Beneath the veil

The other day, a fight broke out in France, that nice liberal country, which wants to ban the burqa and all forms of Islamic dress as an affront to the nation's values

The other day, a fight broke out in France, that nice liberal country, which wants to ban the burqa and all forms of Islamic dress as "an affront to the nation's values." A 60 year-old woman lawyer ripped off another shopper's burqa. Annoyed by the veil and impatient for the ban, she decided to take the not-yet-law into her hands. Well, she was a lawyer, so I guess she knew what she was doing.

The discussion against the burqa/hijaab/naqab claims to be about freedom for women, but seems fixated on Muslimness. On the other hand, those who defend the Muslim woman's right to her veil, too focus on her beleaguered Muslim identity and come out sounding a bit muffled vis- -vis their feelings about veiling itself and the nature of freedom. It's a complicated one, defying the clarity of laws, challenging the complexity of principles.

Meanwhile, in the land of the free, one Rima Fakih became the first Muslim Miss USA. Except, oops, photographs of her pole dancing in a strip club surfaced, although, as was clarified later, she hadn't actually stripped to nothing, just average, if sexy, summer wear. Now she might have to be stripped of her crown because beauty pageants are not about taking off your clothes. Come on, you knew that.

Closer home, the producer of a TV show about doctors had the channel return an episode with the instruction that women doctors in the serial must wear mangalsutra and sindoor, even during surgery. When not in scrubs, the married ones must wear saris. Ladies must look traditional, even if they are modern. Except around that time, a woman in salwar kameez was turned away from a club in south Mumbai for being "inappropriately dressed." Nowadays, in overpriced caf ufffds and overblown media companies, I notice, no woman wears salwar kameez, not even if she's fresh off the boat, and everyone is dressed with an emphasis on veiled revelations.

Conformity is so modern, no?

I'm against veiling by compulsion, as I am against size zero and chhote kapde by compulsion. Both are forced on people in un-said ways by their social or cultural context, even if everyone from the Dukhtaran-e-Millat to Sherlyn Chopra assure us that it's a matter of choice.

But, as strong as our need to belong, is our desire to be ourselves. Just like it was for poor Mr Saude, Ujwal Nikam's driver, who wore a suit instead of his uniform on the day of Ajmal Kasab's judgment. He was demoted for this from his job of 12 years. He just wanted to look cool and fellow Man in Black with his boss in the press photos. See what happens when you think you have a choice?

It's different in the ladies train compartment. Once the burqa-girls used to swoop in like superheroes and strip off their cloaks as they left the scrutiny of their neighbourhoods behind. Now they don't bother, their burqas a clamour of glitter and style. Arabesques of turquoise sequins catch the orange light; crystals creepers race along the shapely sides of fitted cloaks; cuffs are lacy, racy, suggestively slit. How deliciously has this burqa been turned inside out without a law. I always think it must be incredibly hot in there, but I absolutely understand the need to suffer a little for fashion.

And some may not suffer much -- like the veiled Saudi woman who was apprehended by a religious police officer about being with a man. Her friend collapsed in fear. Outraged she unleashed her fists on the officer, sending him to hospital with a bruised face. Perhaps a kinder lady will introduce him to the advantages of the nakaab till he gets his looks back.

Paromita Vohra is an award-winning Mumbai-based filmmaker, writer, teacher and curator working with fiction and non-fiction. Reach her at www.parodevi.com

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