Things Indians Love

Indians love to bare their chest in public. Granted this only applies to men - Indian women are too modest and prefer to bare midriff instead, but that is another post. Indian men expose their chest in styles, three to be precise: traditional, where men are completely bare waist-up except for dazzling accessories dangling around their neck; casual, where men wear only a vest covering some portion of their torso but still leave little to the imagination; and fashionable, where men in shirt keep most, if not all, of the buttons open giving more than ample glimpse of their hairy interior. For Indian men, when it comes to chest, bare is beautiful. When it comes to fashion, bare is the new black.

Indians cannot imagine wearing the classics such as lungi and dhoti without the bare chest: the presence of any upper body clothing interferes with the purity. This traditional style may have been popularized by the priests, peasants, and the purists, but practised by Indian man from all walks of life. Over centuries, great Indian gods, leaders, and movie stars have worked hard to immortalize this look. This divine look is an indispensable ingredient of Indian lives - religious, social, and personal: a priest with a covered chest is profane; a fully clothed groom is grotesque; a mourner without a bare chest to beat is a mockery.

For rest of the timid world, wearing only undergarments in public may be unthinkable, but for Indian men it is considered casual dressing. This is the choice of Indian business class. Indian men dress down to their vests and go about their business: shop keepers to street sellers, taxi drivers to tourist guides. In India, there is nothing like a bare upper body that says we are open for business; there is nothing like an exposed torso that says we have nothing to hide. What better way to give the customer cozy comfort if not the bare chest fit only for bedrooms.

Indian men, when forced to be formal, wear shirts, but keeping with their Indian root never close the buttons. For Indian men, this is not just formal dressing, it is fashionable. Corrupted by the decadent culture of the west, urban youth, educated professionals, and fashion mavericks prefer this style. But the fashion of shirt in India is in flux, and the question remains: to tuck or not to tuck. Fashion conscious Indian men spend long agonizing hours trying to find just the right number of buttons to open: it is a fine line between repelling and repulsive. Bare chest may not be the window to the soul, but Indian men firmly believe this is where their soul mates come for window shopping.

Indian men may live in a conservative culture, practise repressive religions, but when comes to fashion they are free. While the rest of the world is covered up to their ears and choking themselves with neck ties, Indian men are tied to their tradition. They are still brave enough to bare. Indian men may loathe to open their mind, but they love to bare their chest.

Tags: Bare Chest, Habits of Indian Men, Indian Fashion, Indian Men