I was reading about The Bikini Virgins (In OPEN Magazine)–why Indian girls (and boys?) talk so much about bikini’s but don’t wear them!- when a thought struck me! Well, let’s look at the Bikini issue from an entirely different and a very “OPEN” perspective. Perhaps in a manner previously not thought of – I ‘have the patent’ for this line of thinking, hope so !!

A Bikini on a girl (I guess shapely & beautiful) on the beach, is the nearest we get to see of God’s wonderful artistry other than the confines of more legally & morally allowed sites & premises! It is almost every man's dream to see the object of his desire - be it his favorite Actress. Model or Girlfriend (Wife?) appear so “briefly”

Well, what about Men? Do we have a men’s bikini? Has anybody thought about it? Of course we do have Men’s beach wear, which are at best different kinds of western introduced boxer shorts or trimmed modifications. The women’s Bikini itself clandestinely reached our beaches from foreign shores!

What about the great Indian loin cloth? The langoti or more technically called the ‘U’ Clamp? I am interested in the south Indian version, called the “komanam” (Tamil), which is a piece of cloth strung on a waist cord. It covers the front essentials flapping over the “expansionist” “productive” bulge, while at the rear it chews into the split of the buttocks and flaps over like a tail to match the geometry of the front! To wear this wonderfully sexy piece of garment-the waist cord is mandatory. I would call this sexy because it is the Men’s only chance of revealing some cleavage – and why not?

As kids we used to wear the cord (called “aranakyeru” in Tamil) to show that your are indeed a boy. The poor and medium level kids use an ordinary black or red cotton cord while the upper medium and the rich wear silver or even gold cords! During periods of "cloth scarcity" all that your needed to do is grab a piece of cloth or small towel and "loop/string it up". The ordinary poor workmen in certain parts of Tamil Nadu still wears this and believe me, may old timers, in the South, wear something like this beneath their Dhotis/Lungis!!

Why don’t we in India promote the “komanam” as Men’s very own sexy Bikini? To match the women! Imagine, we can have different textures, artistry, even lace and transparency to make it look alluring. We can invent great mindboggling designs of the supporting waist cord or the cloth and can play endlessly with the front & rear flaps!

Please think it over and lets see some flare on the beaches –perhaps we can start with the fashion India ramps! After neem, basmathi rice and Yoga this is some hard export India can do besides the software thing! In times of recession it pays to work briefly! Ha!