"The men with the sola hats"
They were sitting there with deadpan expressions, as if the camera that was taking their group photo would explode if they smiled. There were chairs in the first row and exactly in the centre of this row sat a British officer. All others were, what they then called, 'natives' officers. Behind them were the staff members of the office standing in rows, each row farther back a bit higher than the preceding one.
There was only one thing common amongst those occupying chairs - a SOLA HAT.
The young people of today do not know what a SOLA HAT.
Here is Mahatma Gandhi writing about SOLA HATS:
"My narrow nationalism
rebels against the hat, but
my secret internationalism
regards the sola hat as one of the few boons from
Europe. But for the
tremendous national
prejudice against the hat, I
would undertake to become president of a league for popularizing sola hats."
You can read the full article of Mahatma Gandhi here:
http://www.mkgandhi.org/thiswasbapu/106solahat.htm
Why did India discard these hats which were inexpensive, ultra-light, durable , a protection from heat-wave and eco-friendly ? It is time they are resurrected !
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