‘When did you start wearing your hijab?’ an older aunty once asked me at a weddingShe meant it as a sweet comment, and also as a conversation starter. After all, there’s not much common ground between me and someone my mother’s age who I only see yearly atThe conversation that followed involved a lot of head nodding from my end and her saying how great it was that I had started wearing a hijab at such a young age – I must have been 15 or 16 at the time.
I remember feeling quite proud of my choice. Even at that young age, I was quick to tell a questioning classmate that he had no right to lecture me on my decisions. Most of society still associates hijabs and burqas with the working class. This is an attitude that’s added to by media portrayals of hijabs as well. Popular TV dramas such as Zindagi Gulzar Hai and Humsafar consistently show working class women covering their heads, only to eventually marry a rich guy and suddenly become more comfortable with makeup and leaving their hair open without dupattas. This is a damaging narrative.
Regardless of the reasons, I finally felt free to make mistakes and use those to figure out the version of myself I was most comfortable with. I realised that I had been the ‘hijabi girl’ for so long back home that I had forgotten to find out who I really was, outside of that expectation.
anmolirfan22 MetroOpinion Oh and one more thing the rag your are wrtitng for is owned by the daily mail group who are no friends of minorities or Muslims. 😉 Carry on. 👍
anmolirfan22 MetroOpinion I don't find that plausible at all. But it's your opinion. So...