Meghalaya woman humiliated in Delhi Golf Club for wearing traditional dress

Shillong: Yet another example of discrimination against the fellow citizens of North East for their tribal looks and dress sense. In the capital city of India, Delhi Golf Club is considered a place for elites where a Meghalaya woman wearing traditional Khasi attire was allegedly kept out because she looked ‘Nepali’ and her dress was a ‘maid’s uniform’.

The woman, Tailin Lyngdoh was wearing a jainsem, sarong-like traditional dress worn by Khasi women from Meghalaya. The incident occurred on Sunday, triggered outrage on social media with a section of users calling it an act of “racial discrimination”.

Lyngdoh was a governess who worked for an Assamese doctor Nivedita Barthakur and was invited for lunch to the club along with Barthakur as guests of a member and the lunch was almost served when the club official went and asked Lyngdoh to leave, reports NIE.

Barthakur has spent many years in London and Abu Dhabi. For the past one year, she has been working with the Assam government as an honourary advisor dealing with health policy. Barthakur told that gatekeepers of the club stopped Lyngdoh and sought to escort her out as she apparently looked ‘Nepali’ and dressed like a ‘maid’. “Despite my protest, they kept on arguing and we left the club feeling humiliated,” she added.

Barthakur posted a statement on Facebook, “Today, Tailin Lyngdoh, an extremely proud Khasi lady who has travelled the world in her jainsem from London to the UAE was thrown out of the Delhi Golf Club because her dress was taken for a maid’s uniform!”

Barthaker further added that gatekeepers did not apologise and the room was full of figures from the Delhi VIPs “who make their maids and nannies wait outside in the heat lest they pollute their surroundings, and I bet many of them were civil servants and keepers of the Constitution. It was so appalling at many levels: that a citizen of India is judged on her dress and treated as a pariah.”

Barthakur added that Lyngdoh never had to face such discrimination abroad.

The Delhi Golf Club on Tuesday however, apologised for forcing a Meghalayan woman out of their premises for dressing up in a traditional Khasi outfit. A press release sent out by the club said that the incident was investigated and “could have been handled in a much better way by the staff member”.
The management has ordered disciplinary action against the defaulting staff members.