Yes ! It's back again !

I couldn't believe my eyes; is this real, or am I just hallucinating? After almost a decade long absence, is it really back? Will I be able to satisfy such a basic need of life now in a way I want? Will I be finally able to get rid of all those discomfort, shame and dissatisfaction caused by its absence?

I had to check. So I went closer, checked the inside information, touched it, felt it, spread it to full and did a mental measurement. Yes. it is true; the High Rise Jeans is back in shops again!!

Now if you are a fashion front runner (very unlikely, considering that you're reading my blog, which is not quite to the taste of a fashion diva or a style guru) then you'll probably say that it has already been back to fashion some months back. May be; but being someone who throws the newspaper fashion pages straight to recycle bin and who is not a shopaholic, I could be excused for not noticing them on the very first day.

And it does not really matter when it came back, as long as it is indeed back. Now those days of spending futile hours to find a decent pair of trousers which sits on your waist and doesn't hang dangerously from your groin area, will finally be over. Now I can bent down to pick up dropped articles without the fear of exposing my private parts for public display. Once again I'll be able to stand up from any seats without needing to pull up those treacherous low rise pants. And most importantly, I would be spared of those hideous sights of flab protruding out of the scanty limits of low-risers worn by millions of men and women with a figure less than perfect.

"real people" in low rise jeans

Keira Knightley in low rise jeans

It's really amazing how something as impractical as low rise jeans dominated all over the world for so many years! It may look very sleek and seductive on size zero models and I've no problem them wearing it on ramps. But millions with real figure had to wear them in real world, in real crowded trains and buses, in real rain and snow; why did not anybody thought of keeping some normal staffs in their store? They could be a savior of common people (with real figures) in addition of making gazillions.

But no one seemed to understand that there was a market for normal waist pants and to my horror they went into oblivion. All over the world  I searched for them, from shops in India and Sri Lanka to upmarket shopping areas in Paris, London, Brussels, Copenhagen and Stockholm; but in vain. Thanks to globalization, the world seemed to blindly follow the dictates of fashion houses and retail chains and the commonsense took a back seat. 

low rise "adaptation"

The ease with which people accepted such discomfort and humiliation and even paid for it, tempts me to think that people won't complain about anything as long as it is advertised widely with the help of sexy models.

This strange phenomenon even caused a specific evolutionary adaptation in humans; a whole new generation evolved who mastered the seemingly impossible task of walking in jeans that come only upto their thighs without letting it fall down completely.

Thankfully these are the things of past now. Once again I'll be able to wear a bottom garment which fits my well endowed body!

Basking in the bliss, I bought 3 pairs of normal rise jeans.

A plague on ALL your houses

The Swedish general election was held yesterday. The result is out now. And for the first time in history a far-right, racist party called Swedish Democrats entered into the parliament.

They have own 20 odd seats in the house of 349 seats; but that's enough to influence the formation of government as both the rulling Alliance (with 172 seats) and the opposition Red-Green coalition (with 157 seats) fall short of securing absolute majority.

The good thing is both Alliance and Red-Green prefer supporting each other than taking support from ultra racist Swedish Democrats. Even a minority government can be formed with issue based support from other parties (something which I suggested could have worked in Britain). This kind of minority government is not unprecedented in Sweden.

The Swedish Democrats will however will leave no leaf unturned in pursuing their way to the government. And with the very recent memory of fierce electoral battle between the two main coalitions and the prospect of getting into a-pain-in-the-neck of a situation of running a minority government, who knows what will happen eventually!

I can only hope (that's the disadvantage of being an Atheist, I can't pray, just hope....) that they do not succeed in their sinister attempt to hold government into ransom with their small but crucial number of 20 seats.

It seems only yesterday that I was considering myself lucky escaping a Tory Britain to come to Sweden, the epitome of civil liberties and race-gender equalities. So imagine my dismay, barely 4 months later, at the prospect of being governed by neo-Nazis. Talk about being thrown from frying pan to fire!

The puzzling thing is how did they manage to get so many votes! Their success was mainly in southern Sweden, in Skåne, Malmo, parts of Stockholm. And yet these are the places with educated, urban population. Xenophobia aparently run much lower among peasants and fishermen in the north than that among the savy corporate executives in the south.

I do not really understand how, of all places in Earth, Sweden can afford to be anti-immigration; this is a vast country with barely 9 million people, 1.5 million of which are immigrants. They just do not have enough people to run this country.

This sub-arctic place is not an obvious choice with immigrants either. Most of them come from war trodden places like Iraq or Afghanistan and they do not really have a choice. And a handful come attracted to this free and fair society which will be destroyed fast thanks to rise of parties like Swedish Democrats. The generous benefit system which the Swedes are so much proud of, will dwindle fast if the contribution from the immigrants stops. They can have this cold, dark place all to themselves then and can start re-sharpening their skills as Viking pirates for survival.

What upsets me most is that far right xenophobic parties are getting ground all over Europe; from Switzerland, Austria, France, Netherlands and Germany to now in Sweden. Recent economic downturn just added to the problem. "Those foreign immigrants have taken our jobs" is a very popular line with people suffering from deep economic recession.

Growing Islamic terrorism is another big contributing factor; somehow people feel being hostile towards Muslims and in general to all foreigners would help reducing Islamic fundamentalism. In reality though it is quite counter-productive; it allianates Muslims even further and to quote Mr. Obama, works as a "recruitment bonanza for Al-Queda".

I cannot think of any place in the earth now where intolerance, insensitivity and warmongering is not rising alarmingly. Where to take the refuge now? It is a plague on ALL your houses.