SrinagarTheir political ideologies might be poles apart, but Kashmirs three high-profile and comparatively young politicians former chief minister Omar Abdullah and top separatist leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik – are on the same page when it comes to their partiality to Kashmirs traditional winter apparel, the pheran.
The Mirwaiz and the younger Abdullah wear different shades while Malik mostly prefers black be it for a press conference or an important public speech.
Pheran and its Political Promise
In Kashmir, there is a strong and widespread impression of how the Abdullahs have utilized the services of the pheran to strike a chord with the people. Dr. Farooq Abdullah has been doing it since long, but Omar has followed suit only over the past few years.
Having been brought up in Britain, Omar struggles while speaking in Kashmiri, but slips effortlessly into a pheran to compensate for his inability with the language. Sometimes, he dons a pheran even when winter is a long way off, unaware that, perhaps together, with the Mirwaiz and Malik, he has brought the pheran into vogue as formal outdoor attire.
Three years ago, when an invitation letter from the armys Srinagar-based 15 Corps specifically asked Kashmiri journalists not to attend its press briefings in pherans, Omar Abdullah took to twitter to condemn it. The army had to withdraw the condition later, both because of umbrage taken by journalists, and the objections of Omar Abdullah, who was then the chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir.
People wear their pheran with pride. It’s part of our identity aside from the best way to stay warm in the cold. Can’t ban pherans, Omar had written.
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Malik and the Mirwaiz may not necessarily wear a pheran for political reasons, partly because they dont participate in electoral politics and partly because, unlike Omar Abdullah, it is easy for them to identify with the masses, having been born and brought up in Kashmir. But, because of their public profiles, they seem to have contributed in popularising the pheran as suitable for formal public appearance.When Omar decided to come to the centre stage of Kashmir politics, he was no different than a foreigner, given his looks and the way he spoke Kashmiri. So, he found it easy to build his image as a Kashmiri through the pheran, says Dr. Farrukh Faheem of the Kashmir Universitys Institute of Kashmir Studies.
On whether the trio can be credited with having popularized it as formal wear, Dr. Faheem replies: Not entirely.
The pheran has largely been seen as commoners clothing. That is, it was more associated with the commoner, economically and socially, Dr Faheem, who specialises in social theory and social stratification, says.
May be, their choosing to wear pheran too often has helped make it fashionable as a sort of formal dress. Now, new designs make it appear better than an over-coat, he says.
According to Dr. Faheem, Maliks special liking for black might have also helped dispel the notion about the colour being ominous and associated with mourning.
Black was never seen as an acceptable colour in Kashmir except during Muharrum by some Kashmiri Muslims. But, now, you see a lot of young people wearing black pherans.
It seems to be because of the particular security situation we have in Kashmir and Maliks embracing it, he says.
Faheem also points out that since a large number of Kashmiri youth go out of the valley for education and jobs, they realise the importance of Kashmirs unique identity.
That is why we see a lot of people wearing pheran with pride now. They have learnt how to strike a balance between necessity, traditions and new trends. A network of boutiques, where young men and women prepare trendy pherans, and the internet, has made it much easier for them, the academician says.
If we talk of girls, they now wear tila pherans (pherans embroidered with silver threads) which has traditionally been the domain of elderly women. So, Kashmirs younger population is increasingly becoming particular about the regions unique culture, he says.
Pheran As Fashion
A gracefully dressed woman enters an up-market store, enquiring whether the pheran ordered by her husband a few days back was ready. She is answered in the affirmative, and a salesman hurries down the stairs to fetch the garment from the workshop.
The owner, Mohammad Ashraf, says that the pheran she is about to collect was the third her husband, a doctor, had ordered this year.
He used to buy long coats from us for winter. But he has given up wearing them as the (new) pheran is much easier to handle, Ashraf says.
Until a few years ago, anyone turning up at office in a pheran would be frowned upon. It was considered too casual, or even shabby, which, Kashmiris thought, made people lethargic with its weight, and voluminous folds.
Not anymore. The pheran was largely confined to domesticity as an important winter garment which
people would wear while staying home. Now, with its new narrow cut, youth take pride in flaunting the trendy pheran even at offices and other work places.
Young Kashmiris, who mostly speak in languages other than Kashmiri (because, over the past two to three decades, Kashmiris have discouraged their children from speaking their mother-tongue), now discuss pheran designs while sipping coffee in Srinagars proliferating coffee shops.
It is simply because the new pheran has now become an over-garment which not only keeps people warm, but also offers sartorial elegance.
In recent years, many Bollywood actors like Shahid Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor and Salman Khan, took to appearing in pherans on and off filming in Kashmir.
So, after having succumbed to outside influences for decades, Kashmiris have finally realized that they need to return to their cultural roots.
It was basically the outcome of economic and social mobility, which started in Kashmir since the late 1980s. With good purchasing power and exposure to cultures outside Kashmir, people started adopting not only western-style clothing, but also abandoned the traditional ways of constructing houses which would save them from the harsh cold of winters, says Dr. Peerzada Amin, who heads the Sociology Department at the Kashmir University.
But now, Dr. Amin says, after following alien cultures blindly, people have realized the importance of their own. Every society must take pride in returning to its traditional ethos and living patterns, and that is what Kashmiris seem to have realized.
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