Self-love and Nudity
Perhaps I am growing older and more free and unbound… I am not sure. I have reached a level of comfort in the Indian culture, where I am ready to expose my “sinful parts” like shoulders, ankles and oh, dear! my calfs… 🙂 I am absolutely not trying to revolutionise the traditional Indian culture. I simply feel a deep rooted need. And what is my need? Let me tell you the truth. I just enjoy being naked.
The more I connect to my body as a woman, I feel the need for nudity. I feel it is the most pure, sacred and natural state of being. I see my body as a temple. And let me tell you, living in India, naked moments are not easy to get. Security check: all curtains closed, doors locked, lights off… Yes, sometimes I am having a lot of fun.
In India, nudity is something people are not used to. Even girls or women among themselves, while changing their dress, they will always cover their breasts, not to mention our beautiful YONI. But it was not always the case. During a conversation with my husband the other day, he told me that the perception of the female body as an object of desire/sin/lust and the resulting segregation of gender in India was due to increasing influence of semitic religions. This makes so much sense!
During my inquisitive days, I used to ask why would Indian women wear sometimes double layer clothes when it is 36 degrees outside with high humidity? Isn’t it so, that each culture develops in compliance with its climate?
I researched and I found that in the southern state of Kerala, where I have been living for the past 10 years, the traditional dress for women only 100 years back was a simple cotton piece wrapped around the waist and a cotton shawl casually covering the breasts and shoulders. Some would even not wear the top shawl. “How practical in this climate!” I thought.
Blindly followed rigid traditions sometimes stand in contradiction to our natural state of being. Why don’t we question them and create the New Earth.
with LOVE
from Meera (thinking hard about how to revive the 100 years old dress code tradition of Kerala) 🙂