respect your culture and traditions and  you will come out a winner. I am making this change in my own way. I’m sure you can do too.