SHE LOOKS OUT
She stood out there on the curving road against the Mahim-Worli skyline looking beyond the bay resting on the rails, motorcycle parked a few feet away talking to her husband ( or may be her friend ). She made an immediate impression on me, though I could hardly see her face what marked her was her ‘burkha’ clad attire. She was not alone as there was another with her child and husband watching the waves move up and down the bay. It seemed in her presence she had set aside all the stereotypes the society possessed of her. She was known to be secluded from the society ; and was expected to step out for necessities and hardly for recreation. Her desire for fun and joy was to be satiated within the four walls of her household. But; here she was witness to the wide eyed passerby delightfully speeding toward the sea link.
She must have ventured out in such a manner on many occasions leaving her home from the routine of T V programmes and fixedness of domestic life to watch the waves, the sea the bridge and the sun. The sea link approach road has recently acquired prominence with large number of couples seeking solitude and calm sitting on the rails looking bayward. A new perspective has been provided to the young and restless in addition to marine drive and worli sea face. What is distinct about this place is that it is not crowded. The vehicles move at a distance and the couples can have their peace and silence in the Mumbai metropolis. There is certainly some secular representation on the sea side in the visitation of so many ‘burkha’ clad women. The joy which she shares with other women has a common emotion , an unseen thread of camaraderie connects them. Being close to nature the secular symbol of God!!
The ‘burkha’ has been in much debate and controversy in recent times. At one end is the French initiation of ban on its wearing as they claim it to be a symbol of ‘backwardness’. The other extreme is in Iran where recently according to a newspaper report about 62,000 women were fined for being ‘badly veiled’, there seems to be policy of crackdown on even slight expression of freedom among women in that state. In India she seems to have adopted it of her free will, accepted it as part of her religious identity, with some moments of liberty such as these when she can lift her veil and watch the waves on the bay.
So let it be her decision to adopt or to abandon. For us it is good enough to admire her stance as she rests on the rails and watches the ebb and flow of sea.
कोई टिप्पणी नहीं:
एक टिप्पणी भेजें