Several staff members wore traditional Indian clothing. Some of the women wore saris.
(photo from http://www.history-of-india.net/history_of_the_Saree.htm)
Some of the men wore dhotis. A dhoti is a length of fabric wrapped around the waist and is worn with a regular shirt or a long style of shirt known as a kurta.
(Photo from http://www.elishams.org/Dhoti.html)
I chose to wear the shirt of India's national cricket team.
We also took time to have some Independence Day fun, with games and sweets.
What do people wear to the office on a regular day? The office where I work is business casual. For men, that means pants (not jeans) and a regular shirt or polo-style shirt. Most of the women in our area wear an outfit which I believe is known as a salwar kameez. (Knowledgeable friends, please correct me if I'm wrong. I am rather uninformed on women's fashion even in my own country, let alone in India.) The outfit consists of a salwar (light, loose-fitting pants), kameez (a long top) and a dupatta (scarf). The three parts are a matched set. Except for the woman on the left below, I believe that each of the others in this photo is wearing a salwar kameez.
Photo from http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2008/07/10/stories/2008071051040100.htm
If you are interested in learning more about India, I can recommend two websites that will help you become impressively well-informed. The first is the Indian government's "Know India" portal: http://india.gov.in/knowindia.php. This well-organized site has many photos and short articles on national symbols, geography, history, culture and many other topics. If you've ever wanted to travel to India, the second site I can recommend is http://www.incredibleindia.org/, from the Indian Ministry of Tourism. I would also encourage you to try to obtain their IncredibleIndia brochures on the topics that interest you most. They are beautiful and provide a wealth of interesting and useful detail.
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