Convocation Uniform and the Lawyers Uniform
I studied law; and by a quirk of fate, instead of becoming a professional lawyer, I became a bureaucrat.
I never dreamt of joining any service. But one day, I saw an advertisement for the Indian Administrative Services Examination which is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission and filled the form. I was not serious about the examination. So I did not do any preparation and did not take any coaching. But I was selected !
I was offered the Indian Police Service and the Indian Revenue Service. My mother did not like the idea of her second son becoming a police officer and could not understand why a softie like me should be selected for the Police. In those days, mothers ruled the roost and had the final say. Right or wrong, the mother was always right. So I landed up in the Indian Revenue Service.
But unlike my colleagues, friends and foes alike, I continued with my studies, getting a Masters in Law, 6 Post Graduate Diplomas in different fields, and the highly coveted Ph.D. in law.
Convocation Dress
When I was declared to have qualified for the Ph.D., the University of Bombay sent me a form for the next convocation – whether I would like to attend the convocation, and take the diploma in persona or take the diploma in absentia (which means collecting it from the University office after the convocation).
I had never attended a convocation before. So this time, I made up my mind to attend the convocation. I asked my staff to obtain a convocation dress for me.
They searched everywhere (I really could not understand why they had to search so much), and after a lot of effort, managed to hire a set of convocation dress from an old time photographer.
On the day of convocation, I proudly dressed up in the hired convocation dress and arrived at the university premises. I was shocked to learn that the Bombay University had discontinued the old traditional convocation dress several years ago and males were to be dressed in simple white shirt and trousers.
So I had to take off the convocation dress which only made everyone stare at me and since I was not wearing the white shirt and trousers, I could not take part in the convocation procession. I had to be content with watching the entire proceedings from a chair in the University Convocation Hall.
It was therefore a bit of stale news to me to learn that at a convocation function at the Indian Institute of Forest Management in Bhopal, the Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh found the traditional attire ‘barbaric’ and ‘a sign of colonial slavery’ and discarded the square hat and the red and yellow gown he wore.
The Indian Institute of Forest Management is a under Jairam’s ministry. Which sane person could question his outburst?
I am surprised to hear that soon after, Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar called for a debate on convocation clothes.
But my dear sirs, both of you are a little too late.
Bombay University has already taken a lead.
Advocates Robes
After my retirement, I appear in some courts and forums. An advocate is required to wear the traditional lawyers dress…..black coat, tie or band, white shirt and trousers.
Of course, lawyers may not wear the black coat during the summer for a month or so.
The dress is colonial no doubt. But it is still in vogue in many countries of the world.
I have no grievance on this score.
The dress is all right in air conditioned environment. But it is really awful to see lawyers perspiring in the lower courts and forums, where some times even fans don’t work.
Is it not time to become practical and have a more practical dress code for lawyers in India?
You don’t need public debate on this. The Bar Council of India, the Supreme Court, the Government ..in fact, anyone can take the lead.
I am sure everyone will welcome the change.
Club and School Dress
For these, who are allergic to dress codes, I can only point out that some elite clubs and most elite schools have some sort of dress code.
And the dress code is not imposed by any one from outside, but by the management themselves.
If you don’t like the dress code, don’t join these institutions.
Don’t join the elite club.
Don’t send your child to that elite school.
That’s all……
The matter is as simple as that.
![[Digg]](http://cdn1.diggstatic.com/img/favicon.a015f25c.ico){kind=small}
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
No, the matter is not as simple as what the learned author seeks to make out. Unfortunately for this jinxed and accursed country, India has been ravaged and plundered and subjugated for ages by the foreign marauders, who destroyed its institutions, converted its people to the faiths of the rulers from across the boundaries and made every effort to see that the country and its people lost its past and identity. All that we now have and follow and believe too be our own very greatly is the function of the two regimes immediately preceding the marauders who succeeded their British masters in 1947. And, in the result, through the faithful agents of the latest Foreign rulers, i.e., the ICS (and its less capable pall-bearers, the IAS), the British ensured that the institutions, etc., established by them in their rule of 200 years alone stayed. And that is how we have our dress codes, our courses on courtesy, our “table Manners”, our every-day life pattern woven inter alia with a mongrel product of a not-really-native tradition mixed heavily with “whatever-is thrust-upon-us modes by anybody foreign” type of style that we keep aping! And hence these hilarious dress codes and, strangely, even the “Communists/Maoists, etc. of INDIA”-the mass-movement entirely imported in every respect from accross the borders, and sadly enough the parents having deceased in the country of its origin.
We are a nation of apes. We copy. We love giving up our own traditions/cultures/past, and both ordinary natives as well as the progressives of both varieties-the entirely Western-educated surrogate Indians as well as the Leftists, all the time denouncing whatever is Indian in origin- are competing with each other in giving up even their shame to be rid of the “stink” of Indian-ness!
We may just ponder over our life styles and then decide if we remain Indians and NOT. And immediately.
What I mean to say is may be the dress code was imposed by the Britishers, but today we are free. We don’t need debates and speeches. to remove them. If they have become outdated
and out of context in todays life, they should be changed.
Bombay University has done away with the convocation dress. I do not know how many other Indian Universities have done the same.
Some clubs maintain dress codes….the management can change them.
Visit any good school, you will find children in some sort of uniform, their parents(usually mothers) speaking in English (may be half baked half broken)as if this gives them
superiority over their friends.
And if you care to investigate, you will find that all those netas who speak in favour of Hindi or other regional Indian languages on public platforms send their children to English schools…convents and missionaries.
If this is the mindset of the general public……whom do you blame.
What excuse do we have for blaming the Britishers even after 6 decades of independence.
Hi ! May I know where can I rent the convocation dress in Mumbai ?
Go to any photo studio in Fountain area. They have it.
The dress codes for school is necessary to inculcate a sense of discipline among students.For convocations,it is desirable to distinguish the recipients of degrees from the rest of students.For lawyers,it is necessry to have it in order to distinguish them from the accused and criminals.The dress codes must be enforced in the government offices,too.
A K SAXENA (A retired civil servant)
小叶紫檀金星