THE BURKA
By: Bennet Paes
The world over, the part of a human body that is most visible to other humans
is the face. Unlike those parts that remain covered in privacy, it’s only the
face that faces the task of determining one’s identity. In fact, any object on
earth, animate or inanimate, is distinguished by what humans call, its face.
Even the forthcoming Unique Identification Card (UID), an ambitious project
embarked upon by the Govt. of India is meant for that very purpose. On the face
of it, this may seem rather baffling, but it’s true. Let’s see if it is.
I was greeted by a lady in the Gulf who recognized me after an absence of about
a quarter-century. Obviously she guessed it right, even without the help of
‘Paul’ the octopus. I mean, simply by recalling my face. On the other hand, I
wondered inside of me, who this sweet sounding lady could be. Reason – she was
covered from head to toe. Apparently, twenty-five years ago she didn’t wear
that menacing mask, so we had met, exchanged looks and pleasantries and
remained acquainted thereafter.
At that time crude oil hadn’t spilt so profusely into the oceans of
fundamentalism as it does now. Nor did America’s wild attempts at imposing
democracies in the unlikeliest of places, generate so much misplaced awareness,
of what is now brazenly trumpeted as ‘human rights’. So, apparently emboldened
by these factors and by her own religious beliefs, which again, scholars insist
as misplaced, my friend may have been right in exercising her right. But
unfortunately she was unfair to me in doing so. While she peeped at me through
those two vantage openings in her burka, she denied me an honest look at her
face and a return of her gesture, in a manner it deserved to be conducted in a
civilized society. I was baffled.
Recently, French legislators declared a ban on the burka in public places i.e.
in France, not in India. But ironically, debaters on Indian TV channels sprang
into a slugfest over the French decision. One lady, whose presence on the panel
was particularly noticeable by a glaring exposure of her dolled up face, argued
that a lady wearing a burka in democratic France has every right to dress as
she pleases, being a citizen of that country. What she did not mention is,
whether that lady or her elders had peeped through holes at the time they were
interviewed for their French citizenship, and yet got it. And I wonder what
made them migrate, in the first place, to a country where a burka-clad lady
could easily pass for a ghost planted right up the Eiffel tower. And I also
wonder why these Indian debaters agitate over that ban in France, while back at
home the honour of ‘honour-killings’ remains as shrouded as that French lady in
a burka.
Honestly, and with due respect to human rights, suffocating un-hygienically
inside a burka, even though in the midst of tightly-turbaned citizenry, to me
is so unbecoming of a lady that needs to look free and fresh, and be admired
for all the gracefulness of her femininity. Rather than outright banning, the
burka could be made to look absolutely redundant in a terror stricken world
that faces a ‘show of face’ every step of the way.
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