THIS ABOVE ALL
Burqa in modern times
Khushwant Singh

It must be more than 60 years when I was living in Lahore that the Principal of Government College for Women invited me to address her students. I accepted the invitation readily without realising what I was letting myself in for. I was escorted to the Principal’s office. She happened to be a Christian. She introduced me to the members of her staff some of whom happened to be men.

She approached the subject gently. "Many of our students come from highly conservative Muslim families where purdah is strictly observed. Girls come in burqas, leave them in cloak room and after classes are over they put them on to return home." I was slow on the uptake. "But you have men teachers as well. Do girls then put on their burqas?" She smiled and replied, "No, we put male teachers in purdah. That’s what we will do to you."

I was taken aback. I was shown a classroom meant for male teachers. In front of the teacher’s chair was stretched a thin grey curtain. So the teacher could not see his students, nor the students could see their teacher. I came back to the Principal’s office and told her as firmly as I could, "I am sorry Madam, I will not speak to your students. Please forgive me." And took my leave.

I see in the papers that Jack Straw, Member of Cabinet in the British Government, was in the same predicament. A part of his constituencies has a sizeable population of Pakistanis, Indians and Bangladeshi Muslims. When he went to speak to them, he saw lot of women in burqas. He refused to speak saying that he was unable to talk to people he could not see. The Mullah-Taliban were up in arms protesting against his anti-Muslim attitude. It was nothing of the sort. Many of my friends happen to be Muslims: Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshis. Not one of their women wears a burqa. I’ve been to Pakistan many times and have noticed that burqas are becoming rarer. This is true of most Muslim countries. Working class women never veiled themselves, the upper and middle class did (as did Hindu and Sikh). They discarded their veils almost overnight after Independence in 1947.

Today, only the lower, the illiterate or semi-literate or the lower middle class cling on to it with the backing of bigoted Mullahs. Burqa has become outward symbols of Jahaalat — ignorance. It has no religious sanctity. If Muslims really mean to catch up with the modern world, the sooner they liberate their womenfolk of the restraints of the purdah, the better.

Monkey business

I’ve been on good terms with monkeys in past years. They are of two kinds — langoors and bandars (rhesus). In turns they take over my roof and garden. I am often woken up by one or the other when they scamper over my corrugated tin roof. I can tell which kind it is: langoors, though bigger in size are nimble and make less noise; bunders are fat and clumsy and shake the roof as they thunder over it. They take their turn over my garden; when langoors are around, they keep away. bunders are more numerous — at times almost three dozens of them around my house. The tough ones keep guard while their harems and baba log with big heads and round eyes camper round their mamas as they pick grass seeds. I watch them, they watch me. It is only when they try to walk over a tin pipe which channels rain water from the roof to two storage tanks that I shoo them off. They are also too heavy for the fragile tin conduit to bear their weight. I have had to replace it a few times. They growl at me, bare their teeth and make menacing noises. I shout abuses at them "O ulloo kay patthey bhaag idhar sey." I usually win these unfought battles and peace is restored.

This year our equations changed. For reasons unknown to me both species have become aggressive. One evening, I saw three hefty bandars sitting on the stone bench in my garden. That was unusual as there were no females or baby monkeys around. They were evidently outsiders. I proceeded to stroll up and down outside my verandah. I noticed the toughest of the three jauntily walk towards my kitchen like a wrestler and go up on the roof. As I was passing by the entrance door to my verandah I saw him a couple of feet above my head growling and ready to pounce on me. I ran indoors in the nick of time and shut the wire-gauge door in its face. I hurled all the vile abuses I know in Punjabi; it continued to growl and challenged me to come out and fight like a man — or a monkey. I noticed he had one paw missing.

Since then I have noticed several other bandars with one or the other arm missing. Dr Santosh Kutty, Chief Medical Officer of the Central Research Institute (CRI), explained the phenomenon to me. Monkeys are trapped in Shimla, bound with wires and deposited in Subathu. In turn authorities in Subathu trap them, bind them and offload them in Kasauli. Likewise, Kasauliwalas catch them and deposit them somewhere in the plains. In due course of time the entire lot find their way back to their original habitats. They bear a grudge against human beings for the callous and cruel treatment they receive and try to settle scores with them. Langoors, though more peace loving, have also become bellicose. How should we tackle this bandar-langoor problem? We can’t sterilise the lot. Many people including our Nagas eat them as they eat dogs. But no Hindu, Muslim or Sikh will make them a part of his diet. Has anyone any idea what we can do besides shifting them from one place to another? Proliferation of monkeys have become an all-India problem.

Ghalib on Ramadan

Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib besides being a great poet was also known for his ready wit — haazir jawaabee. He was known to hit the bottle every evening, gamble and patronise courtesans. Nevertheless, he made it a point to be seen offering namaaz every Friday at the royal mosque Jama Masjid.

During one Ramadan, the month of fasting, someone asked him caustically: "Mirza Sahib aap nay kitney rozey rakhey hain (how many days did you observe a fast)?" Ghalib replied cryptically: "Ek din nahin (Which can mean both not a single day, as well as ‘I missed only one day’)."

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