Behind the black veil

I have wondered what it feels like to be veiled by a black gossamer ‘shield’ or should I give in to my feminist prejudice and say ‘prison’?!

I have seen the colourful clothes of the ‘Mithai theru’ in my home town, Calicut, give way to the enveloping black of the hijab. The bylanes of old Hyderabad (where I live now) have always hidden the bright shades worn by the zenana brigade. While in Dubai as a tourist, the blacks intermittently woven into the contemporary colours of freedom were an obvious yet puzzling sight.

I turned to Google for more information on the black veil. The searches for ‘hijab’, ‘burqa’ and ‘pardah’ threw up a lot of irreverent pictures. There were even pictures of a leading lingerie brand literally ‘unveiling’ (see picture) a new line. I have  I gasped at the cheekiness of the pictures even though I am not directly affected by it. I don’t wear a hijab and I don’t have to!

The closest I came to the difference in attitude was when I had to promise a friend’s father that his daughter would not wear a short blouse for the group dance we were arranging at school. She wore a long blouse and long skirt with a dupatta covering her head. Even she did not wear a pardah to school. She just had to bend her head to some diktats. I never had the opportunity to ask a person who wore a pardah how she feels. I’m not trying to muscle in thoughts of dissent into the persons who have willingly donned the layer of chastity(?). I’m trying to peek into the ones who ‘have’ to.

The French government has dealt with this issue like a tyrant. But I cannot help thinking the next minute that only tyranny can overpower another sort of tyranny. Despite my liberal upbringing, I can even condone purity of thoughts and action in the name of religion. But it has to be the same for all. You would agree with me when I say that if men had to wear the hijab too, so as to desist from inciting lecherous thoughts in the opposite sex, the hijab, the pardah and the burqa would be reduced to being yet another kind of apparel!

 

Anuradha Venkatnarayan