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Burqa-clad woman in Kerala becomes role model

Interestingly, the bus is still named Sree Sundareswara, after a Hindu god, as under the previous owner, and she did not change the name since the past 25 years…reports Asian Lite News.

A burqa-clad, highly-religious woman in Kerala’s Kannur district has become a role model for women and youngsters for her entrepreneurial spirit and philanthropic activities.

Rejimol, 46, is known as “Thatha”, or elder sister, by everyone in and around her hometown. She is not a teacher, doctor, advocate, or social worker, but exemplifies courage, determination, and a kind heart while being owner – and worker – of a private bus service.

She, and her husband Mohammed, bought a bus for plying in Kannur, and while several people joined as attendants, all used to leave after serving for one or two months. This led to the determined Rejimol taking up the job by herself, while her husband became the driver and her son, Ajuwad who has completed his plus 2, the conductor for collecting money.

Interestingly, the bus is still named Sree Sundareswara, after a Hindu god, as under the previous owner, and she did not change the name since the past 25 years.

In Kerala, private buses have an attendant who rings the bell after people enter and exit at their respective stops. It has been a male bastion, as the job also involves cleaning the bus after the daily trips as well as changing tyres as and when they puncture, as also guiding the driver while overtaking a vehicle or when negotiating a curve.

All these jobs are now taken up solely by Rejimol, who has become a role model for women and youngsters alike by the determination, grit, and love for the job that she had shown.

“This is a job like any other job and when people first found a burqa-clad woman entering a male bastion, they were surprised. Some were laughing and I asked them whether they were insulting me, they said no and that they were just surprised and were full of respect and admiration for me. This made me carry on and I now have the courage and strength to face the society and life during any upside or downside,” Rejimol said.

She said that life has been tough during Covid-19 times but in all, her life has been good and she used to save money for her pilgrimages to Makkah, and has done the Haj as also the Umra.

She said that daily she saves a portion of her income to be distributed to orphanages, adding that she was also supporting two orphanages. Rejimol also said that she intervenes in any social issue at her neighbourhood and also helps people as much as she can.

She said that she has allowed her daughter to study as much she can before giving her off in marriage.

“Education is important and marriage can come after that,” she maintains.

Her stand is in contrast to the prevailing situation in certain villages of Kerala where Muslim girls are being married off at an early age. However, signs of changes are slowly being seen in the community with more and more Muslim girls studying hard and coming up in academics and entering prestigious institutions like AIIMS, IITs and even qualifying for Civil services. However, there is still a trend of marrying off the girls at a tender age and Rejimol is strongly opposed to this.

Rejimol’s daughter, Ajinas A.M. is a PhD scholar doing her research in political science at the prestigious Karyavattam Campus of Kerala University. She did her Masters in political science from Central University of Puducherry.

The highly-determined woman entrepreneur maintains: “Life is woven around love and without love and mutual help, nobody can survive and my policy is to love everyone and support everyone in whatever means we can. Women must be hard-working and not sit idle at home but chip in for the support of the family.”

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As Taliban enter the streets of Kabul, burqas pulled out of dusty storerooms, cupboards by Afghan women … A special report by Asian Lite News

The seemingly unstoppable advance of the Taliban has once again seen the burqa being pulled out of dusty storerooms and cupboards by women in Afghanistan who remember life under the militants rule.

After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, even though many continued to choose to wear the burqa in adherence to religious and traditional beliefs, its rejection by millions of others across the country became a symbol of a new dawn for the Afghan women, who were able to dictate what they wore for themselves again, Zainab Pirzad and Atefa Alizada from Rukhshana Media wrote for the Guardian.

Today, there are burqas in the streets of downtown Kabul but women are also dressed in an array of different styles, many mixing traditional materials with colourful modern patterns and fashion inspiration from across the region.

“Afghan women are some of the most naturally stylish women in the world,” says Fatimah, an artist and fashion photographer.

“When you go on to the streets of Kabul today you see this amazing mix of different fabrics and nods to centuries-old traditions mixed with very modern styles and inspirations. It’s this beautiful, creative spirit that was just full of hope for the future.”

For decades, the traditional Afghan burqa, mostly sold in shades of blue, was synonymous with Afghan women’s identity around the world.

Usually made of heavy cloth, it is specifically designed to cover the wearer from head to toe. A netted fabric is placed near the eyes so that the woman inside can peer out through the meshing but nobody can see inside.

It was enforced strictly during the Taliban regime in the late 1990s, and failure to wear one while in public could earn women severe punishments and public lashings from the Taliban’s “moral police”.

As city after city falls to the Taliban, women fear that the freedoms won since 2001 will be crushed, the report said.

Last week in Herat, as Taliban forces massed around the city, older women such as 60-year-old Fawzia were out stockpiling for the younger women in her family.

“All of us older women have been talking about how hard it was as a woman in the old days,” she said.

“I used to live in Kabul then and I remember how they beat the women and girls who left their homes without their burqas.”

Days later, these women are already under Taliban control after Herat city fell to militant forces on August 13. Shortly after the city fell, a Taliban declaration was circulated online and among Herat citizens informing women that wearing the burqa was now mandatory in all public spaces.

In Kabul, a sense of grief and panic has overwhelmed women in the Afghan capital. With two-thirds of the population under the age of 30, most women here have never lived under Taliban control.

In some households, the burqa has sparked divisive inter-generational conflicts. The parents of 26-year-old Habiba are begging her and her sisters to get a burqa before the Taliban enter the city, but she is resisting.

“My mother says we should buy a burqa. My parents are afraid of the Taliban. My mother thinks that one of the ways she can protect her daughters is to make them wear the burqa,” she says.

“But we have no burqa in our home, and I have no intention of getting one. I don’t want to hide behind a curtain-like cloth. If I wear the burqa, it means that I have accepted the Taliban’s government. I have given them the right to control me. Wearing a chador is the beginning of my sentence as a prisoner in my house. I’m afraid of losing the accomplishments I fought for so hard.”

Habiba says that she, like many women in Kabul, is sick with worry over what is coming.

“I stay up late at night, sometimes till one or two in the morning, worrying about what will happen. I am afraid that because I am rejecting the burqa, soon I will have to stay at home and I will lose my independence and freedom.

“But if I accept the burqa, it will exercise power over me. I am not ready to let that happen.”

In a market in Kabul, Aref is doing a booming trade. At first glance, the walls of his shop seem to be curtained in folds of blue fabric. On closer inspection, dozens and dozens of blue burqas hang like spectres from hooks on the wall.

As the Taliban close in on Kabul, women inside the city are getting ready for what may be coming. “Before, most of our customers were from the provinces,” says Aref. “Now it is city women who are buying them.”

The report said one of these women is Aaila, who is haggling with another shopkeeper over rapidly inflating burqa prices.

“Last year these burqas cost AFS 200. Now they’re trying to sell them to us for AFS 2,000 to 3,000,” she says.

As the fear among women in Kabul has grown, the prices have risen.

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