Young women in conservative Kashmir sport hijab with western wear to balance religious commitments with fashion.
When MBA student Iffat Nazir (name changed) donned jeans and hijab (head scarf) for the first time, little did she know that she was making a fashion statement in the conservative Kashmir.
For the 23-year-old Iffat, wearing hijab along with jeans was just an idea to balance the professional and religious commitments with a dash of comfort.
“We are a religious family. I have been wearing hijab since my school days.
Since I joined the professional course I started wearing jeans and long loose shirt. But there was always a yearning to balance the two. So I started wearing both and it clicked,” she said.
Now, purdah (veil) has become trendy in Kashmir. Girls are increasingly taking to a mix of jeans and hijab or colorful embroidered abaya (loose gown that covers from neck to toe with a head scarf) or even long colorful chadar (soft free flowing long open gown).
“The hijab has given me a sense of security in the predominately religious Kashmir. I feel comfortable in jeans and therefore I wear both along with a long loose shirt which perfectly gels with my personality,” said Yasmin Zehra (name changed), a post-graduate student from Srinagar suburbs.
Gone are the days when black burqa or abaya was stereotyping the women in Kashmir. New varieties of purdah are taking the valley by storm.
“Designer purdahs are a craze among the women here. Silk abaya laced with pearls and embroidery with matching jewelry is a new trend. Even Iranian chadars are becoming popular among the girls here,” said a boutique owner.
Sociologists say a significant section of the girls are now wearing purdah because of the new religious renaissance in the Kashmir Valley.
“A significant section of women has developed religious feelings and that is why they are adopting purdah. The purdah can be categorized in many styles. But all these can be grouped together broadly as Islamic,” said Bashir Ahmad Dabla, professor of sociology at University of Kashmir.
Dabla, however, noted that the girls who wear jeans and hijab are mostly from those families who have undergone economic mobility in all these years. “You see their social background. You will find they are from families that have got recent education…They have undergone some economic mobility. All these things have given them a new confidence. For them it is not contradictory (wearing jeans and hijab),” he said.
However, Dukhataran-e-Milat (DeM), a hard-line women separatist group that ran a campaign in the early nineties for purdah, said the new generation of youth is increasingly inclined to Islam but rejected jeans and hijab as a mode of purdah in Kashmir.
“Girls are increasingly observing purdah because they are inclined to Islam.
Those girls who wear jeans and hijab do not qualify for purdah. Either they might be wearing these clothes to follow certain actresses or they have no knowledge of Islam. This trend is a joke in the name of purdah,” said Aasiya Andrabi, chief of DeM.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}