CHENNAI: The recent incident where a young actor was stopped from enteringa gentlemen's club for not wearing a collared shirt had raised a few eyebrows. How do such institutions, with their rigid, old-world customs, retain their charm at a time when rebellion is seen as the best form of fashion?Enter the Madras Gymkhana Club and the white colonial facade would take youback by at least a century. As the aura of an elite surrounding provides you with a feeling of importance, members proclaim how the institution has preserved its unique traditions for over 125 years.Strict membership rules, that involves minute assessments, are complimented with an array of other conventions, the most important of which is thearchival British dress code."If you want to enter the main premises, a collar is a must. However, there are certain places inside the club, such as the mixed room, where the dress code has been relaxed," says PVS Vencatasubramaniam, vice president of MGC.At a time when every apartment has its own swimming pool and sporting facilities, he says the reason why people still wish to be part of such clubs is the elite environment they offer."You must understand that the club is where many business deals are clinched. There are formal discussions that take place and hence, we maintain a bit of formality when it comes to dressing, as well," he says.The Chennai Cosmopolitan Club, the main hall of which, with its posh wooden ceiling and impeccably sorted furniture that provides an aristocratic atmosphere, too has its "formals" dress code. Committee member A R Arumugam says that turtle-neck T-shirts are strictly prohibited inside the premises."We provide collared T-shirts at the counter if at all someone turns up with a turtle-neck," he says. The scene is similar at the Haddows Club in Nungambakkam, a comparatively new club, where shoes have been made a must in certain areas.While some connect the declining membership of these clubs to these rigidrules, others say that the clubs would lose their soul without such traditions."It is a place to revel in the company of like-minded. When the whole concept of a club in itself is Western, why frown about the dressing?" reasons a retired IAS officer, who is part of the Madras Club, where just about 400 voting members and a few other temporary members are given access to thefacilities.Agrees professor V Sridhar, faculty of History at a city college and memberof a 100-year-old club at Anna Salai, "It is not as though they have not changed. In the 1950s, you needed a tie and even polished shoes to gain entry. Now, clubs allow you in with even slippers, as long as they are not of the rubber variety."Others, like former Advisor to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, V Narayanan, who launched a campaign in 2007 after he was shunted out of the Madras Cricket Club for entering in with a dhoti, says that such institutions ape the West, but do not understand them."Even in the United States where I lived for 18 years, the rigid formality has been given up. Clubs there now allow casual wear. If clubs in Chennai do not adapt, it is only a matter of 'when' that they would go into oblivion," he says, adding that he has written to the Chief Minister to make these clubs allow Indian attire.
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