Banned From Colombo Rowing Club
Being a boor is OK, I’ve done that at rowing club before. Apparently can’t do it in national dress
So, I got banned from Rowing Club. For wearing National Dress, I guess. Funny thing is they didn’t tell me directly. The Rowing Club member in question just called a bunch of my friends and told them. Katha katha istyle. I hadn’t heard of this guy’s party, but it was odd that they’d make this little circle of pee-pee around me to keep me out. If I have beef with someone I may ignore them, but I don’t go run the gossip circle around them neither. I’m not saying I’m especially brave about facing my personal issues, but I’m no bitch. That is, it’s something particularly old-world to deal with people via social networks rather than mano a mano. Anyways, I called the guy to clear the air cause I keep having to hear about it from all and sundry. Here’s what I remember of the phone call. My issue is not being banned for National Dress, guess that’s their business. What I do object to is this guy calling my roommates and friends but not having the balls to call me. That’s a bitch move.
Me: ‘Lo, this is Indi. I’ve heard from my friends that I’m banned from rowing club.’
Rower: ‘Uh, yeah, it’s nothing personal, just the committee decided, er…’
Me: ‘That’s fine, but if you have any beef with me, this is my phone number, be a man and call me directly. Don’t go calling all my friends. They all have my number. Get my number, call me, don’t be a bitch.’
Rower: ‘Uh, it’s nothing personal, it’s just.’
Me: ‘Whatever, you’re acting like a gossipy girl, no, that’s unfair, like a bitch.’
Rower: ‘Blah blah blah’
Me: ‘Bitch, bitch, bitch, arrogant, grumpy’
Rower: Something
Indi: Be a man
Rower: OK
END
Something something. The man/bitch comparison is obviously sexist and I wish I could get out of it. Just listen to too much rap music. That’s guy is handling things in the classic Sri Lankan cowardly way and I don’t feel so bad calling him a bitch. I do feel bad that the comparison may offend women. He’s friends with a lot of my friends and has been pretty cool the few times I met him, but he still chose to make two or three phone calls to inform everyone else rather than making one phone call to inform me. I mean, I’m the one that’s banned. I guess it’s Colombo Rowing Club istyle to pee in the pool rather than the urinal itself. I’m happy to take it, if they’d grow up.
So, to conclude, I think the Colombo Rowing Club is banning me for going upstairs in national, which I sorta understand. What I think is bullshit is that wearing National Dress is the trigger and that they don’t have the integrity to call me personally and tell me so. Instead, their young proxy called my roommates and friends in a sweet little whisper campaign. That’s not very honorable and I would hope that a club too good for National Dress would at least have some men of character as members.
To the Rowing Club and its young acolytes: If you got problems with me, get my number, call me, I’m not hard to find. I don’t know what those pants have done to your balls. Maybe you should try a sarong.
Seems pretty shit to ban you ‘cos the argument started over you wearing national dress. However, I think it’s standard procedure for the club to inform its member and not you. One of the reasons members have to go through the hassle of signing guests in at most clubs, is so that the club can trace the guests back to the respective members. In fact, at some clubs the member can lose their membership if one of their guests flouts the club rules. The idea is for him to pass the message on. I can understand your grouse in your friend not conveying it directly to you though. Seems pretty cowardly.
Yeah, they really don’t need to call me. I do think that the member who called my friends was being a coward. He wasn’t the member who threw the original party either, he’s just a guy I vaguely know who didn’t want me coming to his.
Indi, were you banned by the club itself from entering the club, or were you banned by one member from coming to a party he is holding in the club?
They did like that? I can’t believe this, whats wrong with wearing a sarong? this is not bloody america, wait, If you wear a sarong in America ,and explain that its your national dress ,they’ll let you go in to any club i suppose, they are so open minded,not like our cracked aristocrats .
In America there are many private clubs , the NY Athletic club is one of them, and they have a dress code decided by their members- no tie , no entrance except on the day of the NY Marathon . If you want to visit these clubs then you follow their rules. National dress of various countries do not apply. Only the club rules. It is simple as that.
Hey write Mahinda Mama, tell him he won’t be accepted to Rowing club,he’ll be really pissed off, surely send a White van to fetch that BICHI,BITCH ………..
