Shades of Grey: Unveiling the Veil Conundrum

It’s a tricky thing, that veil. One on hand it’s an absolute deterrent, preventing the world from taking a glimpse of what’s stipulated to be unseen while on the other hand, it makes the imp of curiosity leap boundless trying to imagine the face behind that it shrouds. It’s alluring as it’s a mask of protection and thus, always under the purview of the so-called elitists of certain sects of society. 

To say that the veil fulfils its intended purpose would be an understatement. Those who use it, essentially transform its presence from a mere clothing variant to an emphatic declaration of the prescribed norms. It’s not wrong that they do it – it’s justified, however harsh it might otherwise seem to those who aren’t required to don it. But the catch is the veil’s utilisation also translates to an altogether different perceiving about not just the person under the veil, but also of the sectarian differences in the contemporary society. 

In an age where openness is demanded and necessitated – right from the macro issues to the most micro of events – the veil starts to be seen as a barrier. In tandem with this, the detractors also talk about the subterfuges that it abets. And the freedom of expression it curtails to parties at both ends – the wearer and the observer. It’s when these conflicts come up that the chasm between the two ends of the world gets even wider. And the situation comes to an impasse, bringing in its wake countless debates and arguments. 

Yet in spite of the innumerable questions raised and answered about the veil, not a single person demanding its usage seems to understand that donning the veil is a matter of personal choice
– one that requires a lot of sacrifices and commitment – along with the base of the prescribed tenet regarding its use. The sectarian groups that believe that the veil is an impediment, a backward thrust to an otherwise forward leaning society, fail to recognise that there are an equal number of non-veil-wearers – if I may call it so – as there are those who favour it. And that draping the veil doesn’t automatically equate to heightened orthodoxy or a push into the deepest realms of societal illiteracy. A person’s proficiency in any field need not be defined by whether a person is shrouded by a veil or not; a proficient individual will always be proficient no matter what he wears or doesn’t wear.

Societal prejudices like these bring down the essence of the advancements of the humankind. Be it about the veil in one part of the world or the lack of appropriate clothing sense, in the other, society’s demarcations at times become a hard act to follow. The absence of allowing personal choices and personal etiquettes to guide what is suitable and what is not, is a problem that needs to be addressed as soon as it can be. The irony is the addressers of the problem also happen to be a part of the de facto domain called as society. Quite an inescapable cycle, this.