Probably the best ever thread opened by T_E! Can't believe this is the first time I have come across it!
I didn't know there were No Lungi el barrio in Dhake, either. What a bunch of wannabe pendejos! Lungi is wonderful anywhere and anytime. I even once thought about wearing a lungi matched with a pair of red socks to a cultural liaison post interview. But, chickened out at the last minute.
But, I have walked the streets of many countries wearing a lungi and a punjabi/t-shirt. Met many people, made friends and had wonderful conversations. I introduced lungi -some twenty years ago- to one of my best friends who is from Ohio and an anthropologist and he still wears them. In fact, he stitches his own lungi now!
Another lungi story. A few years ago I went to stay with a German family in one of the most remote parts of the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) for a few days. The man of the house, a retired doctor, when he saw me changed into a lungi and all comfortable (in the evening) told me to wait for a few minutes as he went back to his room. He came back with three pieces of lungis and told me to pick one (I am wearing it right now)! Imagine my surprise. He was so impressed when he first saw them in his very first trip to India -he brought back many with him. Yet, another lungi story: Audin, my ex-flatmate in Stockholm, used to walk around the flat in his lungi all the time. He was a lanky 6' 4" blond and quite an interesting sight -in a lungi.
He once told me lungi was the best thing about his trip to Bangladesh. He was a wonderful baker.
Lungi is absolutely fantastic. Its very Bangali, extremely comfortable/healthy/practical and a massive Sunnah. Our Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) wore them and is KNOWN by the title "Sahib al-izaar" -the owner of Lungi! His other titles were Al-Mustafa, Al-Amin or Abu Al-Qaasim etc.
