'Modern clothing makes people jokers' — my dad

The other day, I was sitting around with my dad, grandpa, and a few elderly guests. They were talking about life in the old times and comparing everything with the modern times. Suddenly, I heard a statement from my dad, “today’s clothing makes everyone like jokers, it has no sense at all”.

It struck me, I replied, “no, I don’t think so”.

Now, all the attention was on me and I had the peer pressure of explaining why I don’t agree with the statement. But before I explained, I asked my dad why he thinks modern clothing makes people jokers, and dad replied that everyone is wearing shorts and shirts, even older people. They don’t look good.

In my opinion, there can only be a few reasons why someone can’t like shorts:

• because they are short and expose a large portion of your body
• because their design is not good and people actually look like jokers
• because it shows the shape of our bodies

And I am confident that the first reason is the main reason why my dad thinks so.

So, I explained, “dad, in the old times, men used to wear dhotis which probably covered the parts of the legs the same as shorts. In fact, wearing dhotis could easily lead to a wardrobe malfunction, and you could be embarrassed.”

I do not say that dhotis were bad, even though I wore dhotis on multiple pujas and family occasions. I like them. But as compared to shorts, dhotis are easier to have malfunctioned and probably cover the same areas as shorts.

So, there should not be any problem at all.

People listening didn’t seem to agree, as someone younger was saying something, and they are programmed to listen only if an elderly person is saying something.

To be honest, I don’t blame them. It is what it is, it is how they have lived their whole life, so you can’t expect them to change instantly. Right?

Going further, I explained that change is the only constant in the world, and we should accept or at least try to accept the surrounding change.

I provided them with this example (that I have used many times earlier):

We all know that back in time, people used to use leaves to cover their bodies. Imagine, when someone first invented clothes — wouldn’t have people called them “the culture destroyer”? Yet, they stood their ground, and here we are today.

Some agreed and some didn’t, but my job was done. I was able to make them think without spoiling the gathering.

What say?