Indian clothes at BPOs
By Techgirl

Regular readers of Techgoss are well aware that a large number of our articles are crowd sourced.  People send in tips, story ideas and even articles. Many of our contributors have full times jobs in IT-ITES, and so prefer using a pseudonym. A Tipster sent in a very eloquent argument on why it would be better if Indian IT and BPO companies encouraged Indian attire at their workplaces

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Corporates in India have a selective adaptation due to which there exists a lot of confusion and self doubt. I would like to mention just one point here. The idea of formality in dressing is idealised to the extent that we do not realise that Indian dresses also are formal enough to be worn to work. May be this is one thing we can learn from some of the countries top politicians who don the "Indian Formal Attire". It could be a white dhoti and white shirt (like Home Minister Chidambaram) or Kurta - Pyjama (like our respected PM Dr. Manmohan Singh). The option of wearing Indian formal dresses should be left to the convenience of the employees and the management should emphasize on presentability and not westernisation. This is no protest against the western impact. I am a softskills trainer with 6 years of work experience and this is a personal opinion and also what I have heard people say from across regions. I would like to say more, however being pressed for time, I would keep it to this. The reason for my anonymity is nor shyness neither nervousness. It is only for some personal reasons. Hope this is considered as a tip by some organisations and we soon shall see an evolving India. Adieu.
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Given a choice, my personal preferences are Saree, Salwar Kameez and Jeans Kurta at work.  Would you be okay if you male Team Leader dresses like Home Minister Chidambaram?  Or your HR manager dresses like Railway Minister Mamta ‘Didi’ Banerjee? Perhaps like the well spoken and elegant CPM’s Brinda Karat? I, for one, would like to see iconic BPO bosses Pramod and Tiger wearing dhotis and white shirts when they visit Genpact offices in South India.

(Tipsters, Big thank you for all your tips and photos. Do you have a story to tell? If you need to speak to us in confidence or write for us, email us at techgoss[at]hotmail. Or use the Anonymous Tip form at the top of our website. Anonymity guaranteed. We pay Rs. 700 – Rs. 1000 for 100 – 200 word snippets. Unfortunately, we cannot use any tips which are not backed up by enough facts)

Techgoss note:  Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog techgirltalk.blogspot.com.  Techgirl has been ejected from Twitter for satirizing an Indian Minister.  Her satire blog has links to her Times of India interview detailing her being kicked out of Twitter, and then being invited back.