This article in the Guardian led me to reminisce about my two and a half years in what we called the last outpost of the British Empire in India. I was working for a British company then and posted to our mill location which was in Kerala in the South of India. The mill was set up immediately after independence and we still had British managers coming over to manage the unit from there rather than from a metropolis.
Since Kerala is hot and humid throughout the year, the British managers would wear white shorts and shirts without ties to work and some of the Indian managers and workers also did the same. My mentor Alastair would also wear knee length white stockings and I too did the same. Unfortunately, I am unable to locate any photographs from those days with me in shorts.
I was among those that wore shorts whenever I was in the mill location, which also included a residential area inside the compound. I was in Marketing and had to leave on sales tours frequently and would wear trousers and shirts while away from the compound but once inside, would be in shorts.
I understand that Australians do wear shorts to work in the summer and I request Jim to confirm whether this is true even now.
I think that it is a very sensible attire for hot climates and would really like to see this trend, if it can be called that yet, catch on. I would however be surprised if this became a fashion even in India where the summers can be very hot and humid.