Posted by Gopal Unnikrishna
Modernism is taking a savage toll of many graceful customs. There was this scene in the TV The Italian-born leader of India’s Congress Party had decorously pulled the sari end over her head right up to the front. The bare head of the Assamese/Bengali girl glistened in the picture Time was when no respectable woman anywhere was ever seen uncovered. For Hindus, it was the sari or dupatta. Muslim women had the burqa or hijab
European women wore hats, which were de rigueur in church. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is probably the hat’s last champion, never being seen without one herself, and ordaining that no hatless female should be admitted into Westminster Abbey when her grandson, Prince William, was married The late Rajmata Gayatri Devi of Jaipur merely pulled the sari over her head and sailed in. Muslim men were as particular about headgear as Muslim women and the last nizam of Hyderabad muttered disapprovingly about the uncovered heads of the Hindu maharajas at Lord Mountbatten’s dinner for the princes.
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Sari language can be as expressive as any flamenco dancer’s fan.Drawing the sari over the head as the band struck up the national anthem. is a simple gesture conveying grace, dignity and respect. Tony Blair’s wife Cherie sported a sari when canvassing ethnic Indian voters. Chester Bowles’ wife wore nothing else, hoping to impress her Indian friends when her husband was US ambassador in Delhi, but embarrassed them instead because she wore it so badly.
But the wheel is turning — or has it turned full circle already? — in the Islamic ummah where more and more women, including Turks, are returning to the hijab. The effect is contagious Though British women have abandoned the hat, one sees more and more hijabs in the streets of English cities, especially in the Midlands and the North. Even sari-draped Bangladeshi women in Singapore and Malaysia wear the hijab
Perhaps as Muslims, they feel they ought to flaunt a recognisably Muslim garment. Politics has always shimmered in a sari’s folds and when Pakistan was created, Fatima Jinnah, the Quaid-e-Azam’s sister, declared the garment unpatriotic.
But native Indian women prefer other attire. If it’s not the salwar-kameez ensemble, it’s Western dress. The sari for them is becoming more and more like Japan’s kimono and China’s cheongsam — exotic attire for high days and holidays. We must be thankful that ethnic foreigners keep it alive.
Source: http://www.asianage.com/columnists/return-veil-471
Modernism is taking a savage toll of many graceful customs. There was this scene in the TV The Italian-born leader of India’s Congress Party had decorously pulled the sari end over her head right up to the front. The bare head of the Assamese/Bengali girl glistened in the picture Time was when no respectable woman anywhere was ever seen uncovered. For Hindus, it was the sari or dupatta. Muslim women had the burqa or hijab
European women wore hats, which were de rigueur in church. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is probably the hat’s last champion, never being seen without one herself, and ordaining that no hatless female should be admitted into Westminster Abbey when her grandson, Prince William, was married The late Rajmata Gayatri Devi of Jaipur merely pulled the sari over her head and sailed in. Muslim men were as particular about headgear as Muslim women and the last nizam of Hyderabad muttered disapprovingly about the uncovered heads of the Hindu maharajas at Lord Mountbatten’s dinner for the princes.
.
Sari language can be as expressive as any flamenco dancer’s fan.Drawing the sari over the head as the band struck up the national anthem. is a simple gesture conveying grace, dignity and respect. Tony Blair’s wife Cherie sported a sari when canvassing ethnic Indian voters. Chester Bowles’ wife wore nothing else, hoping to impress her Indian friends when her husband was US ambassador in Delhi, but embarrassed them instead because she wore it so badly.
But the wheel is turning — or has it turned full circle already? — in the Islamic ummah where more and more women, including Turks, are returning to the hijab. The effect is contagious Though British women have abandoned the hat, one sees more and more hijabs in the streets of English cities, especially in the Midlands and the North. Even sari-draped Bangladeshi women in Singapore and Malaysia wear the hijab
Perhaps as Muslims, they feel they ought to flaunt a recognisably Muslim garment. Politics has always shimmered in a sari’s folds and when Pakistan was created, Fatima Jinnah, the Quaid-e-Azam’s sister, declared the garment unpatriotic.
But native Indian women prefer other attire. If it’s not the salwar-kameez ensemble, it’s Western dress. The sari for them is becoming more and more like Japan’s kimono and China’s cheongsam — exotic attire for high days and holidays. We must be thankful that ethnic foreigners keep it alive.
Source: http://www.asianage.com/columnists/return-veil-471
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