What I wear is my choice!I recall as a child I used to see my grandmother’s women friends visiting the family, covering their heads with the sari- pallu. In fact, even to this day don’t Sikh and Rajput and Jat and even Brahmin women cover their heads in the conventional and traditional settings! And they come across as so very graceful and dignified.Why this all-out war on the burqa, hijab and the veil! After all, what is a hijab? Nothing but covering the head and the hair in a graceful traditional way, so that there’s less of exposure and more of modesty and coverage. In fact, we were all in a ‘hijab’ of sorts for the last two years –covering ourselves so very totally and thoroughly because of the Dengue mosquito scare and also of the Coronavirus infection scare! So why should this sudden hue and cry come about as though covering the head or hair or the combination of the two is something unthinkable or baffling or medieval!What I wear or don’t wear is my business. Maybe I want to cover every inch of my body with the burqa and hijab. And why shouldn’t I! It is my personal choice.Why this sudden attack on the hijab and burqa! As a woman, or as a person in a free country this is my basic right – What I decide to wear or not wear. Don’t tell me we have reached such dismal lows that the Right-Wing rulers and the mafia under their direct control will force their dos and don’ts on me! If I don’t follow their dictates I will be hounded from the educational institutions and harassed and ridiculed on the streets and lanes and by-lanes of my country, with the administration and the police machinery standing as mute spectators, if not as collaborators!Today, with the anti-Muslim propaganda accelerating, communal moves by the Right-Wing forces are on the rise finding every possible excuse or an alibi to attack the ‘other’. They are trying their utmost to dent the very identity of the minority community, to heap negativity on that identity.True, Islam insists that a woman ought to be dressed modestly and decently, but that doesn’t mean there’s some barbaric dress code! My maternal grandmother, Amna Rahman, loved to wear saris, with well-designed blouses and all seemed fine. No, there were no snide comments thrown her way from within or outside the community.I have always dressed in accordance with what I want to wear or not-wear. Though I’m comfortable with saris and blouses of all hues and shapes, but I must detail this incident: One late night, whilst driving on the Delhi- Gurgaon highway, I faced a somewhat un-nerving situation. What, with truckers honking, passing lewd comments, trying to overtake …when I couldn’t take the strain, I got this bright idea — that evening I’d bought a dining table cover; pulling it out from the packet, throwing it on myself , covering my arms and hair… I took refuge in that piece of cloth. And it did cover me up so very completely. That bandobast worked! The remaining part of the long drive on the highway was hassle free!
Source link
