Looking younger than your age might be godsent, but is not exactly a boon. Not for a teacher involved in
adult pedagogy at least. You simply are not taken seriously enough, till that grey wisdom peeps out of your hair colour. This devastating realisation dawned on me upon joining the law college as a teacher years ago. The frivolous and often disdainful coevals, apprehensive students, administrative staff wanting to teach me (the poor child) law all over again—collectively were frustrating enough to offset any advantage that looking young might have.
The matters became frustratingly desperate when I ran out of patience pulling out my teachers’ ID card, to enter most of the university premises. Because though I carried a qualification in my bag, I did not have looks to match. So profound was the effect of this generic maltreatment that I once considered dyeing my tresses white a` la Indira Gandhi style, hoping for a quick-fix solution.
Thankfully, soon enough I realised the power of the ‘Saree’-the quintessential unstitched 9 yards! ‘Dress casually and people around you would take you as casually.’ This is the wisdom of the years which I would want to share. What you wear as a teacher has a profound effect on the wearer and an equally amusing result on the onlookers, audience and students. For instance, I now feel like Moses crossing the Red Sea while passing corridoors packed with students. The previously nonchalant and stubborn crowd simply parts in veneration upon my approach.
Taking you to the other aspect of the issue—it is uncomfortably true that we do not live in a free world. We live in a world deeply fragmented by prejudiced opinions and infested with a patriarchal mindset. Every day, my country awakes to a dawn where judgements about others come free and flippant, opinioniated men and women ‘jump’ to conclusions in the only excercise they do. The idea behind writing this piece is not to support these moral guardians. The aim rather is just to share the practical wisdom gained while working around such high-minded junkies.
Of course, legally speaking one has the right to wear what one wants. However, practically speaking, that ‘liberty’ to wear anything and yet be respected, comes with a certain lapse of time and painstaking character building. Fortunately, I am at that liberating juncture of professional life now—thanks to the Saree. Kudos to the garment, that stifling and annoying glances of disapproval were supplanted by concurring feelings of being accepted as a serious (read deserving) professional. Had I dyed my hair grey, I genuinely feel I would have been promoted up the ladder of success sooner!
Coming to the third offshoot of the discussion; saree which has lost favour with the young and the not-so-young generation alike, invites strange questions—why a saree?; how do you manage to dress up in a saree everyday? What do I tell them?—my experience has been that people around you credit you with any modicum of intelligence and esteem only when you appear a certain way?! When I see them struggling to make their mark and strike a chord with students much senior in age and experience, the nostalgia is painful. And the urge to shoot an advice intensely compelling.
Being a teacher of Negotiation and Mediation course, where body language plays a part, I cannot overemphasize the power of non-verbal and paralinguistic communication. Skeptics ofcourse would understate its importance. To all those, I have just one argument to offer—ever wondered why we (most of us) dress up for the destination while going to a wedding, a star hotel? Why we pull out those long-forgotten ties, suits and sarees from the closet when faced with an interview? The science of dressing up is linked with ‘good first impression’. And with the teaching profession, it translates into being a lasting impression. ‘Enclothed cognition’--the systematic effect that clothes have on the wearers psychological process, works both ways in my opinion. It also does affect the one who interacts with you.
Frankly, having dealt with the two extremes—one, for whom clothes define your credentials and potential as a teacher and the other generation who does not give two hoots to what they wear to their professional space, I can safely claim the above. There is absolutely no harm in accepting it, and adopting the pragmatism that it dictates.
Finally, YES the orthodox mind needs to free itself from the clutches of a parochial mentality; just as the new generation also needs to learn the lost art and discipline of dressing up for their professional arena. Their solace need not be a saree necessarily. But a thought in that direction is definitely required.
