Figure 2.--These Tamil boys at a borstal are taking academic classes. They have uniforms of matching khaki shirts and short pants. This is the Borstal School at Pudukottai

India

India as a part of the former British colony of India has been stronly influenced by the British legal system. India is made up of a large number f ethnic, racial, linguistic, and religious groups. One important ethnic group is the Tamils of southeasten India. Tamils tend to be dark complectioned.

Indian Borstals

India as a colony had both borstals and reformatories. Borstals were designed to deal with youths who had created more serious offenses or were repeat offenders. The boys at borstals wear a simple uniform of brown short-sleved shirts and short pants. In order to transform the lives of inmates, Yoga and Meditation classes are conducted regularly by various NGO's in borstals as well as adult prisons. The Prisoners are provided elementary education through qualified Secondary Grade Teachers.

Garments

Short Pants

A HBC reader points out that Moslem boys do not wear shorts in India and Paistan. So the boys on the picture seem to be Christians or Hindus.

Lungis

In South India Moslem boys would perhaps wear lungis (long skirt in coloured Madras patterns), but this picture shows school uniform or the like. Madras patterned lungis are casual dress at home or in free hours. Stefan

Clothing and Religious Groups

Islamic Boys

Another reader writes, "I would find it extremely unlikely that that picture you sent purportedly of Pakistani boys is in fact of Pakistani boys. Islamic dress code, as you know, is very strict and males are not supposed to bare the knees. I'm not sure that this applies to very young boys, but I have NEVER in my fairly extensive travels seen Muslim boys in shorts (I have been to Bahrain and Oman) with the exception of Indonesia. In Malaysia, for example, you can separate the Malay (Muslim) and Chinese (Christian or Taoist) schoolboys at a distance because the former are invariably in longs, the latter usually in shorts. I knew a quite liberated, westernized Pakistani family once, but their son never wore shorts even though he went to international English schools where shorts were standard. Some years ago, when soccer shorts were very short, a number of the strict Islamic countries objected to the international unfirom and insisted their players be allowed to wear knee-length shorts. Oddly enough, the one exception is Indonesia whch except for certain areas of the country (i.e., western Sumatra around Aceh) has traditionally practiced a very tolerant brand of Islam (that may be changing as Islam becomes a vehicle for political protest) with many elements of the earlier Buddhist/Hindu/animist religion surviving. Primary and middle school boys in Indoensia do wear a short pants uniform--at least 10 years ago, when I was last there, the shorts were short, smart, and snug. But shorts-wearing stops abruptly there at about age 14/15. There is simply no way that picture of yours could be of Pakistani youths--particulary that age.

Tamil Boys

HBC for some reason initially thought that this was a Paskitani reformatory. A HBC reader reports, "The picture showing a few boys in "Pudukottai" is surely not made in Pakistan but in the South of India. Pudukottai is a Tamil or Malayalam name, and the script on the blackboard is Tamil. But the general picture wil be more or less the same." The uniformed man in the back is obviously a South Indian by his dark complexion and certainly not a Pakistani.

Hindu Boys

In India, the youth group connected with the nationalist Hindu party (the Janata?) has a short pants uniform. That is not accidental; Muslim boys and youths could not be good Muslims and wear the uniform. By the very act of wearing the uniform, members of the youth group are saying, in effect, "We are not Muslims."

Created: June 12, 2001
Last update: April 16, 2002