Around a year and a half back, our Goan girl Ivana Furtado was asked to wear the hijab while participating in the Asian chess championship in Shiraz, Iran, which is the custom of that Country. Ivana did not consider it as a big deal. She wore the hijab, focussed on her chess, played and won to be crowned as Asian Junior Chess champion. What if she had refused to wear something not part of her beliefs, wouldn't she have missed such a significant achievement in her life?
Recently, a young lady missed her exams by holding steadfast to staunch beliefs and clearly she made an error in judgement. Life and career are more important than holding on to beliefs as if they are the beginning and end of the world. Every place has its own sanctity and an examination hall will have its own sanctity and discipline too. Why should codes, customs and discipline be restricted to religion only? One should recall a similar matter where some Islamic organisations had gone to the Court against the CBSE for prescribing dress codes for examinations. At that time, the Apex Court in very clear and unambiguous terms had endorsed the guidelines laid by the board for fair examinations. The bench in that matter had said: "The CBSE has come out with a dress code for the sake of keeping the examination fair and proper. It is a matter of three hours. You observe the dress code mandated by the CBSE for three hours and then wear the scarf as long as you want." The bench was of the view that the dress code notified by CBSE is a reasonable restriction and meant to proper conduct of exam, in view of the fact that the Supreme Court itself had ordered re conduct of the exam due to reported irregularities. "This is an examination. If during the examination you do not tie the scarf, you would not be commiting a sin. No discourtesy will be shown to the religion if you appear in the examination without a scarf. You go and appear in the test and don't waste time in the Court," the bench said. Mountains should not be made of molehills. While religious freedom needs to be respected, codes, rules and guidelines must be too in a secular progressive country. No religion compels one to act rashly. Discretion as they say is the better part of valor. Sometimes broad-based thinking and liberal decisions need to be taken and God certainly won't be upset with that. Regards Sandeep Heble
