HALF-SLEEVE T-SHIRT— An Emblem of Yatra

 

HALF-SLEEVE T-SHIRT— An Emblem of Yatra

 


 

                               In a bone chilling weather when it is very cold and when the wind chill is significant, all measures need to be taken to keep oneself warm. In fact, there needs to be a discussion, demonstration and illustration about the safety plan in advance so to ensure that no untoward incident happens due to cold weather. We need to prepare our vehicles, take precautions outdoors, keep ourselves aware of current and forecast weather conditions when planning to travel and more importantly winterize ourselves and our homes. We need to maintain thermostat of rooms, take stock of the heating system, assemble the warm clothes together and dress ourselves in several layers of clothing.

                               Paradoxically, all this winter while people in northern states are freezing amid a cold season, the centre of discussion has neither been these multiple layers of clothing nor any spotlight has been put on warming tips. Rather a closely fitting half- sleeves white T- shirt, a typical summer wear, has remained the focus of attention and attraction. So much so that the pictures and videos of this white coloured half-sleeve T-shirt has been trending on social media and remained a topic of discussion in prime time debates on various television channels.   

                                In fact, this T-shirt has been ubiquitously sported from day one of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, be it for the brand, the price or for its use in an awkward weather now. Although the stated aim of Yatra in clinched terms was the setting up of a shop of love and draw people’s attention to price rise and unemployment, yet it is the sartorial style of the kingpin of yatra that has become a trademark symbol. The T-shirt of the leader, in itself, has become more popular than the yatra. It has got so much of public attention that people have started advocating research and studies as to how a T-shirt can make one nonchalant towards biting cold or is there a sleeveless thermal inside. 

                              Despite these unique and varied statements from various people across the country, the T-shirt in real sense, has given a new dimension to the inheritor of legacy. It is not about his pedigree or an instrumentalist socialism of his grandmother, but it is about this impeccable style that has become his trademark symbol now and is grabbing more eyeballs than the yatra itself. It is for the first time that an inheritor of legacy has acquired an identity that isn’t inherited at all.

                      The leader, whom his party unsuccessfully tried to project for years as the inheritor, seems to have created a buzz on his own, which neither his pedigree nor his socialist rhetoric was able to do. The T-shirt has given him a niche image of a young man who goes to gym, performs some form of yoga and believes that physical toughness is the sign of sustained discipline and practice (sadhna).  

                            One would wonder how these trivial things are related to politics, but in practical reality they are, as they offer a popular identification to a political leader. The image of a coat with flower adorned in its bust (Jawahar coat), a sleeveless jacket extending down below the belt and rising at neck to form a stand up collar (Modi jacket), a white sidecap, pointed in front and back and having a wide band (Gandhi topi) are synonymous with various leaders and have become the symbols of their identification. These images may not be as powerful as the images of Charkha, khadi and glasses associated with the father of nation (Mahatma Gandhi), yet the imagery that these symbols once evoked resonated with the masses.   

                               In this sense, a distinctive image, a perception of something that one can exclusively associate with a particular politician, can be an impetus to political buzz around a politician. For the first time, a trademark style has been associated with Rahul Gandhi, but whether it proves lasting or not only time will tell. All that one can say is that he has a unique marker of his own in the public mind now that has been acquired non-inherently after being in politics for eighteen years.

 

Dr. Pawan Suri

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