When I read this article, I was reminded of how I would hesitantly wear a saree for one of those occassions in school that required the senior girls to dress up in sarees and the boys to don traditional clothes or something. Of course the boys co-opted the suit as their own and didn’t look as uncomfortable.
The thing is, my mother tells me the saree is really comfortable. I don’t say it isn’t. I am just not wired for it. It’s too foldy, pleaty and drags all over the place. Perhaps if I wore it everyday, in a matter of a month or so I would get used to it, feel less clumsy even. But when worn on a strictly experimental basis – anything – a tiger costume, a Santa Claus outfit, the little black dress, a saree, tankini, a dhoti or a niqab, feel uncomfortable and make us less confident than we usually are. Wearing something for a day doesn’t tell you anything about a garment.
I don’t like covering my face or my head. I do it in some places because I don’t have the time or inclination to launch into an argument. But I am not going to go into fancy dress mode and declare that something makes me uncomfortable and therefore it makes everyone else uncomfortable too. It’s not that the writer is uncomfortable, but her extrapolation about others that amuses me. It’s such a childish way to deal with things.
The women I have met who have taken to wearing the niqab tell me that it gives them confidence. I find that it saps mine. Nobody has forced me to wear it but I feel like I have oppressed and isolated myself…
I don’t understand the need to wear something as severe as the niqab, but I respect those who bear this endurance test – the staring, the swearing, the discomfort, the loss of identity. I wear my robes to meet a friend in Notting Hill for dinner that night. “It’s not you really, is it?” she asks.
At long last :) I’ve been waiting for you (and MG) to write your views on this topic. Nice to hear a different perspective to the whole veil story
WA: I still can’t get over the childishness of the article!
First of, so happy to have chanced upon your blog! I blogged about the same article yesterday – but had a slightly different take on it. Will visit again!
If dress is dividing people, well, that shows where we are, is it not?
Choice of dress is entirely a pesonal matter. What one feels comfortable in so individualistic. But at the same time, dress also plays a great part in non-verbal communication or the body language. That’s why it is said: Always dress for the occasion.
We always temper our personal choices, even dressing style, to suit social conditions. So, why not in this case too? After all, religion and its symbols, are only a means to achieve a good quality of life.
Lotus: Read your post on it. I agree with the idea that it give you a glimpse into something. Had the article restricted itself to an exploration of the self, and reactions of others to her it would have been different. It is the extension of that experience and projection on others that I found funny. It’s that whole “fly on the wall” thing.
Besides Day 1 of such social experiments is always misleading. Case in point Spurlock’s 30 Days on Muslims and America. His initial discomfort soon becomes less apparent and he becomes more comfortable with customs. His interaction is deeper and more authentic after that one week. If the journalist really wanted to know more – she needed to spend more time.
Your blog is lovely btw!
Pradeep: Unfortunately – the journalist appears to have made many assumptions about clothing and culture, and the feelings of “others”. Some of the reactions sound made-up. Truth is, that in London I have seen more women in hijab than I have in Delhi or Bombay. It’s not such an odd thing. Yesterday, Sri and I saw a woman in the exact same apparel – and nobody gave her a second glance.