AFVOA Newletters of Year 2006

Page 7 of 77 Northies were always in the forefront in this. In Delhi at AHQ and in the Ministry, at meetings, I used to find some of the PAs more elegantly dressed than the top bosses from other states.) Many of the factories are now enforcing dress code for their employees having learnt from the Japs that it promotes solidarity, loyalty and a sense of belonging. 19. The Armed Forces had always taken pride in their uniform. To that student at the talk- show, who had the improper dig at the appropriately dressed senior, I can only say, “Young Man, go around in the whites of a Naval officer, or in the epaulettes and shoulder belts of an Army Officer, or as an Air Force Officer in overalls and goggles, after earning your commission the hard way , and see how many lasses fall at your feet”; The charm of the uniform does have its effect on the girls (the uniform makes their heads turn, just as the males, however old, take a second look at PYTs). Ask your better halves and they would surely say that there was something that sent their hearts aflutter (Kuch Kuch Hota Tha!) when they first met you in uniform!! Of course today’s lasses may see boys differently. Their eyes now focus more on diamonds and gold!! A better course for me, would perhaps be to ask the same Tamil film hero to act as a service officer in a patriotic movie, but attired in proper uniform!! –it would perhaps evoke a better response among the girls in this topsy turvy state, which is so overwhelmingly entwined with the film industry. 20. Incidentally, have you ever wondered as to why most male heroes in our film industry are homegrown (most of the present day ones are ugly; a couple of them can be mistaken for hippopotami just out of a mud pool or orangutans escaped from the wild!!) while almost all the female stars are from other states, mostly from the North (foreigners?). This is only because the male chauvinist protectors of our heritage and culture prefer to ogle at the lighter skin varieties than our indigenous doe-eyed dark-hued buxom belles. This is the reason too for the multitude of fairness creams that have mushroomed in the market. This is one of those items which are typically targeted at Indians as a race. Nobody else tries ever so hard to have a fairer visage than us. 21. I usually come across a fellow walker in our Colony who had been the CFO of a famous Cosmetic company of Chennai, a very affable, self-made person. Sometime back I spoke to him about the fairness cream which is one among many other famous products of the Company. He mentioned clearly that it is an anti-melanin based compound and is only a temporary skin lightening cream. I then told him that the TV Ad run by his Ad Agency which was prevalent till a couple of months back, showing a boy tear a photo in half, throwing out the half which had a dark girl next to him, and later accepting her after she uses the fairness cream, was in very bad taste . In any other Country, especially the USA, this company would have been accused of gender and colour bias . It would have been subject to a class action suit, with claimed damages running to millions of dollars, which in turn would have wiped the company and its Ad Agency off the face of the Earth, instead of making Earthy faces look brighter!! He understood the point and although he had left the Company, he promised to immediately bring it to the notice of the Board. It looks as if the company heeded his advice as one does not see that Ad anymore. Less obnoxious Ads continue to be aired, not only of this, but other brands, as well. I highlight this only to illustrate the hypocrisy and male chauvinism that is the hallmark now. 22. Coming to the hype generated by the media, Ad Agencies and MNCs using our sportspersons, we are all aware that sport is getting highly commercialised. There was a time when Major Dhyan Chand, the hockey wizard (no one has come near his standard till today} played the game for the sake of the game. There was no looking for any monetary benefits. We had the great cricket players of that era, who sustained their expertise in the game for years all on their own, such as Col CK Nayudu, Mushtaq Ali, Vinoo Mankad, and more recently Kapil