The President is well versed in these matters of the dreess code. You would have seen him respect the dress code of various institutions including places of Hindu religious worship like Kovils and gone bare bodied.
It’s nice to know that there are still some places left where we can party like it’s 1899.
Anyhow, I thought it had been established on these pages that national is acceptable at the club. So why have you been banned? And will you be seeking some kind of …er… redress?
ah
good thing i saw this…
‘cos my cus got his kid to wear the same dress at a costume party -> Flickr
should tell him not to go to the rowing club with his kid dressed like that
Hey I’ve been following this experiment a bit. I think its great that you put yourself out there to expose these (what I think) silly rules we have built for ourselves. This is exactly the reason I don’t bother with trying to fit into these so called ‘clubs’. I werk alone!
btw did you mean to say “Kata katha istyle”?
apparently they mistook u for mahinda !!
you the man indi.
What is it you understand about “going upstairs in national”? I recall a friend being refused entry into a cinema because he was in national dress? Would you simply tell this foreigner the rules here, written or unwritten, and the reasoning?
Under British rules (which we’ve inherited, like our court system and stuff) you can’t wear a sarong certain places. I’ve noticed that the wait-staff often does wear sarong, however.
With Independence this all white national dress was popularized with notable exponents like SWRD Bandaranaike. Since then pretty much every national leader wears at least the national shirt. National Dress is effectively a ‘respectable’ sarong outfit and it’s actually quite handsome.
I don’t think clubs are actually ‘allowed’ to ban you for wearing National Dress. It’s what we wear to the UN and weddings, so it’s doubtful that any club is more august. I don’t think lawyers can wear it to court, that’s the only time my grandfather ever wore trousers. I’m sure there are a few exceptions like that, but any club or cinema that doesn’t let you in wearing national is out of line.
You can wear national to court…I know of one lawyer who does…
Thanks, but that begs a few questions. Would you, for the sake of this discussion, find the constitution of the Rowing Club and ascertain their rules regarding National Dress?
If Mahinda Rajapaksa turned up at the the club, dressed as he usually is but before he became holder of high office, would he have been admitted, or admitted and then banned?
There is a direct parallel here with India. Only politicians (and some diplomats at functions) wear the Nehru Collar. This is, I believe, considered the National Dress, but if just any national wore it their motives would be suspect. Hence, how oddly provocative is your appearance in the photograph, though you are simply wearing the National Dress as worn by the President.
It’s not that formal here. I wear a (shorter) national top with jeans fairly often. Both of my grandfathers wore national every day. Everybody from Dr. Ari at Sarvodaya to guys I see on the street wear National.
It is odd for someone my age, but my dress code at work specifically allows it. It’s very simple and handsome, I think. As I get older I’d like to wear it more and more. It’s totally acceptable for me, as an average Sri Lankan, to wear.
OK, but tell me you wear that maroon silk scarf everyday. It is visually copyrighted. People immediately know the reference. Were you being provocative? Were you making a point? Was it a bit of fun? Was it a stylish flourish?
And if National Dress is “very simple and handsome”, Dr. Ari wears it and your grandfathers wore it everyday, why is there this admittance issue that isn’t clear? I think we should be told (as they put it in Private Eye).
[...] blog-dutugemunu Indi got dressed up like Mahinda Rajapakse and got kicked out of the rowing club. Tut tut. Standards at the rowing club are really dropping. Back in our day they were very clear [...]
Hey yea machang, well i don’t know about this club but you know what this is discrimination. By the way, rowing club should be shamed of being neglecting national dress code. dam.. Export these fellows to US. Row in Mississippi… Shame for Sri Lanka to have them..
That’s how we DO, son! (yes… sometimes we all have to go a little ghetto)
Dude…haven’t read your blog for a while. Just some perspective if I may. Devil’s Advocate almost. The Rower doesn’t really know you too well right? You said that yourself. Unfortunately, the way it works in our party circle is that someone brings someone brings someone. It’s not polite, but it’s how it happens in Colombo.
The man doesn’t invite you for his party. Because you don’t know him. He invites others who know you. And reasonably suspects that you may tag along. He can’t uninvite you because he didn’t invite you in the first place, so he does the next most practical thing no?
[...] kurta and a woman’s scarf. It’s funny cause this particular outfit got me banned from the Colombo Rowing Club for life, and the photo is from that night. What are the schools coming to [...]
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