For women who walk and run and dance and fight barefoot in their saris..

The programme said 'Sari Parade' by the beauty pageant descendants of the labourers from India. who walked barefoot, sometimes to great mockery of those who wore shoes

Earlier in the day, the artist explained that her costumes she designed, simple ones she said imagining what the labourers wore and came with , were due to her memories of the Miss Diwali Sari Parade which she did not think was a beauty pageant like the others with intelligence segment and things like that.
So she designed the costumes which she named after the Hindu deities imagining how it must have been for people far from India creating and decorating their own clothing

The saris were beautiful.. I have never seen an ugly sari. I don't know if there is a right way and a wrong way to wear a sari . Lots of women wear saris.. though  I know one woman who didn't wear them after her wedding because she said it was uncomfortable and restrictive. She had done many things quietly in her life to challenge stereotypes of what a good Hindu girl/woman must do.

Saris were beautiful.

The event was a dance one.. Dancers all over the stage, claiming the stage as their own and the space.. whirling.. , moving, smiling, different movements..worship, celebration. Two men wining to chutney, women and men praying.

All barefoot.

And the women came out in the saris. Something was wrong. Smiles were strained. and I wanted to scream. NO NO NO.. take off those high heels.. who told you you have to wear high heels. High heels were worn by upper class white men first.. ancestors of the men who whipped and drove and raped our ancestors and are now imposed on women because it is supposed to make you look sexy and lengthen your legs while damaging your body.

And I wanted to scream and shout.. No no.. please take them off.. look at your sisters and brothers on the stage, dancing.. it is okay you can display the sari dancing and running and walking freely without being afraid you will trip over or having to disturb your body's natural rhythm? The Gulabi Gang fights for justice in their saris too.

But I could not scream or shout. I know they made their choice to participate in the illusion that says worth and value come from wearing high heels while trying to move in the sari.


They will be judged, mocked and laughed at and my shouts would be another judgement of a choice to participate in sexism in the name of empowerment.

There will be cuss outs when people's favourites don't win and who could talk good and who talk bad.. without remembering that many of your ancestors were mocked for not talking properly anyway.

The saris were beautiful. I couldn't see them though, because I felt heavy, sad, broken as none of the girls threw off the high heel shoes and claimed the stage and the space around them as their own.

Who decides who is best to display a sari? Can't a woman in a wheel chair who fights for her survival display a sari as good as any other woman? Can't an elderly woman who prefers barefoot and slippers display a sari as good as any other woman? Can't a woman who believes she is ugly, she can't walk good, she can't talk good display a sari as any other woman?  A sari or any other item of clothing?


But I shout now.. because I think many people believe that is what they are supposed to do , to be uncomfortable, to perpetuate oppression in ways which are disguised as empowerment.


Thinking of the women who walk and run and dance and fight barefoot in their saris . Thinking of the people who wear high heels because they think that is what they have to do to be sexy.


It is okay , if you want , to walk with those saris.. barefoot. Don't let anybody else fool you into thinking you are not good enough.