So Kate Middleton is acing her visit to Pakistan, one shalwar kameez at a time.
Pakistanis can’t get enough of an English woman honoring the shalwar kameez. The internet is blowing up with “ah’s” and “ooh’s” over Kate’s adorable line-up of Pakistani attire. How cute and tear-jerking!
Argh!
Despite us thinking we have become progressive we fall for another political move. The Duke of Cambridge or as the world still calls him, Prince William, meanwhile walks alongside her in crisp 3-piece suits looking every inch the royalty that he is. But he makes sure to give his personal blandly smiling ambassador of peace, cultural diversity and respect to Pakistan…… his lovely wife, The Duchess. Just another typical day in the life of a woman. She smiles and looks pretty while the men conduct important business. But I know how people are going to look over at the Princess with tears in their eyes when she chooses to spend her morning at an orphanage. I’ve seen other people go through the moves. They don’t change.
This is an eye-roll worthy moment for Pakistanis knowing the amount of racism that’s practiced in the UK against Pakistanis and that has all been smoothed over by the Pakistani minimum wage worker as she ironed Kate’s outfits for everyday, thankful for this opportunity as the prodigal son returns and benevolently lets her labor over his wife’s expensive no-crease-allowed outfits.
Pakistanis think she is respecting our culture. So by that token, all the Pakistanis wearing western outfits are basically honoring that culture every day of their living life? Political moves use cultural attires as costumes. Isn’t that obvious?
But can I tell you how I feel when someone whom I have some serious questions to ask approaches me with a bag of candy? “There starts the pandering. Now this person is going to cripple my tongue by stuffing goodies in my mouth”. I’m wary of accepting candy from strangers. We were all taught the same lesson as kids then why are some of us stunned by the royal family’s outfit gimmick?
I wish Kate wore what she wears, proudly and unashamedly. Then all these people from the weird wing who are saying “oh she is covering herself because Pakistani men have dirty eyes” would have seen a cause for pause. Because are they kidding me? Were Pakistani men waiting for Kate Middleton to arrive so they could ogle at a woman’s legs? They do that everyday anyway without anyone questioning their manners. You think an accomplished Pakistani lecher couldn’t steal a few looks at her legs if she wore a dress? Laughable! The furore that we create in our heads when foreign celebrities go to our places of worships with their heads covered shows how needy we are to be loved and acknowledged. To be honest, a mosque doesn’t need anyone to walk in with any prerequisite attire. It welcomes everyone. So we all should quit with the shenanigans.
Also let’s also not be so quick to compare her with Princess Diana all the time. Just because they wear the same type of clothes doesn’t prove anything. Diana was a kick-ass dresser and if I had the money, I’d do it a lot better than Kate.
Dear Pakistanis! Please wake up. People pander us to mollify us. Is that how strong we are? Why can’t we ask the royal family openly and transparently what their stance on racism is? Why can’t they be direct like Jacinda Ardern? Why are Kate’s outfits the topic for discussion? Is she in Pakistan to wear the shalwar kameez better than the Pakistanis? Well if that was the purpose of the trip then she failed. And quite miserably. She didn’t understand the essence of the Pakistani woman. Does she really think that an outfit is all there is to us?
My mind as a woman 