Even though the saree is our national attire for women, a South Delhi mall eatery refused to serve a woman wearing one. Employees at Ansal Plaza's restro-bar allegedly denied lettinga woman in because her saree didn't meet the "smart casual" dress code.
A video of the incident is doing rounds on social media in which Anita Choudhary who is an ex-journalist is heard asking the staff, "Show me that saree is not allowed." Whenshe says it again, a female staff member says, "We only allow smart casuals, Ma'am, and a saree does not fall under that category. That's it."
The incident is believed to have occurred at Delhi's Aquila restaurant.
Anita Chaudhary who was there to celebrate her daughter’s birthday was miffed by the incident and posted a video of her encounter on Facebook. She captioned the video, “Listencarefully to this video as there is a restaurant in Delhi where saree is not a smart outfit.”
Further, the caption read, “After that, many excuses were given against the saree but I was not allowed to sit in the restaurant because Indian paridhan saree is not a smart outfitin our India, Bharat, Hindustan.”
“The humiliation that happened because of my saree yesterday was bigger and heart-wrenching than any other insult that happened to me till now,” she added.
The video was also posted on Anita Chaudhary’s YouTube channel after which the eatery in the posh Khel Gaon area drew the fury of netizens.
“I am a saree-loving person. I love Indian attires, I love Indian culture. I believe saree is a most elegant, fashionable and pretty attire,” said Anita Choudhary on heryoutube channel.
"I ask Prime Minister, Home Minister, Delhi CM, Delhi Police and National Commission of Women to tell me the concrete definition of ‘smart outfit’ so that I can stopwearing a saree," she added.