‘Mr Rawat, I’m A Mother And I Love My Ripped Jeans’

Khushbu Singh, 38, a homemaker in Mumbai, has some pointed questions for Uttarakhand Chief Minister who ridiculed a fellow woman passenger for wearing a ripped pair of jeans in a flight

Let me begin by asking this to Tirath Singh Rawat, the newly-appointed Uttarakhand CM: Are all politicians, who always appear in immaculate whites, spotless in their character? Just because they wear white, can we certify them as honest or incorruptible? If this analogy is wrong, then how does he and others like him think that judging a woman’s character from her choice of clothes is right?

Sometimes I feel as if he made that comment on his female co-passenger just to hog the limelight since debatable topics like these get everyone’s attention. But these are not the topics politicians should be debating about; there are so many more important issues to be handled. I would have been happy, if he had pointed at someone not wearing a mask on flight, rather than ripped jeans.

I am a mother to two young children and I absolutely love my various pair of ripped jeans. Many people rip their jeans themselves at home to get the look and I would totally teach my son and daughter to do a DIY (Do It Yourself) for their clothing. It is my prerogative as to what I want to wear.

I have the thinking capacity to understand that my dress should be comfortable according to the season as well as occasion and event appropriate. It wasn’t like his co-passenger was wearing ripped jeans to a corporate meeting or a government event. She was travelling with her young children. You need to wear comfortable clothes to be able to travel with young kids. Jeans are comfortable. And jeans ripped at the knees make for easy movement in case you have a very hectic day ahead of you.

ALSO READ: ‘A Woman Driver In Our Days Drew Curious Crowds’

Next, tell me if mothers wearing ripped jeans are sending the wrong message to their children. By the way, will they remember my love more or my ripped jeans more? What kind of messages are such politicians sending to their own children? That it’s ok to question and belittle other people’s choices even when it is not affecting you in any way? That a grown up woman doesn’t understand what she wants or is comfortable with? That the society is only dependent on women to keep it moving? Why didn’t Mr Rawat say anything about men, for men also wear ripped jeans?

In 2017, a 14-year-old girl wearing ripped jeans was beaten up and arrested by the Iranian Police on the grounds that it was spreading vulgarity! Are we headed towards that situation? Running a country is a tough job, but putting the onus of morality on women is so easy! I am happy that so many women are standing up to such disgraceful remarks by people in position of power.

A woman wearing a particular item of clothing signifies nothing apart from her need for comfort and her sense of style. There’s a place and time for everything, and I think the female passenger was very right in wearing what she was wearing. These politicians need to be more open-minded and perhaps see more of the world. In towns and cities with cosmopolitan population coming and going, people are more open to differences in personality, looks, dressing, food etc.

As told to Yog Maya Singh